Whats Up for September? Venus goes back to the early morning sky, the Harvest Moon, and in search of zodiacal light …
After brightening our night skies for most of this year, Venus has actually now switched to being a morning sky item. Try to find the superheated, cloud-covered planet as a brilliant beacon in the eastern sky before dawn throughout the month. It will appear fairly high in the sky from the Northern Hemisphere– reaching 30 to 40 degrees above the horizon by months end, depending upon your latitude.
Saturn then sets a couple of hours before daybreak, leaving Jupiter to rule the sky on its own till the Sun comes up. Youll find Jupiter together with the Moon, high in the southwest before dawn on September 4th.
The moon on September 29th will be the 4th and final supermoon of the year. As we discussed in last months video, supermoons are full moons that occur when the Moon is near the closest point in its orbit around Earth.
This months complete moon is also understood as the Harvest Moon, being the closest full moon to the September equinox. This is around the time when great deals of crops in the Northern Hemisphere reach their peak. The harvest moon provides a few days of intense moonlight right after sunset, which generally assisted farmers have a bit more time to bring in their crops in advance of the first frost.
On cool, moonless September mornings before dawn, you may have a chance to search for the zodiacal light. Its a triangular or cone-shaped pillar of faint light that stretches upward from the horizon, and its easiest to observe around the time of the equinoxes in March and September.
The zodiacal light is sunshine showing off of an interplanetary dust cloud. This dust fills the inner solar system out to the inner fringes of the primary asteroid belt, simply previous Mars.
In September, Northern Hemisphere skywatchers must look for the zodiacal light in the east throughout the hour or two before early morning golden begins. Southern Hemisphere observers will desire to want to the west in the hour following night twilight.
Reasonably dark skies give you the finest possibility to observe it, and the Moon will be missing from pre-dawn skies during the latter half of September, making zodiacal light simpler to identify north of the equator throughout that time.
Now, many of this dust orbits the Sun in the very same aircraft as the worlds do. Its like looking out, into the disk of the solar system. Its thought to have several prospective sources consisting of comets, the planet Mars, and asteroids.
And speaking of asteroids, well quickly have opportunities to study one here in the world, when NASAs OSIRIS-REx objective provides its samples from asteroid Bennu this month. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected a sample of rocks and dust from the surface of the near-Earth asteroid in 2020, and its now approaching Earth to return them for research study. As it nears Earth, the spacecraft will launch its sample return pill, which will land in Utah on September 24th.
Here are the stages of the Moon for September.
Stay up to date with all of NASAs objectives to explore the solar system and beyond at nasa.gov. Im Preston Dyches from NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, whichs Whats Up for this month.
What odd world is this? Earth. In the foreground of the included image are the Pinnacles, uncommon rock spires in Nambung National Park in Western Australia. Made of ancient sea shells (limestone), how these human-sized picturesque spires formed stays a subject of research study. A ray of zodiacal light, sunshine shown by dust grains orbiting between the planets in the Solar System, increases from the horizon near the image. Arching across the top is the main band of our Milky Way Galaxy. The planets Jupiter and Saturn, in addition to several popular stars are also visible in the background night sky. Credit & & Copyright: Jingyi Zhang
What are some skywatching highlights in September 2023?
Venus goes back to the morning skies as a brilliant beacon in the east. The moon at the end of the month is referred to as the Harvest Moon. And if you have access to dark skies away from urban light pollution, you might be able to glance the faint, radiant pillar of the zodiacal light.
The worlds Jupiter and Saturn, as well as several famous stars are also noticeable in the background night sky. The full moon at the end of the month is understood as the Harvest Moon. And if you have access to dark skies away from urban light pollution, you might be able to glance the faint, radiant pillar of the zodiacal light.
Venus returns to the morning sky, the Harvest Moon, and in search of zodiacal light …
After brightening our evening night for most many this year, Venus has now switched over to being a morning sky objectItem This months full moon is also understood as the Harvest Moon, being the closest complete moon to the September equinox.