Sky & Telescope - September 2022 - 47

+30°
+40°
LEO
+20°
Regulus
0°
-10°
Sirius
-30°
-20°
-40°
HYDRA
CANIS
MAJOR
10 am
8 am
6 am
4 am
2 am
CANCER
Procyon
Betelgeuse
ORION
TAURUS
Jupiter
EQUATOR
Rigel
ERIDANUS
Neptune
CETUS
Sept
9 -10
LOCAL TIME OF TRANSIT
Midnight
10h
8h
GEMINI
Castor
Sept
21
Pollux
18
Mars Pleiades
15
ARIES
Uranus
PEGASUS
PISCES
AQUILA
AQUARIUS
Saturn
Sep 3
CAPRICORNUS
Fomalhaut
10 pm
5
SAGITTARIUS
8 pm
6 pm
Antares
SCORPIUS
4 pm
2 pm
The Sun and planets are positioned for mid-September; the colored arrows show the motion of each during the month. The Moon is plotted for
evening dates in the Americas when it's waxing (right side illuminated) or full, and for morning dates when it's waning (left side illuminated). " Local
time of transit " tells when (in Local Mean Time) objects cross the meridian - that is, when they appear due south and at their highest - at midmonth.
Transits occur an hour later on the 1st, and an hour earlier at month's end.
southwestern horizon at dawn, they're
separated by some 4½°. The Moon is
only a day past full, but if there's one
planet that can hold its own against a
nearly full Moon, it's Jupiter. (Venus
never encounters the full Moon, so it's
out of the running.) On this particular
occasion Big Jove is only two weeks
away from opposition (see page 48) and
shines near its brightest at magnitude
-2.9. Jupiter's proximity to the full
Moon is another clue that the planet
is near opposition. If you're really not a
morning person, you can wait until this
evening to see the Moon and Jupiter rise
together, albeit now separated by 6°.
Dawn, Sept 22 - 24
30 minutes before sunrise
Moon
Sept 22
Dusk, Sept 29 - 30
45 minutes after sunset
LEO
Regulus
Moon
Sept 23
Moon
Sept 30
Moon
Sept 29
Moon
Sept 24
(very thin)
Denebola
Venus
Looking East
Looking Southwest
¢ Consulting Editor GARY SERONIK
keeps an eye on the sky and tries to
make summer last as long as possible.
sk yand tele scope .o r g * SEPTEMBER 2022
47
Antares
SCORPIUS
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16
Both the Moon and Mars are travelling
eastward but at radically different
rates. Right now, the Red Planet is
advancing a little less than ½° per day
(roughly one Moon diameter per day,
as it happens), while the Moon covers
that same span in less than one hour.
Since the 7th, Mars has travelled past
Aldebaran and the Hyades, while the
Moon has zipped along the zodiac from
Capricornus, through Aquarius, Pisces,
and Aries, all the way to Taurus, where
it now joins Mars. On the 16th they
rise together late in the evening with
less than 4° between them. This is the
closest Moon-planet pairing of the
month for observers in the Americas, so
it's definitely worth a look. A little later
- as the 16th transitions into the 17th
- the Moon's motion carries it just a
bit farther east, and it lines up nicely
with Mars and Aldebaran for a showy
three-in-a-row sight. The symmetry
isn't perfect, however. Mars is now
more than 4° from the Moon but nearly
6½° from Aldebaran. Still, it's a lovely
naked-eye sight.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30
Finally, an event for the after-dinner
crowd. Have a look toward the southsouthwest
as darkness falls to enjoy the
waxing crescent Moon paired up with
orangey Antares, the heart of Scorpius.
I always think of Scorpius as the summer
constellation. Unlike Cygnus, for
example, which arrives in the evening
sky early in spring and hangs around
until mid-winter, Scorpius is with us
only for a few months and reaches its
prime in July.
With the equinox occurring on September
22nd, summer is now officially
over, but sighting the Moon 1½° from
Antares is a fine way to bid that fairweather
season farewell. Try to catch
the pair in binoculars at dusk before
the sky loses its deep blue color -
that'll make Antares appear even more
richly orange. By the time the Moon
swings around and returns to the early
evening sky in late October, Antares
will be near the horizon and lost in a
wash of bright twilight.
LIBRA
Sep 29
6h
4h
2h
0h
RIGHT ASCENSION
CYGNUS
HERCULES
OPHIUCHUS
Arcturus
22h
20h
18h
Vega
16h
14h
BOÖTES
12h
+30°
+20°
+10°
VIRGO
Mercury
CORVUS
-20°
-10°
-30°
-40°
DECLINATION
E
P
IL
C
CIT

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Sky & Telescope - September 2022

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