Night-time Highlights of the April sky.

Here are some of the celestial highlights for our Pembrokeshire Skies of April 2026.

​Naked-Eye Highlights:

​The Spring Triangle: 

This is the dominant seasonal pattern. 

Look south around 10:00 PM to find a giant triangle made of:

​Arcturus: A bright orange giant in Boötes (the brightest star in the northern sky)

​Spica: A blue-white star in Virgo.  

​Denebola: The "tail" of Leo the Lion.  

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The Planetary Duo (Evening): Throughout April, Venus and Jupiter are the stars of the show.  

​Venus will be incredibly bright and low in the west shortly after sunset.  

​Jupiter sits higher in the sky within the constellation Gemini. It remains visible for most of the night.  

​Lyrid Meteor Shower: 

Peaking on the night of April 21–22. 

Because the Moon is in its crescent phase and sets early, the skies will be dark enough to spot about 15–18 meteors per hour.  

​Moon Conjunctions:

​April 19: A thin crescent Moon will sit close to Venus (with the Pleiades sat between the two of them) in the evening twilight.  

​April 22: The Moon will be positioned near Jupiter, making for a striking pairing in Gemini.  

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Binocular Highlights:

​With a standard pair of 10x50 or 8x42 binoculars, the Pembrokeshire coast reveals objects that are usually hidden by city lights.

​Star Clusters:

​The Beehive Cluster (M44): Located in the heart of Cancer. To the naked eye, it looks like a fuzzy patch; through binoculars, it explodes into dozens of individual stars.

​The Pleiades (M45): Though setting earlier in the evening, this "Seven Sisters" cluster is still visible in the west. It is one of the most beautiful sights in binoculars.

​M35 in Gemini: Look near the "feet" of the twins (Gemini) to find this dense, shimmering cluster of stars.  

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Deep Sky Targets:

​The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51): Under Pembrokeshire's dark skies, you can spot this as a faint, glowing smudge near the end of the "handle" of the Big Dipper (Ursa Major). 

 

​M3 Globular Cluster: Located between Boötes and Coma Berenices, this looks like a "fuzzy star" in binoculars but is actually a sphere of hundreds of thousands of stars.

​Observing Tips for Pembrokeshire:

​This year's  Full "Pink" Moon occurs on April 2. 

While it isn't actually pink, it will be quite large and bright, which is great for landscape viewing but will wash out fainter stars and galaxies for a few days.  

​Aurora Potential: 

April 2026 falls near the solar maximum. Keep an eye on the northern horizon from high vantage points like Strumble Head for a chance to see the Northern Lights.

One of the best displays I have seen in this current solar maximum was from near Newgale.