➢ Mercury: Will be barely visible in the west, at dusk, as a small, but bright (-0.0) object below Venus. Mercury will be setting with the sun

by the end of the month.

➢ Venus: Is present in the western twilight again, as our brightest planet (-4.4 mag), and will set before 10pm. The next two nights you will

find the crescent moon near Venus.

➢ Moon: We had a New Moon on the 7th so tonight we will see a waxing crescent at about 9% illumination. On Monday, the 13th we will

see the first Quarter and a Full Moon on the 20th. The third Quarter will present itself on September 28th and a New Moon will return

again on Wednesday, October 6th.

➢ Mars: Mars will be too close to the sun to be visible easily.

➢ Jupiter: Bright evening object in the Southeastern sky (-2.7 mag). It will be behind Saturn, but almost 3 times larger; becoming higher in

the sky through the next several weeks.

➢ Saturn: Rising before Jupiter, it will be visible through September, and will set before dawn. It will have an apparent magnitude of (+0.4).

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September planets:

The International Space Station: This chart will indicate the most visible flyovers, with at least -2.0 magnitude, and will reach at least

30°altitude. I used “Heavens-Above.com” this month again, where you can check on satellite flyover events for few weeks in advance.

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September satellites:

The “Big Dipper” Ursa Major is opposite the 5 star “W” of Cassiopeia, with the “North Star” in between.

This month Ursa Major can be found in the Northwestern sky.

September Looking North:

The night sky maps depict 9:00 pm tonight. A planisphere or app will help you adjust your perspective relative to time, date and orientation.

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Polaris, the brightest star (mag +2.0) in Ursa Minor ”the little Bear”.

September looking West:

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Spica, the brightest star (mag +1.0) in Virgo, the “Maiden”.

Arcturus, the brightest star (mag +0.0) in Boötes, the “Herdsman”.

September looking South:

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Antares, the brightest star (mag +1.0) in Scorpius, the “Scorpion”.

Near the “Teapot” of Sagittarius, above the ecliptic, you will find several items to observe. M22, a globular cluster, the 3rd brightest.M23, a faint elongated star cluster.M24, the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud.M25, a bright open star cluster.

Near the “Stinger” of Scorpius, below the ecliptic, you will find a few more items to observe. M6, Butterfly cluster.M7, Ptolemy’s cluster. An open cluster.

September looking East:

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Very high toward the east you will see the asterism “the Summer Triangle”. It is formed by 3 bright stars, Vega, Deneb and Altair. Nightly, the Triangle will appear higher each day as the summer passes.

Altair, the brightest star in Aquila, the “Eagle”. It is a (mag +0.8) star.

Deneb, the brightest star in Cygnus, the “Swan”, has a (mag +1.3).

Vega, the brightest object in Lyra, the “Harp”. It is a (mag -0.0) star.

September looking East:

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Jupiter and Saturn will be visible in the evening.

M31, the Andromeda Galaxy can be seen low in the eastern sky. It is in the constellation “Andromeda”.

M39, an open cluster, can be observed near Deneb.

Wikipedia.org & SkyandTelescope.org are my image sources.

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Directly overhead, in the constellation Hercules, you can see “the Great Hercules” globular cluster, M13. It can be located between the stars Vega and Arcturus.

W

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September looking Up: