The moon begins in its first-quarter phase right by Mars and Saturn, as the month opens. Full moon is Sept. 8. Uranus is occulted Sept. 10 in Eastern Canada; a close approach for westerners. Sept. 15, the moon is within 1.4 degrees of Aldebaran, the bright star in Taurus, the Bull. By Sept. 19, Jupiter and the thin crescent moon brush by each other.
Mercury and Spica in Virgo, the Maiden, are paired up Sept. 20. Mercury and the moon make a nice duo in the west Sept. 25. In fact, quite a gathering happens over about five days with the moon, Mercury, Ceres, Saturn, and Mars lining up in the southwest.
Venus, in the northeast before sunrise, rapidly dives to its superior conjunction. But, just before losing sight of the bright Morning Star, it brushes right up beside Regulus, the bright star in Leo, the Lion.
Mars is low in the western evening sky, coming into view, and then setting shortly after the sun. During the last few days of the month, Mars and its "twin" Antares give observers a chance to see these two orange objects close together - Mars a rust red from iron in its soil, Antares is coloured red because of carbon in its atmosphere absorbing the shorter blue-green wavelengths.
Jupiter rises just before sunrise in the east and crosses the sky during the day. Watch for the moon close by on the morning of Sept. 20.
Saturn is in the west-southwest at sunset, closing in on superior conjunction with the sun in November. Watch for the moon within less than a degree Sept. 28, an occultation in the South Pacific.
Uranus rises around midnight and crosses the sky through the night.
Neptune, a telescopic object, rises near 11 p.m. and crosses the sky through the night ahead of Uranus.
Ceres and Vesta, both Asteroid Belt objects, are occulted by the moon Sept. 27. These are two of the largest inner Solar System minor planets.
The autumnal equinox is Sept. 22/23.
Watch for the Zodiacal Light in the east before sunrise. Dust in the inner Solar System being backlit by the sun shows up as a large pyramid shape in the dawn sky.
- James Edgar has had an interest in the night sky all his life. He joined the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada in 2000 and is now the society's president, assistant editor and a contributor to the Observer's Handbook, production manager of the bi-monthly RASC Journal. He was given the RASC Service Award at the 2012 General Assembly in Edmonton.
