{"id":2617,"date":"2022-09-02T18:05:23","date_gmt":"2022-09-02T18:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=2617"},"modified":"2022-09-02T18:09:23","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T18:09:23","slug":"astrocal-september-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=2617","title":{"rendered":"AstroCal – September 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

AstroCal – September 2022<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Before we get too deep into the fall observing highlights, let us give two thumbs up and a generous pat on the back to all of the intrepid photographers who have been posting auroral displays this summer.\u00a0 There have been some spectacular displays of northern lights and we need to tip the hat to those who trot off in the late night and early morning hours to snap pictures of the celestial fireworks.\u00a0 Thank you for sharing your beautiful work particularly those featuring the Lake Superior shoreline!\u00a0 This might also be a good time to mention the faint <\/span>Zodiacal Light<\/b> that should be visible from September 24 to October 7.\u00a0 According to the Abrams planetarium, \u201cLook towards the east 1 \u00bd hours before sunrise,\u00a0 To see the Zodiacal Light, you\u2019ll have to observe from a dark site with no light pollution.\u00a0 The Zodiacal Light is caused by sunlight reflecting off of dust in the plan of the solar system.\u201d\u00a0 It is hard enough to see, we will call this our monthly observing challenge.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As for the rest of the month, evening planets are again a viewing option.\u00a0 <\/span>Saturn<\/b> is easy to see in the southeast at mid-twilight all this month.\u00a0 Telescopic views will show the <\/span>Rings<\/b> tilted a an angle of 15 degrees.\u00a0 In retrograde motion until October 22, one can track its backward motion as Saturn\u2019s distance to the star Iota Cap closes from 2 deg 3 min to 1 degree by month\u2019s end.\u00a0 <\/span>Jupiter <\/b>rises in the east 41 minutes <\/span>after<\/span><\/i> sunset on Sept 1 and 11 min<\/span> before<\/span><\/i> sunset on Sept 30.\u00a0 Jupiter will be at <\/span>opposition<\/b> (located in our sky directly opposite from the <\/span>Sun<\/b>) on Sept 26 while <\/span>Asteroid Juno<\/b> (magnitude 7.7) will be at opposition on Sept 7.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The morning planets will include <\/span>Venus, Mars, <\/b>and <\/span>Jupiter.\u00a0 <\/b>Venus will be very low in the ENE and be lost in the Sun\u2019s glare later in the month.\u00a0 Venus reaches superior conjunction<\/span><\/p>\n

(located between the Earth and the Sun) on October 22 before re-emerging as an evening planet in December.\u00a0 Mars starts the month close to the <\/span>Pleiades <\/b>star cluster in <\/span>Taurus the Bull <\/b>and will move closer to the star <\/span>Aldebaran<\/b>, ending the month 11 degrees east of the star.\u00a0 Jupiter will drop lower in the western sky each morning.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The <\/span>Moon<\/b> will have already reached the <\/span>First Quarter<\/b> phase by Sept 3 with the <\/span>Full, Last Quarter, <\/b>and <\/span>New Moon <\/b>taking place on Sept 10, 17, and 25.\u00a0 The last event of note for September will be the <\/span>Autumnal Equinox <\/b>on Sept 22 (9:04 p.m. EDT) when Autumn officially begins in the northern hemisphere.\u00a0 The term \u2018equinox\u2019 translates as \u2018equal night\u2019 and it happens in the fall and spring when the vertical ray of the Sun crosses the Earth\u2019s equator.\u00a0 During this time of the year, every location on the planet experiences 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness.\u00a0 We will be officially halfway to the shortest daylight period of the year in December, but there will still be ample hours of daylight to enjoy the beautiful fall weather.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Compiled by Ken Raisanen of WOAS-FM – information provided by <\/span>Abrams Planetarium Sky Calendar<\/span><\/i>, Michigan State University.\u00a0 More information and subscription information can be found on their website at <\/span>http:\/\/abramsplanetarium.org\/<\/span><\/a>skycalendar\/ or on Twitter at <\/span>http:\/\/twitter.com\/AbramsSkyNotes<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 Yearly subscriptions cost $12 and can be started anytime. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Top Piece Video:\u00a0 Blue Oyster Cult and\u00a0Harvest Moon<\/em> – another harbinger of the fall season!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AstroCal – September 2022   \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Before we get too deep into the fall observing highlights, let us give two thumbs up and a generous pat on the back to all of the intrepid photographers who have been posting auroral displays this summer.\u00a0 There have been some spectacular displays of northern lights and we need to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2617"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2620,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2617\/revisions\/2620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}