March’s Full Moon is the “Lenten Moon”, “Worm Moon”, “Crow Moon”, “Crust Moon”, “Sugar Moon”, “Sap Moon”, “Chaste Moon”, or “Holi”.
The date (near March 21 in the northern hemisphere) when night and day are nearly the same length and Sun crosses the celestial equator (i.e., declination 0) moving northward. In the southern hemisphere, the vernal equinox corresponds to the center of the Sun crossing the celestial equator moving southward and occurs on the date of the northern autumnal equinox. The vernal equinox marks the first day of the season of spring.
http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/VernalEquinox.html
Fantastic visibility for all of North America and much of South America. Maximum eclipse is at 7:46am UTC (2:46am central US time.)
Don’t miss this one!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_2014_lunar_eclipse
April’s Full Moon is the “Egg Moon”, “Pink Moon”, “Sprouting Grass Moon”, “Fish Moon”, “Seed Moon”, “Waking Moon”, or “Hanuman Jayanti”.
The Lyrid meteor shower will reach its maximum rate of activity. Some meteors will be visible each night from 16 Apr to 25 Apr, but the best show will be on this evening. The maximum number of meteors expected to be visible from a dark location is around 10 per hour (ZHR). The 2nd quarter moon will wash out some meteors, but the brightest ones will shine through.
AKA “Ring of Fire” eclipse. Maximum eclipse at 6:04 am UTC. Decent visibility for Australians and GREAT visibility for Antarcticans. Er, south-polers? Penguins.
Gary Hand will speak on –Â Amateur Astronomy: 1994, Today, and 2034
This shower is composed of dusty remnants of the famed Halley’s Comet. The long-running shower is visible from April 19th until May 28, but peaks overnight on May 5th with up to 60 sightings per hour. The first quarter moon should set right around midnight local time, which will really improve conditions for spotting meteors. Though the meteors can appear anywhere in the sky, it will appear that they are coming from the Aquarius constellation.