SKY VIEWS   September 2010

Moon Phase right now.

Jay Respler        Freehold NJ         732-431-1464        E-mail: JRespler@superlink.net

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 Jupiter, the solar system's largest planet, will
dominate the sky nearly all night during September, presenting its best
appearance in almost 50 years. Glowing low in the east as evening twilight
fades, Jupiter will climb high in the south before midnight and set in the
west around the time morning twilight begins. With no bright stars nearby,
the planet will be easy to spot. Jupiter's four brightest moons were
discovered by Galileo, and they can usually be seen with binoculars. All
four of these moons will be grouped to the east of Jupiter before the
morning sky brightens on Sept. 24.

Venus and Mars will form a tight trio with the bright white star Spica low
in the west-southwest at the beginning of the month. Brilliant white Venus
on the left (south) will be 300 times brighter than pale orange Mars on
the right, which will be hard to see without binoculars in the bright glow
of twilight. The two planets will remain close all month as Spica
gradually moves away from them toward the right (west).

As the evening sky darkens early in the month, Saturn will be visible with
binoculars very low in the west, far to the right of Venus. By mid-month
Saturn will be too close to the sun to be seen, and it will pass through
conjunction with the sun on Sept. 30.

In the last two weeks of the month, Mercury will become visible very low
in the east-northeast about a half hour before sunrise. Look for the white
pinpoint of light glimmering through the morning twilight just below the
bright white star Regulus in the constellation Leo the Lion. This will be
Mercury's best morning appearance of the year for observers at
mid-northern latitudes.

International Space Station

The International Space Station can be seen from time to time as it
crosses the sky, if you know when and where to look. Information on how to
locate it is provided at
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/quickstart/index.html.

Aurora

On a clear September night, you may be lucky enough to see an aurora
(sometimes called "northern lights"). These silent ribbons and curtains of
light can appear whenever the sun is active, but they are especially
likely from August to October. Eruptions from the sun's surface hurl
enormous amounts of charged particles into space, and when some of these
solar particles head in our direction, they cause auroral activity. For
details and photographs, see
http://www.spaceweather.com/aurora/gallery_01aug10_page6.htm?PHPSESSID=q3urkqgsvckr3sh20s6lvhl235.
You can watch for auroras when they are most likely to happen by checking
Web sites such as http://www.spaceweather.com and
http://www.sec.noaa.gov/. Sightings of auroras are reported at
http://www.spacew.com/www/aurora.html.

Equinox

The sun will reach the September equinox on Sept. 22 at 11:09 p.m. EDT
(Sept.23 at 3:09 Universal Time) marking the start of fall in the Northern
Hemisphere and spring in the Southern Hemisphere. For the next six months
in the Northern Hemisphere, the nights will be longer than the days.

Moon phases

The moon will be at third quarter on Sept. 1, new on Sept. 8, at first
quarter on Sept. 15 and full (the Harvest Moon) on Sept. 23.

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Questions about space and astronomy, and comments and suggestions about this SkyViews site are welcome.
 Write to Jay Respler,   JRespler@superlink.net

Sky Views is compiled by Jay Respler and is based on information from the Sky Report
of Abrams Planetarium, Department of Physics & Astronomy at Michigan State University, and Hal Kibbey of the Indiana University Office of Communications & Marketing. Thanks are extended for their cooperation.