Hey folks this is Seth Mayo again
curator of astronomy for the Lohman
Planetarium and welcome back for another edition of
our sky tonight and for this week we're
covering august 31st
through september 6th but we're also
going to take a look at the entire month
of september and just give a nice
general preview of what to expect
and things to look out for for this
coming
month and there's a lot to see so let's
get to it
now for the month of september the sun
will be setting earlier and earlier as
we go through the month
starting at about 7 45 at the beginning
of september
and by the end of the month we'll find
that sunset will be at about
7 10. so let's actually speed up our
time here
and set our sun for for at the beginning
of the month
around 7 45 and we'll make it nice and
dark as the sun dips below the western
horizon
we'll have a nice view of our sky
now for this month there's a lot going
on with our moon
and right away on september 2nd
is our full corn moon and that's the
celebration of
a time when you normally harvest corn
and this has roots pun intended to
native american tribes who would harvest
corn at this time of the year maybe even
harvesting late
into the night when the full moon would
be rising
at this time of the year and utilizing
some of that extra light
from the moon and so there's tradition
with these
moon names corresponding with the time
of the year
or with crops either planting or
harvesting
various crops after the full corn moon
on september 2nd we'll find that our
moon will be getting closer and closer
to this red almost star-like object
which happens to be
the planet mars and this is looking
towards the east
or southeast a bit after 10
30 and if you're out at least after 10
30
mars and the moon will be high enough
above the horizon to clearly see
so if we zoom back in what we'll do is
we're going to progress
time forward through the week and as we
do and you'll notice the
date here starting on september 2nd the
full corn moon
at 11 30. if we speed up time
you'll notice the moon getting closer
and closer to mars this is september 3rd
the 4th and then by the late evening of
september 5th or the early morning of
september 6
you will find the moon and mars will be
at their closest
and this is called a conjunction when
two or more objects get
very close to each other so we have the
red planet mars
and the waning gibbous moon within
about a degree of each other a degree is
an angular measurement in the sky
one degree equals about two full moon
widths
so what less than that is very close
proximity
and the farther south you go the closer
these objects would be
if you went all the way down to south
america
the moon would actually cover up mars in
what's called an occultation
so depending on where you are on earth
and the angle you see these objects in
the sky will determine
how close they are to each other or if
they even
overlap but at least here in north
america and particularly in florida
they're going to be getting within a
degree of each other uh in the east
after 10 30 evening of september 5th or
early morning september 6.
so you should be able to capture this
through a telescope or binoculars so if
you are asked photographer or just want
to see these two objects close with some
binoculars
this will be a great pairing of these
two solar system objects
together in the sky if you continue
following the moon after the
conjunction on the 5th and sixth with
mars you'll notice
that it will move through the eastern
sky
if you're looking in the early morning
before sunrise and the moon will
slide through some of these wintertime
stars and constellations that are now up
at this time of year in the early
morning and
by the 10th you'll find a half-lit moon
this is last
quarter as the moon is going through its
waning phases you're seeing less and
less of it
and then as we continue further into the
month we'll get to the 12th
13th and then by the 14th
in the middle of the month you'll notice
the moon will join
another non-twinkling star-like
object just above the eastern horizon
and this is another planet this time the
brightest planet in our sky
which is venus and so there it is
and earlier in the year we were talking
about venus in
the west after sunset it has transition
to the east
before sunrise and it's really nice in
the morning if you can find the crescent
moon
and even a little bit of earth shine
when the
reflected light from the earth actually
shines back onto the night side of the
moon and gives you a little bit of that
light
little area on the night part of the
moon
and then the brightest planet venus they
won't be as close as the mars
moon conjunction but still a nice
pairing and for those early morning
folks out there liking taking walks in
the morning or maybe
on the beach or something you'll have
these two objects to see in the middle
of the month particularly
on september 14th and
in the second half of the month we'll
find that the moon will again be located
in the southern part of our sky
as it was recently moving through those
summertime constellations
past the galactic center and
again getting really close to the
planets jupiter
and saturn in the more in the south
southeast
for stars and constellations this week
and
for the month of september we can
officially say goodbye to the
binary star system spica
and the constellation virgo the maiden
that it's part of
we still have an opportunity to see the
star arcturus here
inside boutiques the herdsmen arcturus
is one of the brightest stars
in our sky and looking in the south even
though we're getting into the fall
you'll still see the summer
constellations of scorpius that
s like figure that is this giant
scorpion
and the teapot shape looking
constellation that is
sagittarius they'll be pretty high in
the south still
and really high up pretty much straight
up right when it gets dark this month
is something called the summer triangle
which we've spoken
a lot about in the past this asterism
that you see here
and those three stars are part of very
prominent constellation
cygnus the swan aquila the eagle
and lyra the harp
and if we look towards the east we will
start to see
more of these fall constellations
and as we move a little bit later into
the evening
for the eastern part of the sky we can
start to see this big square
shape of pegasus right here and looking
even to the northeast
better views of the w constellation
which is
cassiopeia which is a queen
and her daughter andromeda right here
so these are some constellations to look
for to look
forward to for this time of year and
some that
are from this past summer but still very
high in the sky
and easy to spot for this month
and lastly as you know in september we
celebrate the beginning of fall and end
of
the summer time and that is the time of
year when the path
of the sun crosses
the equatorial line in the sky earth's
equator projected to the sky
and that crossing point we have two of
them
the vernal equinox is in the spring and
this one in the fall is called the
autumnal
equinox so we'll have about equal amount
of day
and night so we can celebrate that on
tuesday
september 22nd this year
so these are the great things to see
this week and
for this month and in the next couple
episodes we'll talk more
specifically about the great events and
objects you can see for the month
of september pertaining to that week so
hopefully you get a chance this month to
really
celebrate the sky celebrate the change
of seasons
and the lovely conjunctions going on
with the moon and various planets
thank you again for tuning in to our sky
tonight program again stop by the loman
planetarium if you have the time
uh where we're doing live shows we're
doing it safely
and we'd love to see you in person but
again online
as well and please give us your
questions we'll try to answer those
online too when we can
uh we love questions and trying to
answer them and
really connect with you all um and we
really appreciate
the the community and what you've all
done to support us
through all of this so take care happy
star gazing
and happy fall celebration
 
