All information presented here is taken from my 40 page book NightScenes which is available to buy from our online shop.

 

Click on the monthly image to get a larger high resolution view of the night sky set for 53° N (Horncastle, England) but is usable for the UK and Eire.  All charts are set for the 1st of the month at 22:00 GMT (10pm), 23:00 BST during Summer Time and can be used on the other dates and times shown in each corner of the chart.

 

September 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Moon's Phases during the month:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Moon passes the visible brighter planets/stars on the following dates:

 

 

 

 

 

The Planets - Monthly Summary

 

Saturn is now lost in the twilight as it gets closer to the solar glare.  Mars may be difficult to spot in the twilight evening sky just after sunset. Venus is bright enough to still be seen but again is quite low down. The crescent moon is near to Venus on the 11th so may guide you to it during that afternoon. Ceres and Pluto are available but Ceres is quite low and sets first. Neptune is very well placed for viewing getting high in the south before midnight. Jupiter and Uranus come to opposition on the 21st and the next day are in conjunction for the 2nd time this year. Both Flora and Hebe also reach opposition on 11th and 19th and so are at their best and visible all night. Iris can be found in the morning sky in Gemini. The morning dawn sees the best apparition of Mercury from mid month into October. In the morning sky the Moon lies just below M45 after midnight on the 1st for a good photo op! Comet Hartley 2 may begin to brighten to be a binocular object during the month, details are in the links below.

 

The Visible Planets - Dusk to Dawn

 

For most charts see below for their respective hyperlinks. Charts in the text can be clicked to give a larger view.

 

If there is any chance of spotting Saturn and Mars for the last times then it has to be in the first week of September. Look shortly after sunset (~8:20pm) almost due west with binoculars for a dot of light just above the horizon. Twenty one degrees to its left lies much brighter Venus which on the 1st is in conjunction with Spica, just above right of it. Mars is just over four degrees to Venus’s upper right - will you be able to spot them? Venus lingers in the bright twilight but is now becoming difficult itself. All three planets are effectively gone by mid month but Venus has a reprise - use the moon during the afternoon of  the 11th to see if you can find the planet during the daytime with binoculars. Look due south and approximately twenty degrees above the horizon.  Neptune enjoys good visibility and is best seen in a dark sky before midnight before the moon passes 1st qtr. This gives you a better chance of locating it before moonlight makes the skies light. Now though its Jupiter and Uranus’s turn to take the spotlight. For the first three weeks Jupiter closes the gap between them and on the 21st both planets are at opposition and so visible all night. The next evening they are also in conjunction, however that is not when they appear closest in the sky. This takes place on the 18th when they are just 48 arc minutes from each other as shown above right. Look more closely at Jupiter with binoculars or a telescope. Four main moons (I=Io, E=Europa, G= Ganymede and C= Callisto) will be visible plus two faint stars in the view as seen in our chart at left. Comet Hartley 2 should begin to brighten and be a binocular object during the month although at the time of writing it is about 2 magnitudes fainter than predicted :-( so check out the details from the link below.  Our attention now switches to the morning. Mercury now takes to the stage as it quickly bounds up into the eastern morning sky. You might just get it from the 8th and if you do, look out for Regulus creeping out of the twilight above the innermost planet. Watch about ½ hour before sunrise over towards the east. It starts faint and is brightest in October but is at Greatest Elongation West (GEW) on the 19th Sept. As Regulus gets higher then Mercury begins to drop down but is brightening as well so remains in view at the end of the month. Finally on the 1st in the early hours do take a moment to spot the moon close to M45 for another fine view!

 

Charts:

Charts for Jupiter and Saturn can be found from this link. For Neptune and Uranus can be found here.  A chart for Pluto is here. Charts for the Asteroids can be found with this link  Charts for Occultations and close encounters between the Moon and deep sky objects can be found from  this link. Comet charts can be found here.

 

Meteor Showers

 

 

  September has the Piscids - a minor meteor shower with two maxima on Sept 9th and 21st. Rates are low with the ZHR at just 10 and 5! However this is a good year to try to look out for the first maxima as it occurs practically at New Moon but the second maxima is spoiled by the almost Full Moon.   

 

The Stars

 

 

Summer is still with us but now the nights are beginning  to get darker earlier and over in the high western sky lies Draco the Dragon on our monthly chart winding its way between the two Bears where its head lies near Hercules. The faintest of the four head stars is 4.9 mag Nu Draconis. It is a nice wide double for binoculars, some say it can be split with the naked eye - see what you think. Have a search for the 'Cats Eye' nebula, NGC 6543, if you have a telescope. It is a small but technically bright (mag 8.8) planetary nebula  that to the author looks  a little green!

 

 

 

Meanwhile lying below Aquila and the bright star Altair is Scutum, the shield. Below it are the star fields of the centre of our Milky Way galaxy in Sagittarius. Scutum has two Messier objects to enjoy, M11 and M26. M11 is mag 5.8 and is known as the ‘Wild Duck’ cluster, an open cluster of stars. It can be seen as a smudge in binoculars and can be found by locating the curve of stars that begin in Aquila as shown here. M26 is fainter at mag 8 but is still a binocular object. See if you can spot them!

 

Cygnus the Swan, or Northern Cross, is also becoming better placed for viewing on our monthly chart. Deneb, the ‘tail’ star is thought to be 3,200 light years away. To be so bright over such a distance means it must be an incredibly luminous star in the first place! Close to it on the sky lies NGC 7000, the North American Nebula - my image is shown at two scales. Deneb is the star near the centre right edge of my image. The images’ position is shown by the box on the chart. Binoculars will show a brighter patch near Deneb and this is usually the stars and nebula.

 

 

 

Clear skies and happy sky watching.

 

 

 

The UK & Ireland Night Sky for 2010AD

Webmaster  © Paul L Money 2010