Astrophiz178:SeptemberSkyGuide

Astronomy Astrophiz Podcasts

Your planetary action is split between the evening and morning skies. Venus and Mercury return to the morning twilight. Mars is a dim glowing ember in the evening skies. Saturn is just past opposition and still high in evening skies Jupiter enters evening skies, but still look better in morning skies. Moon Phases: Last quarter moon: September 7, ideal for stargazing Moon at apogee: September 15. New moon: September 16, also ideal for stargazing First quarter moon: September 23. Moon at perigee: September 28. Full moon: September 29. Earth is at its Spring Equinox on September 23 for the Southern Hemisphere and the Autumn/Fall Equinox for the Northern Hemisphere. Evening skies Saturn is still nice and high, big and bright in the evening sky. Mars is sinking lower and will be near the moon on the 16th and 17th of September Mercury is only visible in the evening twilight in the first week of September, before returning to the morning twilight and will be down close to the horizon thus difficult to see. Jupiter returns to the evening skies in the eastern horizon by the end of the month. Sagittarius, at the centre of our galaxy is high in the sky and a perfect hunting ground for globular clusters like M22, so get those binoculars and telescopes out on those dark nights. Morning skies: Venus is climbing higher in the morning twilight and a distict crescent in telescopic views. On September 11 and 12, crescent Venus is relatively close to the crescent moon, down low an hour before sunrise. Jupiter is climbing higher in the morning skies, looking magnificent and will be close to the waning moon on the 4th.