What is the Moon doing in April?
The Moon in April
In general, we can tell what the Moon will look like, when it will be visible, and in what direction to look for it, just by working out how many days it is since New Moon. The details are here.
But we can predict this more accurately by noticing that the Moon mimics, every month, the way the Sun behaves over the course of a whole year.
Here is a schematic diagram of how the Moon behaves in April.
Immediately after New Moon, the crescent Moon behaves like the Sun in midsummer, rising in the north-east and setting in the north-west. The time of moonset gets about an hour later each night.
As the Moon reaches First Quarter it's beginning to move south again. And as it continues to wax gibbous, it rises much later each evening, and much further to the right. The time of moonset stays roughly constant, but the position shifts to the left.
After Full, the Moon is well south, like the Sun in late autumn; it rises in the south-east and sets in the south-west.
Once Last Quarter is past, the Moon is heading northwards again. It continues to rise shortly after midnight, and the position of moonrise shifts to the left again. But it is still south of the Sun, so it will still be hard to see.
However, the Moon doesn't follow the
Sun's path exactly. To find out what
difference that makes, try clicking here.