climbs higher in predawn skies. Mean- 

 while, work continues on the development 

 and construction of instruments that will 

 fly on the Cassini spacecraft mission to 

 Saturn. Cassini, a joint project of NASA 

 and the European Space Agency (ESA), 

 will carry twelve scientific instruments 

 and a probe that will detach from the main 

 craft and parachute to the surface of Titan, 

 Saturn's largest moon. 



Uranus and Neptune together hug the 

 eastern comer of Sagittarius, high in the 

 southern skies as dawn approaches. On the 

 night of April 3^, the waning last-quarter 

 moon passes by them both. Neptune is sta- 

 tionary on April 25, and Uranus on April 

 30. Both will now begin their apparent ret- 

 rograde (westerly) motion across the sky 

 as the earth overtakes them in orbital 

 speed. They will not resume their proper 

 easterly motions until October. Comet 

 Halley, outward bound, crosses the orbital 

 path of Uranus just about the time your 

 taxes are due — April 15. Halley is on its 

 way to aphelion — its farthest distance 

 from the sun — a point between the orbital 

 paths of Neptune and Pluto. The comet 

 will take another twelve years to reach 

 Neptune. 



Pluto braces for its big day next month, 

 when it reaches opposition in our night- 

 time skies — the best time for serious as- 

 tronomers to try observing it. This tiny 

 planet appears close to Jupiter and the star 

 Zubeneshemali, which is visible with the 

 naked eye in Libra. 



The Moon reaches last quarter on the 

 2d at 9:55 p.m., EST; is new on the 10th at 

 8:17 P.M., EDT; and reaches first quarter at 

 10:34 P.M., EDT, on the 18th. Full moon 

 occurs on the 25th at 3:45 p.m., EDT. 



The Lyrid meteor showers peak just be- 

 fore dawn on the 22d. The full moon sets a 

 few hours before, so the best times to ob- 

 serve these meteors are after moonset and 

 before dawn. The Lyrids are remnants of 

 Comet Thatcher, last seen in 1861, which 

 has an orbital period of 415 years. The 

 Chinese recorded the Lyrids in 687 B.C., 

 and the Koreans noted it a.d. 1 1 36. On av- 

 erage, the Lyrids produce about fifteen to 

 twenty swift, bright meteors per hour, 

 many leaving streaks. Some years have 

 produced tremendous displays of seventy- 

 five meteors or more per hour, the last 

 being in 1981. 



Daylight saving time begins at 2:00 

 A.M. on Sunday, April 3. "Spring ahead" 

 and add one hour to clocks and watches. 



Gail S. Cleere lives in Washington, D.C., 

 and writes on popular astronomy. 



A boat brings you as close 

 as any human is allowed to the Bird Islands. 

 Watch for cormorants, razorbills, petrels and terns 

 as well as the rare Atlantic Pujfin. 



You'll find thousands of exciting things to do in our 1994 Travel Guide. 



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