For September 2026, the moon is last quarter on September 4. The waning crescent moon is just above Mars on the morning of September 6, and much brighter than Jupiter on September 8. The new moon is September 10. Back in the evening sky, the moon lies to the right of Venus in twilight on September 13, and above and to the left of it on the 14th. It is interesting to show kids the crescent Venus in the telescope and compare it to the crescent Moon then. It is a graphic reminder that, like the Moon, the planets can show phases, as they too shine only by reflected sunlight. At 29% sunlit on those evenings, Venus is much more lit than the slender crescent moon beside it. The moon is waxing and will be similarly lit by September 15; compare in the telescope. The moon will be half lit on September 18, at first quarter, and much higher in the evening sky than Venus, which will pass between us and the Sun early in October.
The Autumnal Equinox in 2026 occurs at 7:05 p.m. CDT on September 22. Now the hours of day and night are equal (hence equinox, or equal night in Latin). The days in our northern hemisphere will shorten until the December Winter Solstice (then the Sun seems to stop dropping, and “ Sol stands still”) among the stars of Sagittarius. Then in Northwest Florida, the days will be only ten hours long, and the nights fourteen. The closer to the poles you get, the more extreme this seasonal change is.
The Harvest Moon, the full moon closest to said equinox, occurs only four days later, on September 26. The following evening, the waning gibbous moon lies north of Saturn, which reaches opposition, rising at sunset, the following week in early October as well.
Towards the end of September, Venus is briefly joined in the SW by Mercury, coming out from behind the Sun for most of the month. While Mercury is distant, tiny, and almost fully lit, Venus in binoculars will then be a slender crescent, only 17% sunlit when it passes just north of Mercury on the western horizon about 30 minutes after sunset. After this, Mercury climbs a little higher in the west in early October, but Venus rapidly plunges between us and the Sun, to be lost in the Sun’s glare until it reappears in the dawn sky by mid October.
Mars is in the morning sky, rising five hours before the Sun and moving from Taurus into Gemini. It will be in a straight line with Castor and Pollux on the morning of September 26. It is heading toward Jupiter lower in the east in Leo. Mars is 30 degrees above Jupiter at the beginning of September, but only 18 degrees above by the end.
Saturn is at its best now, coming to opposition in early October. Its rings are much more open than last year.
For a detailed map of northern hemisphere skies, visit www.skymaps.com.
To the northwest, we find the familiar Big Dipper getting lower each evening. Most know how to use the two pointers at the lower part of the bowl to find Polaris, our Pole Star, sitting about 30 degrees high all night in the northern sky for the Gulf Coast.
From the Dipper’s handle, we “arc” SE to bright orange Arcturus, the brightest star of Spring, and still well up in the western twilight. Just above Bootes, still almost overhead at twilight, is tiny Corona Borealis. We continue to wait for its “Blaze Star," T C Br, to erupt as a dwarf nova, which most astrophysicists predict would happen by this month. It last occurred in 1946, and became as bright as Polaris for several days, but has frustrated us so far. It will erupt just east of the easternmost star in the crown, Epsilon Coronal Borealis, and should be making news everywhere when it blows at last. It seems to build up enough hydrogen to blow off the shell around the white dwarf every 80 years or so, but the white dwarf and its red giant companion are not destroyed and start repeating the mass transfer when things settle down after the blaze.
From Arcturus, we can spike south to Spica, the hot blue star in Virgo. Note that Spica is now low in the SW, and by September’s end, will be lost in the Sun’s glare due to our annual revolution of the Sun making it appear to move one degree per day eastward. To the Greeks, Spica and Virgo were associated with Persephone, the daughter of Ceres, goddess of the harvest. In their version of “Judge Judy," the beautiful young daughter falls for the gruff, dark god of the underworld, Pluto. He elopes with her, much to the disapproval of mother Ceres, and they marry in his underworld kingdom of Hades…a honeymoon in hell…really, he does love her as well, and the marriage itself works well.
When you can see Spica rising in the east in March, it means to plant your peas. As Spica heads west (to the kingdom of death, in most ancient legends) for six months of conjugal bliss with Pluto, it is time to get your corn in the crib. This simple story, told in some form for as long as Noah’s flood, was one of the ways our ancestors 7,000 years ago knew the solar calendar and when to plant and harvest. As you watch Spica fade, thank this star for agriculture, and even our own civilization.
To the south, Antares marks the heart of Scorpius. It appears reddish (its Greek name means rival of Ares or Mars to the Romans) because it is half as hot as our yellow Sun; it is bright because it is a bloated red supergiant, big enough to swallow up our solar system all the way out to Saturn’s orbit! Near the tail of the Scorpion are two fine open clusters, faintly visible to the naked eye, and spectacular in binoculars. The clusters lie to the upper left of the bright double star that marks the stinger in the Scorpion’s tail. The brighter, M-7, is also known as Ptolemy’s Cluster, since he included it in his star catalog about 200 AD. M-6 will appear below it in the same wide binocular field.
East of the Scorpion’s tail is the teapot shape of Sagittarius, which marks the heart of our Milky Way galaxy. Looking like a cloud of steam coming out of the teapot’s spout is the fine Lagoon Nebula, M-8, easily visible with the naked eye. The center of the Milky Way lies about 25,000 light-years beyond, but is hidden by gas and dust.
The brightest star of the northern hemisphere, Vega, dominates the NE sky. Binoculars reveal the small star just to the NE of Vega, epsilon Lyrae, as a nice double. Larger telescopes at 150X reveal each of this pair is another close double, hence its nickname, “The Double Double."
To the northeast of Vega is Deneb, the brightest star of Cygnus the Swan. It was just NW of it that I discovered the brightest nova of my lifetime, Nova Cygni, on August 27, 1975. Here, a shell of hydrogen around a white dwarf exploded suddenly, becoming a record (for a nova, at least) 20 million times brighter in a matter of hours. It went from not visible in any telescope to the sixth brightest star in the summer sky in less than a day, and I was looking at the right place and time to catch it still on the rise. But the total amount of expel gases was much less than in the Ring Nebula, and it faded below naked-eye visibility in only two weeks. Fun while it lasted! Typically, several nova outbursts are found every year in our Galaxy, and they do often recur, for neither star in the close binary system was destroyed, and the mass transfer can resume soon.
At the other end of the “northern Cross” that makes up the body of Cygnus is Albireo, the finest and most colorful double star in the sky. Its orange and blue members (I call them the “Gator Stars”) are well resolved at 20X by any small scope
To the south of Cygnus is Altair, the brightest star of Aquila the Eagle, the third member of the three bright stars that make the Summer Triangle so obvious in the NE these clear September evenings.
To the east, the Square of Pegasus rises. Saturn in Pisces rises about 9 p.m. as the month begins, and right after sunset by its end. The fall constellations are returning to the eastern sky earlier each evening now.
Escambia Amateur Astronomers return to Casino Beach for our Pavilion Stargaze Season on the first quarter moon. Meet us south of the famed Beach Ball Water Tower and bring your smartphone to image the Sun (before sunset with our solar scopes), Moon, and constellations. We have free star charts and will show you what’s up. These beach gazes, if clear skies permit, will be on the weekend of September 18-19, and October 16-17.
For deep skies with much less light pollution, on the weekends of the third quarter moon, we continue our cooperation with the Florida State Parks at Big Lagoon State Park. While the Pavilion parking is free, normal entry fees ($6) to Big Lagoon still apply, and remember to check in the front gate before it closes at sunset! Please join us at the amphitheater on Saturday evenings, September 15, and October 13.
Pensacola State’s Science and Space Theatre presents “Tales of a Time Traveler” on September 4 at 6 p.m. Tickets are $6 for adults and $5 for students. They are back thanks to the support of the Merry Edenton-Wooten Endowed Chair in Space Sciences; Merry’s planetarium artwork for NASA is on display in the Foyer, named in her honor.
For more information on the Escambia Amateur Astronomers, join us on Facebook and visit our online club website and events calendar. Contact our sponsor, Lauren Rogers, at Pensacola State at lrogers@pensacolastate.edu. Be aware of “pop-up” gazes when clear skies permit at the Airport Approach on Langley for special help sessions, ISS passes, etc, as announced on the EAAA’s Facebook pages.
