April 8 2026

 



What Can You Expect To See At The Community Observatory This Weekend

April 10–11, 2026 | 9:00–11:00 PM

Spring is continuing to take hold in the night sky, and this weekend offers a beautiful mix of fading winter constellations and rising spring favorites. If you joined us last weekend, you’ll notice the seasonal shift becoming even more pronounced as the evening hours grow darker a bit later and the sky continues its transition.

🔭 What You’ll See

By 9 PM, twilight is fading and the brighter stars and planets begin to emerge. The familiar winter constellation Orion is now sliding toward the western horizon, giving us one of our last good looks this season. Look for the bright stars Betelgeuse and Rigel before they disappear into the glow of sunset.  Following close behind are the stars of Taurus and the Pleiades (Seven Sisters)—another seasonal farewell worth catching early in the evening.

Turning south and overhead, the spring sky takes center stage. The constellation Leo the Lion dominates the sky, easily identified by its backward question-mark shape (the “Sickle”) and the bright star Regulus. This is a great time to explore galaxies, including the famous Leo Triplet, under darker conditions later in the evening. The image with this blog post is of the Leo Triplet, taken from my backyard recently using my Seestar S30 Pro. It is a stack of 150 ten-second images.

By 10–11 PM, Virgo rises higher in the southeast, bringing with it a rich field of distant galaxies. The bright star Spica will help guide you into this region. With darker skies later in the session, this is prime time for deep-sky observing.

The Big Dipper is now high in the northeast, making it easy to locate Polaris, the North Star, and trace out the rest of Ursa Major.

And, for those curious to try to see comet C/2026 A1, very sorry but as happens to sun-grazing comets it broke apart on its close approach to the sun and is no more. And don’t even ask about Artemis II.

🌡️ Weather Outlook

The projected forecast for this weekend is for mostly cloudy conditions with the likelihood of rain so be sure to check CommunityObservatory.com after 3:00 PM each afternoon to see if we need to stay closed due to weather.

Typical April evenings in Placerville cool quickly after sunset, with nighttime temperatures often dropping into the low-to-mid 40s°F, so dress warmly for extended observing sessions. (Weather U.S.)

✨ Final Thoughts

This weekend offers a wonderful observing window: darker skies than last week, classic spring constellations on display, and a chance to catch winter’s last curtain call. Whether you’re hunting galaxies in Virgo or saying goodbye to Orion, there’s plenty to explore.

Let’s all hope that the weather forecast is wrong and we can open up this weekend. Be sure to verify that we are open by checking the website before coming. Hope to see you soon! 🌠


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