macpuzlBy Chuck McPartlin
September Sky Sights
The watery sky is now dominating the east and south, and familiar autumn constellations are returning, led by Pegasus. A thin crescent Moon will be near Venus at sunset on Thursday, September 9. Photo op! On Monday, September 13, catch the Lunar X along the terminator from about 2 PM to 4 PM PDT.
At 12:21 PDT on Wednesday, September 22, Fall officially begins for the Northern Hemisphere with the Autumnal Equinox.
From 11 PM PDT on September 25 to dawn on the 26th, catch the waning gibbous Moon sitting between orange Aldebaran and the Pleiades.
September Space Station
The International Space Station will be making some visible predawn passes between September 8 and September 14. To end the Summer, ISS evening passes will occur from September 13 through September 20. Its orbit may change from time to time, so to get the latest and most complete predictions, visit Heavens Above.
On Monday, September 13, the ISS will make a low pass over our ocean horizon, appearing in the S at 8:14 PM PDT below the stinger of Scorpius, and vanishing in the Earth’s shadow at 8:16 PM in the SSE, below Saturn.
On Tuesday the station will pop up at 9:03 PM in the WSW near the head of Scorpius, and climb through Libra into Serpens Caput, where it will fade out at an altitude of 34 degrees at 9:05 PM.
Wednesday’s pass will be the best and brightest, rising at 8:16 PM in the SW, climbing through Scorpius and Ophiuchus, overhead across the Summer Triangle near Deneb, and setting at 8:21 PM in the NE between Cassiopeia and Andromeda, near the Andromeda Galaxy.
Thursday’s first pass will start at 7:29 PM in the SSW in the tail of Scorpius, pass above the Teapot asterism of Sagittarius, between Jupiter and Altair, and across the length of Pegasus to end at 7:35 PM in the ENE. It will appear again on its next orbit in the WNW at 9:07 PM, and pass low by Arcturus and across the length of the Big Dipper asterism before fading away in the NNW at 9:10 PM.
On Friday, the space station will rise in the W at 8:19 PM and pass by Venus and orange Arcturus, then along the Big Dipper before fading out in Perseus at 8:25 PM in the NNE.
On Saturday, September 18, it will rise at 7:31 PM in the WSW, and follow a higher trajectory similar to its second pass the night before, setting in the NE at 7:38 PM.
Sunday’s pass will be dimmer and very low over our mountain horizon, starting at 8:23 PM in the NW, and ending in the N at 8:26 PM.
On Monday, the ISS will follow a higher path across our mountain horizon, starting at 7:35 PM in the WNW, and ending at 7:40 PM in the NNE.
The ISS will return to our evening skies on October 1.
