Overview
- Mercury, Mars, Saturn and Neptune will gather low before dawn, with the best view Saturday, April 18, according to Star Walk, and Neptune will be so faint that most viewers will need a telescope.
- Viewing windows are short near sunrise, with roughly 30 minutes in many northern locations and up to 60–90 minutes farther south where the planets sit higher above the horizon.
- Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) is on track for a late‑April close pass that could be visible to the naked eye in the Southern Cone and possibly from Mexico before dawn if its brightness holds.
- Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) broke apart at perihelion and its spreading debris cloud means it is no longer observable.
- A dark New Moon period mid‑month will help faint targets, and the Lyrid meteor shower is active in the second half of April with a predicted peak around that stretch under clear, dark skies.