On March 19, the explosion of a star located nearly halfway across the universe was observed by a NASA satellite that spotted its burst of gamma rays.

What made the star unique was that the visible light from it was so bright that it could have been seen by the naked eye. The distance involved, around 7.5 billion light-years, far eclipsed the previous record of a visible light source recorded at 2.5 million light years. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles.

While visible, the star would have been about as bright as one of the stars in the handle of the Little Dipper, said David Burroughs, a Penn State University astronomer.

The burst from the star, which was about 40 times larger than the sun, lasted less than an hour.

Focus on the planets

Mercury is hidden from view until the last week of the month, when it may appear low in the west about a half-hour after sunset. Mercury will make its best appearance of the year in May.

Venus is lost in the sun’s glare and will not reappear until late July or early August.

Mars is high in the west at dusk. Mars will briefly pair with the waxing crescent moon on April 11 but, due to its great distance from Earth, the Red Planet will appear simply as a featureless orange body even to viewers with telescopes.

Jupiter is visible in the southeast at dawn where, on April 1, it will look like a bright cream-colored star well to the upper right of the moon. Surface features, such as zones and belts, as well as the gyration’s of Jupiter’s four major moons should be readily accessible by means of binoculars or small telescope.

Saturn comes into view high in the south at dusk and sets in the west as Jupiter rises at dawn. Saturn’s rings achieve a nearly 10-degree tilt from edgewise by month’s end affording details of their makeup. Four or five of Saturn’s moons, most notably Titan, will be readily seen by telescope.

Uranus and Neptune are moving into the morning sky but are too low on the horizon to be seen.

April events

1 Sunrise, 6:17 a.m.; sunset, 7:02 p.m.

6 New moon, 11:55 p.m.

7 Moon at perigee or nearest approach to Earth today.

8 Look for the thin crescent moon nestled among the stars of the Pleiades high in the west at dusk.

11 Mars is just to the upper left of the moon as night falls with Castor and Pollux, the twins of Gemini, just above them.

12 Moon in first quarter, 2:31 p.m.

15 Celebrate tax day by checking out Saturn and Regulus, the brightest star of Leo, huddled together just above the moon.

18 The sun enters Aries on the ecliptic.

19 The sun enters the astrological sign of Taurus however, astronomically, has just entered Aries.

20 Full moon, 6:24 a.m. The full moon of April is commonly known as the Full Pink Moon because this is the month ground phlox blossomed. Other names are the Egg Moon, Grass Moon and Fish Moon.

22 Peak night for the Lyrid meteor shower. This usually impressive shower will be all but washed out by the full moon. Lyrids, originating out of Vega, are bright, swift meteors that occasionally leave persistent trails.

28 Moon in last quarter, 10:13 a.m.

30 May Eve. A cross-quarter day midway between the spring equinox and summer solstice celebrated on May Day. Sunrise, 5:27 a.m.; sunset, 7:39 p.m.