September astronomy planet skywatch

As we begin this month, Mars is still our only evening star and Saturn rises about 2 hours after midnight. Jupiter and Mercury will be our early morning stars by month's end, rising just before dawn. Venus is still traveling too close behind the sunrise to be visible this month. The autumnal equinox occurs this month. The Capella meteor shower peaks on September 1st.

Capella is the alpha star in the constellation Auriga, the charioteer. This constellation can be located just above Gemini and Taurus along the Ecliptic. Orion hangs just below the Ecliptic at this location. A sky map depicting the location is available in the OCA public library http://www.astrocollege.com/campus/libraries.cgi. Typical rates for this shower are about 7 meteors per hour, though they have occasionally produced 30 per hour as the maximum. The star Capella rises around 10:00 p.m. in the northern hemisphere, though it will be after midnight before the constellation Auriga is fully above the eastern horizon. After this time the city lights should be low enough to catch a few radiants while waiting for Saturn to rise in the constellation Gemini around 2:30 a.m. In the southern hemisphere Capella rises around 6:15 a.m. It may be slightly possible to catch a radiant or two before sunrise dampens the view of the meteor shower's display.

If you've been observing the very bright reddish star&Mac226; with the yellowish glow around it, rising in the east as the Sun sets in the west, you know exactly where Mars is. He will now begin to diminish in brightness and rise earlier before the sunset. Mars rises around 8:15 p.m. at the beginning of September in the northern hemisphere. By mid-month, he rises around 7:15 p.m. By month's end, the red planet rises around 6:15 p.m. and daylight will prevent viewing his ascent above the eastern horizon. As sunset darkens the late September skies, he will come into view around 7:45 p.m.

In the southern hemisphere, Mars rises before sunset around 7:00 p.m. By mid-month he rises around 5:15 p.m. By month's end he rises around 4:15 p.m. This means you will have to wait for the nighttime skies to darken to view Mars. The red planet will become increasingly higher along the eastern horizon as twilight dissipates into the night and the month progresses.

Mars stations direct on the 27th, though it will be November 8th before he is out of the shadow period of the retrograde. The shadow period of a retrograde is the time frame it takes for a planet to make three passes through the same degrees of the zodiac: the first forward direct motion passage, the second backward retrograde passage, and the third forward direct passage over the same celestial territory. Therefore, the arc of the retrograde affects encroaches upon us and lingers during the shadow periods on either side of the actual retrograde.

Saturn rises around 2:30 a.m. in the northern hemisphere at the onset of September. He rises around 1:30 a.m. at mid-month. The ringed planet rises about a half hour after midnight by month's end. You will only notice a slight eastern movement of Saturn through the constellation Gemini of his sidereal position. He is beginning to slow down to station retrograde at the end of October and advances only two degrees this month.

In the southern hemisphere, Saturn rises around 5:00 a.m. By mid-month he rises around 4:15 a.m. By the close of September, the ringed planet will rise around 3:15 a.m.

At the beginning of the month, Jupiter is rising far enough ahead of the Sun to briefly come into view low in the eastern horizon before dawn encroaches. By mid September, Jupiter will rise around 5:45 a.m. in the northern hemisphere. Mercury rises an hour later. Begin to watch the eastern horizon just before sunrise to catch a glimpse of the speedy messenger before the glow of dawn blots him from view. Mercury never travels more than 28 degrees away from the Sun, which is why his viewing times are hindered significantly by the twilight of dawn or sunset. There is only a two-week window of opportunity around the times of his greatest elongations where we can catch a glimpse of Mercury. Mercury reaches his greatest western elongation on the 26th. By month's end Jupiter will rise around 5:00 a.m., followed by Mercury at 6:00 a.m. Here you will have about an hour window to catch Mercury before the glow of dawn abates his view. Mercury stations direct on the 20th. The shadow period of his retrograde extends into October 4th.

In the southern hemisphere, you may be able to catch a brief glimpse of Jupiter as he rises just before the Sun at the onset of September. He will rise around 7:00 a.m. at mid-month and 6:00 a.m. at month's end. Mercury rises around 6:45 a.m. on the 26th when he reaches greatest western elongation. He will be briefly visible for a week or so on either side of this date just before dawn.

The Moon, as usual, will be your guide to locating the visible planets in the northern hemisphere as she makes her monthly trek through the constellations of the zodiac. On the 8th, a gibbous moon approaches Mars; she will be west of him in the evening sky. She will have danced on past by the evening of the 9th and will appear east of the red planet. On the 19th, a third quarter Moon will reach the feet of the Gemini twins as she approaches Saturn. On the 20th, she will join him in the late night skies, dancing just to the left. By the night of the 21st, she will be east of the twin's head and into the dim stars of the constellation Cancer. She approaches Jupiter on the 23rd. The bright star of the constellation Leo that you will see between the Moon and Jupiter is Regulus. By the 24th, she passes Jupiter to hang just below. Mercury is now visible below the very slender balsamic Moon. On the 25th the Moon will have passed Mercury to join the Sun. A sky map of the northern hemisphere at 6:00 a.m. EDT on the morning of the 24th is available in the OCA public library http://www.astrocollege.com/campus/libraries.cgi. This map depicts the positions of Mercury, Moon, Jupiter and Saturn.

The Moon will be your guide to locating the planets in the southern hemisphere as well. On the 9th watch for Mars to pop into view just to the right of the Moon as the skies darken. The two come extremely close in the southern skies, where the Moon almost occults Mars. The Moon will appear to be almost on top of the bright red planet. On the 19th the Moon will rise around 3:00 a.m. with Saturn in tow an hour later. On the 20th, the Moon will dance next to Saturn in the morning sky east of the feet of the Gemini twins. On the 24th, the Moon will guide you to the very brief showing of Jupiter and Mercury before the glow of dawn blots them from view. The Moon will be to the left of the two planets, with Jupiter above Mercury. Dawn will be upon you quickly and the window of opportunity for the sighting of these planets is short. A sky map of the morning of the 24th is available in the OCA public library depicting the positions of the Moon, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn. http://www.astrocollege.com/campus/libraries.cgi

The First Quarter Moon occurs on the 3rd at 8:34 a.m. EDT. The Full Moon occurs on the 10th at 12:36 p.m. EDT. The Moon reaches apogee, her furthest distance from Earth, on the 16th at 5:22 a.m. EDT. The Third Quarter Moon occurs on the 18th at 3:03 p.m. EDT. The New Moon occurs on the 25th at 11:09 p.m. EDT. The Moon reaches perigee, her closest distance to Earth, on the 28th at 1:59 a.m. EDT.

The autumnal equinox occurs on the 23rd at 6:47 a.m. EDT. This is when the Sun ingresses into Tropical Libra. The autumnal equinox occurs when the Sun reaches the intersections of the Ecliptic and the Celestial Equator in the west. This intersection is marked by 00Libra of the tropical zodiac that correlates to our seasons. The same thing happens at the spring equinox when the Sun reaches this intersection in the east, which marks 00Aries of the tropical zodiac. The solstice points are when the Sun is furthest from the Celestial Equator in the North and South, marking summer and winter and 00Cancer and 00Capricorn respectively of the tropical zodiac.

Happy stargazing!

Julene M. Johnson, NCGR-III
Media Director, OCA
Instructor, OCA
ONLINE College of Astrology
www.astrocollege.com
FIRST in Online Astrological Education

Skywatch September 2003

Mars will be at its closest for 60,000 years!

by Julene M Johnson