By David Baumgartner
September is known by many astronomers to be one of the most
steady and transparent viewing skies of the year.
It is not uncommon to have half or more of our nights clear
around the city of Hollister in the month of September.
By David Baumgartner
September is known by many astronomers to be one of the most steady and transparent viewing skies of the year.
It is not uncommon to have half or more of our nights clear around the city of Hollister in the month of September.
But if you are able to venture down south around the Panoche or Pinnacles area you will find that almost all the nights are clear mainly because of the lack of morning or evening fog.
Except, of course, when a few friends of mine and I plan way ahead of time to go sky gazing down there, then you can count on it being the one night when it is cloudy. Maybe it is the friends I keep, I don’t know.
Even though Jupiter and Mars are hidden by the Sun and cannot be seen this month, the other three naked-eye planets put on quite a show for us in the early dawn of September.
Venus begins the month ending a close visit with the planet Saturn. The two are a mere 9 degrees from the bright star Pollux in the constellation Gemini, the twins. Both planets are rising nearly four hours before sunrise, and are high in the sky by twilight. If you take a look at both planets in your telescope, you will see that Venus, in its crescent form, looks to be larger than Saturn. But that is only because Saturn is so much farther away from us than Venus.
By the end of the month, you can catch Saturn rising around 1am. So if you don’t like getting up before sunrise, maybe you will be more comfortable staying up late to catch it at night.
As Venus wanders away from Saturn and Gemini, it will meet up with some new acquaintances, such as M44, the Beehive Star Cluster, at mid-month in the constellation Cancer, and ends the month staring down on Regulus, the heart of Leo the Lion.
On the morning of Sept. 10, the planet Mercury has its own close encounter with Regulus, coming within 0.05 degrees of the bright star.
At that same time, in addition to the Mercury and Regulus encounter, the crescent Moon will be passing by Venus and Saturn by 7 and 5 degrees respectively.
In September, we have what we call the autumn or fall equinox. This is when the Sun is overhead on the equator, so it is shining equally on the north and south hemispheres. And the days and nights are the same length, 12 hours each. (Equinox means, “equal night.”) After this, for us in the northern hemisphere, the days keep getting shorter and cooler, as winter approaches.
The words fall and autumn mean the same season. Nowadays Americans use the word “fall” and the British people have a tendency to use “autumn”, but most of them understand each word means the same.
Two somewhat bright comets remain in the sky for September. They can be seen all month long, but it is best to wait until the second week, when the Moon’s light doesn’t interfere with viewing. Linear (C/2003 K4) will be making its way through the constellation Virgo, while Neat (C/2001 Q4) can be found between The Big Dipper and Draco.
Well, lots to look at this month. Don’t be afraid to get up early a couple of mornings to take advantage of the planet parade. I hope you enjoy whatever you get a chance to see. Clear skies.
