September Night Sky

There's a couple of things going on tonight and tomorrow that are stargazer-worthy.

First-off is the New Moon for September. 

Several years ago I published a post about the problem of light pollution and how it can mess-up your viewing of the celestial bodies on a dark night.  Tonight offers a terrific opportunity to venture outside for what might be the last of the autumn stargazing before the evenings grow colder.  This is because it will be extra dark tonight.  The darkness is a consequence of the new moon.  

With this new moon, the earth, moon and sun will align with one another in a straight line.  The moon will fall between the earth and the sun appearing in front of the sun and hidden by the glare. 

In this alignment the moon is 'disappears' because the side we see not illuminated.  Word to the wise - never observe anything in the direct path of the sun.  Doing so may damage your eyes and cause permanent blindness. 

Tomorrow evening Jupiter will be making its closest approach to earth in 70 years and will be directly in opposition to earth.  Opposition is the astronomical term for when a planet is in directly aligned behind the earth opposite of the sun.  This can only occur with the outer planets and under these circumstances the planet is not only easier to view - it is viewable all night. 

You will find Jupiter in the constellation Pisces (the fishes) and will appear as the brightest object on the eastern horizon just after sunset.  How it Jupiter will climb depends upon your latitude.  Where we are (half-way between the equator and the pole Jupiter will rise to roughly 50 degrees. 

You can learn more about other planets you can view here.