The Moon
Last Quarter ----- 1st up from 22:31 to 15:10
New --------------- 8th up from 06:32 to 19:09
First Quarter ---- 15th up from 15:46 to 23:03
Full ---------------- 23rd up from 18:31 to 07:06
This month will be about the last when you can look into the deep reaches of the southern sky. Well, as far south as we can from so far north.
The nights are speedily drawing in and we can spend more time on observing and taking pictures, and it’s still not unreasonably cold.
The Planets in September
Saturn will slip below the horizon on the 1st of September at 8.45pm, 40mins after the Sun so will be in bright twilight. So look for it before sunset, but it’ll be only to say that you’ve seen it.
Venus is similarly positioned. It’ll set 40mins after the Sun on the 1st, in the company of bright Spica, a degree away, and by the 30th, will have pulled well away southwards from Spica, to set 10mins after the Sun. However, it’ll go down fighting, being a little brighter than before and bigger too, mag -4.6 and 44arcsec. It’ll also present a 20% phase, a good crescent, so catch it if you can. The Sun 35° away shouldn’t pose a threat.
Mars starts the month close to Venus and Spica and follows a similar line to Venus, but a bit slower so will be available all month though very low in the west south west, setting on the 1st, at 8:45pm, 50mins after the Sun, and at 7:30pm, 30mins after the Sun on the 30th. Mars will be only 4arcsec and mag 1.5 all month so quite tiny to seek so low in the brightness of twilight.
This is virtually the last of these three as evening planets.
In the east we see Neptune rising at 7:45pm on the 1st of September, and at 5:45pm on the 30th, followed by Uranus hand in hand with Jupiter at 8:40pm. These three are taking over the night sky from Saturn, Mars and Venus. They’ll all be up all night getting better and better as the nights get darker. Neptune won’t get higher than 24° up in the south this month, but Jupiter and Uranus will get to 35° high, much better than last September’s maximum of 20°.
Mercury can be sought, in the east, from about the 9th, it’s too close to the Sun before that. It’ll rise some 30mins before the Sun then, so will not be easy in twilight at mag 2.7. It’ll keep pulling away from the Sun to rise at 5:20am on the 23rd, about an hour and a half before the Sun, then will start to fall back towards it but will still be available till the end of the month, rising an hour before the Sun. A good apparition.
Comets.
In the southeast, Comet 10P/Tempel can be found on the horizon at 11.30pm on the 1st . It should be at mag 8-ish so just visible, use binoculars. That's the theory, but I couldn't see it with a 260mm telescope, so it's fainter than forecast. It’s in Cetus and will stay there for the month without moving much. It’ll not get much above 16° above the horizon though, and that in the early part of September.
Comet 103P/Hartley should also be visible in binoculars in Lacerta’s bottom left corner, then move up to Andromeda’s bottom centre by the 27th, near Zeta Cass. Steadily brightening, we hope.
Meteors Showers. There are 5 showers with peaks in September but none with projected rates more than 7/hour at the Zenith, hardly different to those from Sporadica.
Satellites. ISS.
Lots of ISS passes over Doncaster from the 1st to the 11th. Almost all start low in the west and pass between the west and south to descend into the east and south. They’re of a good brightness, mag –1 to mag –3, and are timed as follows.
1st 19:24
1st 20:59
2nd 19:51
2nd 21:26
3rd 20:18
3rd 21:53
4th 19:10
4th 20:45
5th 19:37
5th 21:12
6th 20:04
7th 18:56
7th 20:32
8th 19:23
9th 19:50
10th 18:42
11th 19:09
Iridium Flares
Lots of them too.
01 Sep 02:02:43 mag-4 32°up in the WNW
01 Sep 03:30:57 mag-0 61° up in the WSW
02 Sep 02:05:37 mag-0 27° up in the WNW
02 Sep 05:10:42 mag-1 63° up in the S
03 Sep 01:59:31 mag-7 28° up in the WNW
03 Sep 05:04:35 mag-6 63° up in the S
04 Sep 01:53:24 mag-1 28° up in the WNW
04 Sep 03:21:53 mag-8 55° up in the WSW
04 Sep 19:58:32 mag-3 28° up in the N
05 Sep 01:56:16 mag-7 24° up in the WNW
05 Sep 03:15:49 mag-3 54° up in the WSW
05 Sep 19:52:17 mag-7 29° up in the N
06 Sep 01:50:12 mag-1 24° up in the WNW
06 Sep 19:46:08 mag-2 31° up in the N
07 Sep 01:52:57 mag-7 20° up in the WNW
07 Sep 04:49:31 mag-0 62° up in the SSW
07 Sep 19:39:59 mag-2 33° up in the N
08 Sep 01:46:49 mag-0 20° up in the WNW
08 Sep 01:55:44 mag-1 17° up in the NW
08 Sep 04:43:26 mag-8 62° up in the SSW
09 Sep 01:49:41 mag-4 18° up in the NW
09 Sep 03:00:37 mag-3 49° up in the W
09 Sep 04:37:23 mag-1 62° up in the SSW
10 Sep 01:52:17 mag-6 14° up in the NW
10 Sep 02:54:31 mag-0 49° up in the W
11 Sep 01:46:08 mag-0 14° up in the NW
11 Sep 01:54:56 mag-2 12° up in the NW
11 Sep 04:28:12 mag-3 62° up in the SSW
12 Sep 01:48:54 mag-2 12° up in the NW
12 Sep 04:28:18 mag-1 59° up in the SSW
13 Sep 04:22:15 mag-7 60° up in the SSW
14 Sep 04:16:11 mag-2 60° up in the SSW
17 Sep 04:07:09 mag-0 55° up in the SW
18 Sep 04:01:03 mag-6 56° up in the SW
18 Sep 05:37:44 mag-8 50° up in the SSE
18 Sep 05:39:16 mag-1 51° up in the SSE
19 Sep 05:31:41 mag-2 50° up in the SSE
20 Sep 05:37:42 mag-2 11° up in the ENE
20 Sep 21:22:50 mag-1 11° up in the NNE
21 Sep 03:45:10 mag-6 53° up in the SW
21 Sep 05:31:34 mag-0 12° up in the ENE
21 Sep 20:34:45 mag-1 10° up in the N
21 Sep 21:16:51 mag-6 12° up in the NNE
22 Sep 03:45:54 mag-3 51° up in the SW
22 Sep 05:22:39 mag-0 52° up in the S
22 Sep 20:23:44 mag-6 14° up in the N
22 Sep 21:11:00 mag-2 12° up in the NNE
23 Sep 03:39:50 mag-8 51° up in the SW
23 Sep 05:16:33 mag-7 52° up in the S
23 Sep 20:17:27 mag-2 15° up in the N
23 Sep 21:14:42 mag-2 15° up in the NE
24 Sep 03:33:47 mag-0 52° up in the SW
24 Sep 05:10:28 mag-0 52° up in the SSE
24 Sep 21:08:46 mag-6 15° up in the NE
Further data may be obtained from Chris Peat's website heavens-above
If you’d like star charts of any areas please contact the Observatory on the front page of this site.