What's Up In The Sky Now?

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“The most important feature of any telescope is the imagination with which it is used.” – Vera Rubin, American Astronomer

The week of September 6-14 is being called the “Week of the Planets” as our Moon meets (one-by-one) with Mars, Jupiter, Mercury and Venus.

MERCURY - the Moon passes Mercury in the evening twilight of the 12th, both being visible for a very brief 20 minutes after sunset. This tiny planet joins Venus on the 30th as they are both low in the western sky.

VENUS - is still our Evening Star, but it continues to set earlier each evening, shortly after sunset. On the 1st it shares the sky with the bright star Spica. Check out the thin crescent of Venus, Spica and the Moon as they gather together in the early evening at dusk on the 13th.

Then on September 22nd, Venus will be at its brightest of 2026 but is only at 22% illuminated, so it will appear as a small crescent. It is so bright while being so small due to it being so close to Earth.

Fun fact: When Venus shows in its full phase, it is actually at its farthest point from Earth, making it appear smaller and dimmer.

EARTH  - Autumnal Equinox happens on the 22nd at 7:05 PM CDT, providing equal hours of daylight and night. On this day, the Sun rises due east and sets due west.

MARS - The red planet slowly brightens this month as it rises after 2 AM. Our Moon joins the planet in the early hours of the 6th. Then Mars sits near Pollux, in the constellation Gemini, on the 13th.

JUPITER - has moved into our morning sky as it now rises after 4 AM this month. On the 8th, the planet is near the Moon in the early morning hours. Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon, transits the planet the morning of the 29th. The transit is expected to start about 4:00 AM CDT and last almost 3 hours.

SATURN - We welcome back the beautiful ringed planet as it finally returns to our evening skies and rises earlier each night this month. We are excited to watch as the rings begin to open more. About midnight on the 25th, the Moon & Neptune join Saturn in our southern sky.

URANUS - both evenings of the 3rd & 4th we find Uranus in Taurus constellation with the Moon & the Pleiades (open star cluster) nearby. Notice the location of the Moon as it moves each night.

NEPTUNE - is at opposition on the 25th at 8:28 PM CDT when it is at its closest point to Earth, although it is still only a tiny blue dot to see and too faint to see without binoculars or telescope. You have to rise early in the mornings to see Neptune this month.

• 04 – 3rd / Last quarter
• 10 – NEW Moon at 10:26 PM CDT
• 18 – 1st quarter
• 26 – FULL Moon at 11:49 AM CDT. 

September's full moon is known as the Harvest Moon, as the large, bright Moon guided farmers through the long evenings of work.