September 1, 2019
The phase of the Moon is waxing
crescent today.
The Moon is as far north of the
ecliptic as it can get today. This makes
for a particularly high altitude of the
waxing Moon above the sunset horizon,
especially at this time of year.
September 2, 2019
The phase of the Moon is waxing
crescent today.
That bright red star that you see
one third of the way up in the west at
9:30 PM is Arcturus, a Red Giant in the
constellation of Boötes.
September 3, 2019
The phase of the Moon is waxing
crescent today.
Mercury is in superior conjunction
with the Sun today at 21:42 U.T. It is on
the far side of the Sun and quite
unobservable; 1.369 A.U. away from
Earth.
September 4, 2019
The phase of the Moon is waxing
crescent today.
If you are fortunate enough to
have a dark enough sky, look for the
‘Teapot’ asterism of the constellation
of Sagittarius tonight. The Milky Way
looks like steam rising from the
teapot. Click on the image to the left.
Of course, the lines won’t be in the sky!
September 5, 2019
The phase of the Moon is waxing
crescent today.
Welcome to Planetary Astronomy.
After dark, look almost all the way
up in the southwest to find the
trapezoid of stars that form the
constellation of Hercules. On the right
edge of this trapezoid, you may see a
fuzzy star which is actually the globular
cluster M13.
September 7, 2019
The phase of the Moon is waxing
gibbous today.
This is the birthday of the late
James Van Allen, who discovered the
zones of radiation surrounding the
Earth.
September 8, 2019
The phase of the Moon is waxing
gibbous today
The bright red star you see about
one third of the way up in the west at
sunset is called Arcturus, the brightest
star of the constellation Boötes. It's a
relatively nearby Red Giant star.
September 9, 2019
The phase of the Moon is waxing
gibbous today.
Forty-four years ago today, the
Viking 2 spacecraft was launched on a
mission to Mars with the goal to land
on the surface of the Red Planet in a
region called Utopia.
September 10, 2019
September 11, 2019
The phase of the Moon is waxing
gibbous today.
Look very low in the south after
sunset to see the red giant star called
Antares.
September 12, 2019
September 13, 2019
The phase of the Moon is waxing
gibbous today.
Look for the Great Square of
Pegusus in the east tonight at about
10 PM.
Click on the image to the left for
a preview.
September 14, 2019
The phase of the Moon is Full at
4:33 U.T. today. The Full Moon of
September is the Back to School Moon.
This is the Harvest Moon, the Full
Moon closest to the date of the
autumnal equinox.
September 15, 2019
The phase of the Moon is waning
gibbous today.
Have you seen the ‘W’ shape of
the constellation Cassiopeia in the
northeast after sunset? Click on the
image to the left for help finding this
shape.
September 16, 2019
The phase of the Moon is waning
gibbous today.
That bright star right overhead for
northern observers is Vega, one of three
stars in the Summer Triangle. Vega is
only 25 light years away. Altair below is
closer still at 16 L.Y. But Deneb, to the
left, is over 100 times farther away than
the other two at 3200 Light years.
September 17, 2019
The phase of the Moon is waning
gibbous today.
In the east after sunset, You’ll see
the constellation of Andromeda , home
to the famous M31 spiral galaxy, the
closest spiral galaxy to our own Milky
Way.
September 18, 2019
The phase of the Moon is waning
gibbous today.
Vega is nearly overhead at
sunset; a blue-white star which is
about 27 light years away from Earth.
It is the fifth brightest star in the sky
and should be visible even for
observers at the center of the
brightest city.
September 19, 2019
The phase of the Moon is waning
gibbous today.
September 20, 2019
The phase of the Moon is waning
gibbous today.
September 21, 2019
The phase of the Moon is waning
gibbous today.
September 23, 2019
The phase of the Moon is waning
crescent today.
This is the date of the autumnal
equinox, the first day of autumn in the
northern hemisphere. At 7:50 U.T. the
Sun crosses the celestial equator.
There will be nearly the same number
of hours of daylight and darkness. See
the link above for the technical
explanation.
September 24, 2019
The phase of the Moon is waning
crescent today.
Venus is now entering the evening
sky, but it will be another month or
two before the planet is far enough
away from the Sun at sunset to be
easily observable.
September 25, 2019
The phase of the Moon is waning
crescent today.
September 26, 2019
The phase of the Moon is waning
crescent today.
September 27, 2019
The phase of the Moon is waning
crescent today.
September 29, 2019
The Moon is a waxing crescent
today.
September 30, 2019
The phase of the Moon is waxing
crescent today.
CURRENT MOON
