Current Night Sky: September 2019

The September Equinox occurs at 3:50 am EDT on September 23. This represents the instant the Sun crosses the celestial equator on its way south. By convention, it is considered the beginning of autumn in the northern hemisphere and of spring in the southern hemisphere.

The Moon & Planets: 
sky chart

Neptune reaches opposition on September 10. It is then opposite to our Sun in our sky; it rises at sunset, stays up all night, and sets at sunrise. It is also at its nearest to Earth (2.7 billion miles), at its brightest (magnitude 7.8), and at its largest (2.4 arc-seconds in diameter). It will take good binoculars or a telescope to find it in eastern Aquarius; on the 6th, it lies within 13 arc-seconds of the 4.2-magnitude star Phi Aquarii (September 10, 2019; 3:00 am EDT).

Moon

Around the time of the Harvest Moon (September 14, this year), the day-to-day motion of the Moon makes a shallow angle to the horizon. This means the Moon remains visible for a number of successive nights in the hours just after sunset. In agrarian societies, this provided a few extra nights of bright moonlight, extending the workday during the busy time of harvest.

autumnal equinox diagram

At the autumnal (or September) equinox (globe in left foreground), the Earth is experiencing equal amounts of sunlight in each hemisphere. Afterwards, the Southern Hemisphere begins to get more sunlight, leading to winter in the Northern Hemisphere (September 23, 2016, 3:50 am EDT).

Evening Planets (after sunset): 
  • Venus, W
  • Mercury, W
  • Jupiter, SW
  • Saturn, S
  • Neptune, SE
  • Uranus, E
Morning Planets (before sunrise): 
  • Neptune, W
  • Uranus, SW
Comets: 

There are no comets brighter than magnitude 8 currently visible.

Meteors: 

There are no major meteor showers in September.

Phases of the Moon: 
First Quarter Moon September 5 11:10 pm EDT
Full Moon September 14 12:33 am EDT
Last Quarter Moon September 21 10:41 pm EDT
New Moon September 28 2:26 pm EDT

Text, graphics, and animations by John Sheff. Graphics courtesy of Starry Night(©) Pro Plus 7 / Imaginova(©) Corp. Starry Night images are used with permission from Imaginova Corp. Starry Night is a registered trademark of Imaginova Corp. Star charts generated by Starry Night Pro Plus 7 © Imaginova Corp. All rights reserved. www.StarryNight.com