Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine - April 2021

APRIL 2021 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 26
THE CARIBBEAN SKY: FREE SHOW NIGHTLY!
The Sky from Mid-April to Mid-May
by Jim Ulik
Would you leave the safety of a harbor to sail around the world without GPS,
sextant, compass, clock, or other navigational instruments? Only an hourglass
would be available for timing a watch. Navigating using only nature has been done
for centuries. Viking and Polynesian voyagers used the sun, stars and birds, as well
as wind and waves, to find their routes. A basic example of finding direction by
looking at the moon is diagramed on Image 1.
Professor Marvin Creamer saw this as more than just a challenge. He chose to
use this technique during a few Atlantic crossings. He was confident that he could
complete “a jolly romp” around the world. “I was considered to be crazy or stupid
or just out of it,” Professor Creamer said in an interview. “When I took off there
were two people who believed I would come back.” (He and his wife.) In 1982,
Creamer left Cape May, New Jersey, on the US East Coast, in the cutter Globe Star
without a GPS, sextant, compass, watch, or other navigational instruments. His
513-day circumnavigation would include a year on the sea, plus time in ports for
repairs and provisioning.
It is almost an obligation to know the planet one lives on.
— Professor Marvin Creamer (1916 – 2020)
Saturday, April 17th
The waxing crescent Moon and Mars will
make a close approach tonight. The pair will
become visible in the western sky around
1830 hours as the Sun drops below the
horizon. If you have a clear view of the
horizon you may catch a five-minute glimpse
of Venus. The Roman goddess of love and
beauty begins to make her transition into
an apparition in the evening sky. To the
Greeks this was Aphrodite, the Daughter of
Heaven and Sea.
Tuesday, April 20th
The Moon has reached its First Quarter
phase. Leave your compass behind. Today’s
passage of the Moon can help identify two
compass points. It will break the horizon
this afternoon at 66 degrees true. At day’s
end it will set at 292 degrees true.
(Astronomical tables are required to
determine the Moon’s precise direction in
degrees as it rises or sets on any given day.)
Approximate east and west direction can be
deduced using Moon phase and movement.
North and south directions can also be
estimated throughout the day by extending
the terminator or line between light and
shadow as shown in Image 1. The best time
for this method is when the Moon is high
overhead. That occurs tonight at 1900
hours when the Moon transits the meridian.
Thursday, April 22nd
Named after the constellation Lyra, a
meteor shower peaks overnight April 21st –
22nd. The Lyrids are one of the oldest
recorded meteor showers, first mentioned in
2,700-year-old Chinese texts. Lyrids
frequently leave glowing dust trains that are
observable for several seconds as they
streak through the Earth’s atmosphere. The
fireballs in the meteor shower are created by
IMAGE 1
debris from comet Thatcher, which takes about 415 years to orbit around the Sun.
The comet is expected to be visible from Earth again in 2276. The shower can
produce up to 90 meteors per hour and is active April 14th through April 30th.
Friday, April 23rd
Four comets make a close approach to Earth overnight. One comet that was just
discovered last year will be the brightest. The best time to search the sky for this
comet, named C/2020 R4 (ATLAS), is after moonset. At 0400 hours it will be located
about 55 degrees above the west-northwest horizon as shown in Image 2.
Saturday, April 24th
The Pi Puppid meteor shower peaks tonight. This variable shower can produce up
to 40 meteors per hour. The Pi Puppid meteor shower will be active from April 15th
through 28th. The meteors will be visible as they radiate out of the southsouthwestern
sky beginning at 1900 hours.
Monday, April 26th
The Moon has reached its full phase. This month’s Full Moon will take place
unusually close to the time of month when the Moon also makes its closest approach
to the Earth. The Moon at perigee, coined the Supermoon, actually occurs tomorrow.
—Continued on next page
Using the First Quarter Moon on April 20th at 1900 hours to find your direction home.
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