Skywatch Line for Friday, September 26, through Sunday, September 28, written by Sam Salem
This is Dudley Observatory’s Skywatch Line for Friday, September 26, through Sunday, September 28, written by Sam Salem.
On Friday, Sun rises at 6:47am and sets at 6:45pm; Moon rises at 11:46am and sets at 8:39pm.
The Moon will reach apogee, its farthest distance from Earth in its elliptical orbit, on Friday, when it’s 251,995 miles away.
On Friday, the waxing crescent Moon will begin moving through Scorpius the Scorpion. On Saturday at nightfall, the waxing crescent Moon shines about 3° or 4° left of orange Antares in upper Scorpius. Then on Sunday evening, the Moon shines above the Cat’s Eyes pair of stars in the tail of Scorpius. The pair is a little less than a fist at arm’s length below the Moon. The waxing crescent Moon floats near the direction of the center of the Milky Way galaxy and the Teapot asterism of Sagittarius the Archer.
Catch Mars, low in the western evening twilight, and Saturn as it rises, in the east as darkness falls. Mars, magnitude 1.6 in the constellation of Virgo, still may be catchable with binoculars very low in the west-northwest as twilight fades. Try about 30 or 40 minutes after sunset. Saturn, magnitude +0.7 on the border of Pisces and Aquarius, reached opposition on September 20th. and is still visible nearly all night. It rises around sunset and moves low in the east-southeast as the stars come out, lower right of the Great Square of Pegasus. Saturn climbs higher through the evening. The best time to observe it with a telescope is late evening through midnight when it’s good and high toward the southeast and south.
Watch Venus and Jupiter before dawn, as they continue to drift apart from their recent conjunction. Saturn is still there as it will be visible all night. Venus rises about a half hour before the very beginning of dawn. Watch for it to come up a little to the left of due east, far below bright Jupiter and somewhat to the left. After Venus is up but before the sky gets too bright, you’ll spot Regulus, much fainter, several degrees above it.
Jupiter, magnitude –2.1 in the constellation of Gemini, rises around 1am and dominates the east as the morning hours advance. Castor and Pollux shine to Jupiter’s left or upper left. By the beginning of dawn, the three stand very high in the east, with Orion off to their right and brighter Venus coming into view far below them and a bit left.
Uranus and Neptune are not visible to the naked eye. You’ll need dark skies, and at least binoculars for Uranus and a small telescope for Neptune. Uranus lies between Venus and Saturn in the night sky and Neptune lies close to Saturn. Uranus, magnitude 5.7 in the constellation of Taurus near the Pleiades, rises around 10 pm. and gets high by midnight. Neptune, magnitude 7.8, is still just 2.4 arcseconds wide. Use the finder chart to help you locate Uranus and Neptune