Title: September Skywatch Highlights
Location: Hawaiian Islands
Date / Time: September 2009
Comments: Brilliant JUPITER dominates September's sky. Look for the gas giant, hanging low in the southeast after sunset. It climbs high in the south before midnight & sets just before dawn. The gas giant blazes in Eastern Capricornus, & shines far brighter than any other object in this dim region of the sky. With a small telescope or good binoculars, you can view Jupiter's 4 bright Galilean moons. Galileo first saw them nearly 400 years ago with a 1.5-inch telescope of lower quality than any available today. MARS rises around 1:15 AM, along with the background stars of Gemini. Normally the Twins host two 1st magnitude stars, brothers Castor & Pollux, but Mars appears as a 3rd bright object( perhaps a Gemini triplet?). The ruddy Red Planet appears slightly brighter than the stars, & offers a nice color contrast to nearly pure white Castor & yellow-orange Pollux. Stunning VENUS rises from the Northeast, like a brilliant beacon, around 4:15 AM, & easily outshines all other points of light in the sky. Our closest planetary "neighbor" is so bright in fact, (magnitude minus -3.9), that radio stations often receive calls reporting it as a UFO! Venus traverses thru the constellation Leo this month, & on Sept. 22nd appears next to the bright star Regulus, the "heart" of the Lion. (Venus outshines 1st magnitude Regulus by 100 times!) SATURN, is currently setting with the Sun and will not be readily viewable again until it reappears in the early morning sky in October. Look for the Summer Triangle, often called the Navigators Triangle, viewable after sunset, with bright stars Vega (in Lyra the Harp), Altair (in Aquila the Eagle), & Deneb (tail of Cygnus the Swan). The Autumnal Equinox occurs on Sept. 22nd here in Hawaii. This is the moment when the Sun crosses the celestial equator, marking the change in seasons from summer to fall. On the day of the equinox, the Sun rises exactly in the East, & sets exactly in the West, & day & night are the same length. After the equinox, the Sun will appear lower & lower in the sky & the days will grow shorter. For a September sky map, visit Bishop Museum Planetarium www.bishopmuseum.org/planetarium (bishopmuseum.org).

Maintained by Roz Reiner - Kauai, Hawaii

 

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