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MOON:
New Moon:
Sept 26
Full Moon:
Sept 10
STAR GAZE (Sept 26):
Sun: sets at 7:20pm.
Moon: (illuminated 2%) The New Moon is on the night of our Star Gaze!
Jupiter & it's moons: Jupiter rises 2 hours before the sun, so will
not be high enough to observe well.
PLANETS:
Mercury: Greatest elongation is on
Sept 26 (night of the Star Gaze!), only 18 degrees from the Sun. But the separation
is vertical in relation to the horizon, so it is a good time to catch Mercury.
It is 51% illuminated and 7" diameter, so will be fun to try and see it's
shape in a high-power eye piece.
Venus: On the far side of the sun
and very close to the Sun in the evening sky (11 degrees away). Too low to the
horizon to get a sharp view, if you can even spot it. 98% illuminated on the
26th.
Mars!: 25.0" on Sept 1, it decreases to 20.9"
on the 30th. Still a good view. Closest approach to Earth was on August 27th.
This was the red planet's closest approach to Earth in at least 2000 years!
Unfortunately, since Mars is south of the ecliptic, it will be only about 38
degrees above the southern horizon when it crosses the meridian on the night
of the gaze, so Earth's atmosphere will blur the image a bit here at 35.5 degrees
north. (To get Mars higher in the sky for a sharper view, I recommend a quick
trip to Bolivia. How DO you say, "Yes sir, my relatives will be glad to
pay a substantial ransom." in Spanish?)
Saturn: Rises at 12:55 am on the night of the Gaze.
Transits at 8:04am, but good views to be had near sunrise.
Jupiter: Jupiter rises 2.5 hours before the
sun by month's end, but still will not be high enough to observe well.
Uranus: Was at opposition in August, so a good time to find it.
Neptune: Was at opposition in August, so
a good time to find it.
Asteroids: Pallas (in Cetus) transits at
3:17am on the night of the gaze, at mag 8.4. You can see it in binoculars.
Ceres
(in Gemini) rises at 1:05am on the night of the gaze, doesn't transit until
after sunrise. Magnitude 8.7
DEEP SKY OBJECTS (DSO's): (Not
the biggest or best, but interesting)
Edge-on Galaxies:
NGC 891: Mag 9.9, size is 9'x2' thru an 8" scope. It appears
large, so it seems dimmer than it's magnitude would indicate. A 12" scope
is needed to see it's dark lane. 16" scopes show much detail, such as the
"chinmeys" in the dark lane. This galaxy in inclined 88.2 degrees
to our line of site (1.8 degrees from edge-on). (Location: 02hr 23m RA
+42 deg 21' Dec, in Andromeda)
NGC676: Mag 9.6, size is about 3'x1' thru amateur scopes. A superimposed
star from our galaxy makes this galaxy's core deceptively bright. Individual
stars can be seen thru 16" scopes. It's location is relatively easy to
find in a finder scope, after you find the bottom of the deep "V"
in Pisces. (Location: 01hr 49m RA +05 deg 54' Dec, in Pisces)
(Note:These 2 galaxies transit at about 2:00am in Mid-September. This puts them
highest in the sky just after many lights are turned out for the night.)
HIGHLIGHTS:
Sept 10: Harvest Moon. This is the full moon nearest
the fall equinox (Sept 23). The Moon is on the celestial equator at this time,
and is progressing "up " (westward on) that equator. This helps compensate
for the Moon's eastward movement against the stars, so the Moon rises only about
30 minutes later each night, instead of it's usual 50 minutes. This is more
pronounced the further north you are, until eventually, at 62 degrees north,
the Moon is actually rising earlier each night.
Sept 12: Saturn within 0.9 degrees on Ceres, see
"Asteroids" above. Ceres is MUCH closer to us than is Saturn (2.7
AU vs 9.14 AU).
Sept 23: Comet C/2002 O7 Linear at perihelion,
Mag 7. Maybe at it's brightest in October.
Sept 29: Mars's Winter Solstice (Summer begins in the Southern
hemisphere, Winter begins in the Northern hemisphere).
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THE BIG PICTURE:
Each chart below covers a very wide area of sky, roughly from eastern horizon
to western horizon. Constellations are green stick figures. The dividing line
between constellations are dashed blue lines. The purpose is to show the large
scale structure of the night sky: why certain types of objects are visible in
certain areas of the sky.
1.
Above: 6 hr R.A. (passes overhead on winter evenings; reaches zenith
just before sun rise on September mornings): OPEN CLUSTERS in the sky
north to south (Perseus to Pupis). Open Clusters are generally within the arms
of the galaxy and are roughly co-located with the Milky Way. They are plotted
as gray circles above. You are looking away from the center of the galaxy. (Note:
all types of objects are labeled, not just open clusters.)
2.
Above: 12 hr R.A. (passes overhead on spring evenings; not visible in
September): GALAXIES in the sky north to south (Ursa Major to Virgo).
They are plotted as blue ovals in the chart above. At 9:00pm during mid-June,
the Milky Way is rising in the east. Just to the west of the zenith is the North
Galactic Pole, in the constellation Coma Berenices. In southwest Coma Berenices
happens to be the heart of the Local Supercluster of galaxies. Many of these
galaxies are visible in medium-sized telescopes.
3.
Above: 18 hr R.A. (passes overhead on summer evenings, visible to the
west on September evenings): GLOBULAR CLUSTERS (yellow cross inside a
circle) & PLANETARY NEBULAE (purple circle in a cross) in the sky
north to south (Cygnus to Sagittarius). The lower-middle of this chart is towards
the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
Charts created using Megastar
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CLUB STARGAZE:
The September stargaze is Friday the 26th, 2003. You can check the Yahoo group for
AstroAsheville (or call Tim @ 251-0040
or John @ 251-1933 x17 (before 5:00) or 667-9268 (after 5:00)) for a go/no-go
decision and to verify location.
CLUB MEETING:
The club meeting is the first Thursday of every month, at
6 p.m. at Sim’s
Group located at 230 Short Coxe Ave., Asheville, NC.
Happy Starwatching! Dress Warm!
Blue Ridge Parkway Information
Line is 828-298-0398
(Much of the above info derived from Sky & Telescope and Astronomy magazines,
Ottewell's Astronomical Calendar, The Night Sky Observer's Guide, Megastar 5.0,
Planets202, the ol' Miller Planesphere, and a little (very little) common sense.)
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Archived Monthly Sky 2002: Feb Mar
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Dec
Archived Monthly Sky 2003: Mar Apr
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Aug