Orion is beating a hasty retreat through the SW evening sky and has all but disappeared below the W horizon by our April star map times. Replacing him in the S is the squat figure of Leo the Lion, now dominated by the ruddy glow of Mars which reached opposition in early March and is slow-moving less than 5° to the E (left) of Regulus. April sees it halve in brightness from mag -0.7 to 0.0 and shrink from 12.6 to 9.9 arcsec in diameter as it recedes from 111 million to 141 million km. Look for Mars and Regulus above the Moon on the 3rd.
Venus and Jupiter are now separating following their magnificent conjunction in our W evening sky, with Venus now at its highest at nightfall as Jupiter dips lower into the twilight where we lose it by April's end. On the 22nd, though, Jupiter shines at mag -2.0 and stands only 1.8° below-left of the young Moon, only 2% illuminated.
Venus, brilliant at mag -4.4 to -4.5 and a naked-eye object in broad daylight, is unmistakable until it sets in the NW after midnight BST. Binoculars give the best view as it brushes past the Pleiades early in the month, lying only 0.4° below-left of Alcyone, the cluster's brightest star, on the 3rd. A telescope shows it swell from 25 to 37 arcsec as its crescent narrows from 48% to 27% of the disc. Catch the earthlit Moon below Venus on the 24th as the planet approaches Elnath, the star at the tip of the N horn of Taurus.
The stunning ringed world Saturn is 1,304 million km away when it reaches opposition 5° above-left of Spica in Virgo on the 15th. Shining at mag 0.2, twice as bright as Spica, it climbs from low in the ESE at nightfall to stand in the SSE by our map times. A telescope shows its 19 arcsec disc set within rings that span 43 arcsec and have their N faced tipped 14° towards us.