Orbital diagrams for the inner planets December 2007 to March 2008, inner planets April to July 2008 and the outer planets for 2008.
| Date (NZDT) | Diary of Solar System Events in April 2008 for New Zealand |
| April 4 | 2.5% lit crescent Moon 4.5° from Venus in the morning sky. |
| April 6 | NZDT ends at 3 am NZDT = 2 am NZST. |
| April 6 | New Moon at 3:55 pm NZST (03:55 UT). |
| April 8 | Moon at perigee, its closest to the Earth for the Lunar month, 361085 km. |
| April 12 | 45% lit Moon 2° from Mars, magnitude 1.0, evening sky. |
| April 13 | Moon at first quarter 6:32 am NZST (Apr 12, 18:32 UT). |
| April 15 | 77% lit Moon 3° from star Regulus at 7 pm, 1.25° at midnight, occultation south and west of Australia.
Moon also 5.2° from Saturn (magnitude 0.5) at 7 pm, 3.6° at midnight. |
| April 16 | Mercury at superior conjunction on far side of Sun. |
| April 19/20 | 99% lit Moon 6° from star Spica, magnitude 1.1, evening sky, 3° low to west an hour before sunrise morning of 20th. |
| April 20 | Full Moon at 10:25 am NZST (10:25 UT). |
| April 23 | Moon at apogee, its greatest distance from the Earth for the Lunar month, 405946 km. |
| April 24 | 91% lit Moon occults the star Antares in morning sky. Disappearance at lit limb, reappearance at unlit. |
| April 27 | Mars 4.8° above Pollux in evening sky. Both with magnitude 1.2. |
| April 28 | 59% lit Moon 6° from Jupiter in morning sky. |
| April 29 | Moon at last quarter 2:12 am NZST (Apr 28, 14:12 UT). |
| April 30 | 38% lit Moon less than 0.5° from Neptune, magnitude 7.9, in morning sky. Occultation of Neptune visible from northern half of Australia. |
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MERCURY starts April low in the dawn sky. On April 1 it will be just over 3° below Venus and a little to its right. Mercury will be about 6.5° above the horizon 40 minutes before sunrise. With a magnitude -0.6 is should be readily visible in binoculars.
Very early April will present a last opportunity to find Mercury in the morning sky. The planet will get steadily lower in the dawn sky as it approaches superior conjunction with the Sun on April 16. After that date Mercury will be in the evening sky. However, even by the end of April it will set only 30 minutes after the Sun so will not be observable.
VENUS will remain a beacon in the dawn sky throughout April, although gradually getting lower so that by the end of the month it will be only 6° up, 20 minutes before sunrise. Venus rises an hour and a half before the Sun at the beginning of April and 1 hour before at the end.
On the morning of April 1 Venus will be half way between Mercury and Uranus. The chart on the right shows their relative positions, 40 minutes before sunrise. Venus will then be 9.4° up, with Mercury 3.3° below and Uranus 3.4° above. Stars magnitude 6 and brighter are shown. The asteroid Vesta will be just under 4° to the right of Uranus. At magnitude 8.1, Vesta may be a difficult binocular object in the twilight. A line of three stars a little brighter than Vesta should help confirm the asteroid.
Four mornings later, the Moon, a very thin crescent 2.5% lit, will be 4.5° to the left of Venus. By then the Uranus will be 8° above Venus and Mercury 5.5° below and very low in the sky.
MARS sets about 12 pm NZDT on April 1 and just after 10 pm NZST at the end of April. Hence it will be best placed for viewing as soon as the sky darkens in the early evening when it will be to the north and at its highest. During April the planet's magnitude will fade from 0.8 to 1.2.
Mars is in Gemini all month, starting about 1° to the right of the 3rd magnitude star ε Gem. By the end of April, Mars will have moved a few degrees east to be a little over 5° above Pollux, β Gem, the brightest star in the constellation. They may look similar as both Mars and Pollux will have a magnitude 1.2 and both have a slightly orange colour.
On the evening of April 12, the 45% lit Moon will be 2° from Mars as seen from New Zealand. An occultation of Mars by the Moon will occur, but only be visible from extreme NE Canada, Greenland, Iceland and northern parts of Scandinavia.
JUPITER moves further up into the morning sky, indeed once the clocks are set back an hour to NZST on April 6, it will be rising before midnight. By April 30 Jupiter will rise close to 10 pm. Even so the best time for viewing Jupiter, when at it is at its highest will be at the beginning of morning twilight.
The planet remains in Sagittarius some 10° from the "Teapot's Handle" during April.
Late in April, on the 27th, the 59% Moon will be just under 4° from Jupiter as they rise, by dawn they will be 6.5° apart, by which time the Moon will be just over half a degree from the small 8th magnitude globular cluster, M75.
SATURN remains in Leo during April, close to the constellation's brightest star, Regulus magnitude 1.4. By the end of April the two will be little more than 2° apart with Saturn to the right of Regulus. At magnitude 0.5 Saturn is almost a magnitude brighter than Regulus.
By April 30, Saturn will be setting at about 1.30 am. It will be at its highest and best placed for viewing mid evening during April. Observers will find that Saturn's rings do not appear very wide open, resulting in the overall brightness of the planet being lower than in recent years.
The closest approach of the moon to Saturn is on the evening of April 15. At 7 pm the 76% lit Moon will be 5.2° from the planet, a distance dropping to 3° before it sets after midnight. The Moon will be even closer to Regulus, closing to about 20' before they set in New Zealand. The Moon will occult Regulus, but the event is only visible from parts of Antarctica south of India and Australia. Otherwise the event is almost entirely over sea, missing the extreme southwest of Australia by barely 60km.