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[ ♪ ]

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What's Up for April?

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Jupiter, king of the planets,
is visible all night long,

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and the Lyrid meteor shower
puts on a good show.

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Hello and welcome. I'm
Jane Houston Jones from

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NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in Pasadena, California.

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On April 7th Jupiter
reaches opposition,

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when it shines brightest
and appears largest.

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The solar system is
lined up so that

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Jupiter, Earth and the
sun form a straight line

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with Earth in the middle.

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[ ♪ ]

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It will appear highest
overhead at midnight.

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Through binoculars, you
should be able to see

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Jupiter's four Galilean moons,

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Io, Europa, Ganymede
and Callisto.

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Through a telescope, Jupiter's
cloud belts and zones

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are easily visible,

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and the Great Red Spot can
be seen beginning its

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transit--or crossing--of
the disk every 10 hours.

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[ whoosh ]

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The Summer Triangle is made
of the three bright stars

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Deneb in Cygnus (the Swan),

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Altair in Aquila (the Eagle),

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and Vega in Lyra
(the Lyre, or harp).

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Find Vega and Lyra high
in the eastern sky

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a few hours after
midnight this month.

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This year's second major
meteor shower -- the Lyrids --

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will radiate through
the Summer Triangle.

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It peaks this month in the
morning hours of April 22nd.

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Patient observers will be
rewarded with the sight of

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18 meteors per hour before
dawn from a dark sky location.

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Since the moon will be nearly
to its new-moon phase,

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expect excellent moonless
viewing conditions this year.

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The actual new moon
is on April 26.

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You can catch up on solar system
missions to Jupiter (like Juno)

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and all of NASA's missions at
www.nasa.gov

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That's all for this month, I'm
Jane Houston Jones.

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NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory