The Sky for September 2020

September 1, 2020

The phase of the Moon is waxing gibbous today.

September 2, 2020

The Moon is Full at 5:22 U.T. today. The Full Moon of September is the Back to School Moon. This is not the Harvest Moon for 2020. The Harvest Moon is traditionally the Full Moon closest to the date of the autumnal equinox. That will occur next month.

September 3, 2020

The phase of the Moon is waning gibbous 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 4, 2020

The phase of the Moon is waning gibbous 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, 2020

The phase of the Moon is waning gibbous today. 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 6, 2020

The phase of the Moon is waning gibbous today.

September 7, 2020

The phase of the Moon is waning gibbous today. This is the birthday of the late James Van Allen, who discovered the zones of radiation surrounding the Earth.

September 8, 2020

The phase of the Moon is waning 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, 2020

The phase of the Moon is waning gibbous today. Forty-five 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, 2020

Welcome to Planetary Astronomy for the Fall Semester of 2020. The Moon reaches third quarter phase at 9:26 U.T. today. Today is the birthday of James Keeler, discoverer of the thin, dark gap in the outer edge of Saturn's rings.

September 11, 2020

The phase of the Moon is waning crescent today. Look very low in the south after sunset to see the red giant star called Antares.

September 12, 2020

The phase of the Moon is waning crescent today. For Northern Hemisphere observers, the bright star Vega is essentially overhead as darkness falls. For much of my life, Vega overhead at sunset has signaled the beginning of a new school year.

September 13, 2020

The phase of the Moon is waning crescent today. Look for the Great Square of Pegusus in the east tonight at about 10 PM. However, if you do not have a dark sky, you will just be able to see the four stars of the square. Click on the image to the left for a preview.

September 14, 2020

The Moon is a waning crescent today.

September 15, 2020

The phase of the Moon is waning crescent 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, 2020

The phase of the Moon is waning crescent 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, 2020

The Moon is New at U.T. today. My wish is for clear skies for you tonight! Jupiter and Saturn will be dominant in the south. 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, 2020

The phase of the Moon is waxing crescent today. Vega is nearly overhead for most Americans 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, 2020

The phase of the Moon is waxing crescent today.

September 20, 2020

The phase of the Moon is waxing crescent today.

September 21, 2020

The phase of the Moon is waxing crescent today.

September 22, 2020

The phase of the Moon is waxing crescent today. This is the date of the autumnal equinox for 2020, the first day of autumn in the northern hemisphere. At 13:30 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.