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Starwatch NewsletterMinnesota Starwatch is a newsletter describing the night sky in the Midwest.
It is updated monthly, and is produced by the |
Minnesota Starwatch for September 2005
The cycle of Lunar phases this month starts out with the New Moon on the 3rd, followed by the First Quarter on the 11th, Full Moon on the 17th, and finally, the Last Quarter on the 25th of September.
Let's hope for a clear sky on the very first night of September, as it offers many interesting celestial sights. Venus and Jupiter are only about a degree apart (the length of 2 full moons), and can be seen after sunset, low in the western sky. Neptune and Uranus are best seen around midnight, when they are highest in the sky. Uranus is at opposition on the night of August 31. Opposition means that a planet is exactly opposite to the Sun, as viewed from Earth.
Mars makes a good viewing target throughout this month; it rises at about 10:30pm as the month begins, and 2-3 minutes earlier on every subsequent day, as September progresses. Mars doubles in apparent brightness during September. The angular size of its disk attains the largest size, 18 seconds of arc, or approximately 1 percent of the size of the Full Moon. If you have access to a small telescope, be sure to use it to look for features on the surface of Mars! Mars is still very close to Earth this month, but in a couple of months it will fade...the next bright viewing opportunity will not present itself for over a decade.
Make a note of September 6th in your calendar. Look towards the western sky soon after sunset on that day, and you will see a beautiful clustering of four celestial bodies: the planets Venus and Jupiter, the star Spica, and the Crescent Moon, all within five degrees of each other.
On the 22nd of the month the Sun reaches the Autumnal Equinox, which marks the beginning of Fall in our hemisphere.
For fun Astronomy Outreach programs check out our Public Outreach link, or if you're interested in how you can help build the new Minnesota Planetarium, please call 612-630-6151 or visit http://www.mplanetarium.org.
Como Planetarium is offering fun family shows about astronomy on a limited basis; please call 651-293-5398 for more info! This has been a Minnesota Starwatch produced by the University of Minnesota Astronomy Department.