Best night sky events for September 2023
JOHN TAYLOR/Guest contributor | Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 1 year, 4 months AGO
Sept. 1 — Aurigid meteor shower
This meteor shower's radiant point is located in the Auriga constellation which gives this shower its name. Your best chance to see meteors is after midnight of the 2nd. The nearly full moon will severely hamper your ability to see any meteors, so the chances of seeing Aurigid meteors is limited, so don’t expect to see more than around five meteors per hour.
Sept. 4 Conjunction of the moon, Jupiter, and the Pleiades star cluster
The moon, Jupiter and the Pleiades star cluster will be well situated above the eastern horizon after 11 p.m. The moon will have Jupiter to its right (8 degrees away) and the Pleiades to its left (7 degrees away). These three objects will be too widely spaced to fit within the field of view of your binoculars so this is mostly a naked eye event. But if you do use a pair of binoculars, you just may see pale blue Uranus just below and to the right of the moon.
Sept. 6 — Moon at last quarter
During this time of the moon’s monthly cycle, it will have traveled three-quarters of the way around in its orbit around Earth (hence its name “the last quarter”), and will appear to be half-illuminated. It rises at 10:30 p.m. How do you tell if it’s a waxing or waning moon? If you look at the moon and see that the left side is illuminated, this is a waning moon.
Sept. 9 — September Epsilon Perseid meteor shower
The September ε-Perseid meteors will seem to emanate from the Perseus constellation. Don’t expect to see a peak rate of more than five meteors per hour. After midnight is always the best time to go out to attempt to see meteors.
Sept. 14 — New moon
During the new moon, the Earth, moon and sun are nearly aligned. At this time the moon is too close to the sun's glare to be visible. If the skies are clear, this is the perfect time to go out and peruse the night sky with your handy pair of binoculars. My recommendation would be to use a pair of 10X50 (or bigger).
Sept. 22 — Moon at first quarter
The moon will only be one-quarter of the way around us at this time (making it the first quarter moon) so it will appear around half-illuminated. At this time when you look at the moon you see that the right half is illuminated, this means the moon is waxing.
Sept. 22 — September equinox
The September equinox (at 11:50 p.m.) marks the beginning of autumn for those of us in the northern hemisphere and the start of spring for those in the southern hemisphere. During the equinox, there is just about equal duration of day and night (hence the name equinox). On this date, the sun is moving across the equator from north to south so our days will continue to get shorter until the solstice in December.
Sept. 26 — Conjunction of the moon and Saturn
The moon and Saturn will be quite close to each other (3.5 degrees) nearly all night. Both will be in the constellation Aquarius. Although the pair will be too widely separated to fit in the field of view of a telescope, a telescope is still recommended to view each separately. Remember, they will still be visible to the naked eye or through binoculars.
Sept. 29 — Full moon
At this point in the moon’s orbit, it is on the opposite side of the sky from the sun. This is why we see it fully illuminated. This particular full moon is called the "harvest moon” because it is the full moon that occurs closest to the September equinox.
John Taylor is an amateur astronomer who lives in Hayden.