Moonwise
| Moonwise home page | Moonwise Calendar | Moonwise Diary | online ordering |
| The Moonwise Forums | latest newsletter | viewing the sky | locations & dates |
| events | current month (large file) | site index & links |
Saturn is now low down in the western evening sky, as it makes its way towards the far side of the sun. At the end of the month, Venus appears from behind the sun into the evening sky, nearer in towards the sun than the much less bright Saturn. Both planets are quite hard to see from the northern hemisphere. After sunset on 31 August, the new crescent moon is south of Saturn, very low down in the west as seen from the north.
Jupiter rises in the early evening and dominates the sky for the rest of the night. On the evening of 16 September, the just past full moon rises north of Jupiter.
Mars is in the morning sky, initially in the constellation Gemini, south of the slightly brighter Pollux. On 15 September, it enters Cancer. On the morning of 23 September, the moon is south of it.
Mercury reaches 18.1°W of the sun in the morning sky on 3 September before turning back towards the far side of the sun. On this occasion, Mercury’s elongation from the sun is not especially great, but the view from the northern hemisphere should be quite good for at least a few days. On 9 September, you may be able to see Mercury less than a degree north of the fainter Regulus, the bright star of Leo.
Venus sets later after the sun, further out into the evening sky, though still hard to see from the northern hemisphere. On the evening of 28 September, the very new crescent moon is nearby, though unseen by northern viewers. Saturn, on its way to the far side of the sun, is visible near the much brighter Venus at the start of the month. On the night of 29/30 September, Venus is a degree and a quarter south of Saturn, with the fainter star Theta Virginis in between. Towards the end of the month, Mercury comes out from behind the sun into the evening sky, and sits in between Venus and the sunset, not easy to see from the north. On 21 October, Venus passes eight and a half minutes of arc south of Alpha Librae.
Jupiter rises soon after sunset and shines very brightly in the sky all night, especially towards the end of the month, as it draws to its closest to Earth this year. Only the moon and the evening star Venus are brighter. The just past full moon rises north of Jupiter on 13 October.
During the first part of the month, look out for Comet Elenin in the morning sky. It is just too faint to see with the naked eye, but should show up well through binoculars. Until 8 October, the comet is south of the main stars of Leo, growing a little less bright every morning. On the 9th and 10th, it is within the main body shape of Leo, and on the morning of 11 October, it is between Regulus and Gamma Leonis. On 15 October, somewhat dimmer, it is six degrees north of Mars, over in Cancer. On 1 October, Mars sits on the southern edge of the beautiful Beehive Cluster, and on 19 October, it enters Leo, somewhat brighter than its bright star Regulus. The moon is south of Mars on the morning of 22 October.
Right at the end of the month, Saturn may be visible once in the eastern morning sky of the northern hemisphere. It is considerably less bright than the nearby star Spica, a bit to the south of it.
On 28 October, the very new crescent moon is south of Venus and Mercury just after sunset, very low down in the west as seen from the northern hemisphere. As seen from Australia, New Zealand and most of Indonesia during daylight, the moon passes in front of Mercury. The occultation may be seen after sunset from parts of the South Pacific. Mercury goes on to reach 22.7°E of the sun on 14 November. There is a great view of the planet from Earth’s southern hemisphere, particularly as the brighter Venus is nearby. Sky watchers in the north may just be able to see Mercury below Venus, already low down in the SW. The two planets are closest on 13 November.
Jupiter comes to opposition on 29 October and is nearest to Earth on 27 October, at 593.9 million kilometres or 33 light minutes from the Earth. This is not quite so close as last year, but will still make for an impressive sight. The next close encounter will be in 2022. The moon is north of Jupiter on the evening of 9 November.
Mars is bright in the morning sky, rising soon after midnight in the constellation Leo, and on 11 November it is a degree or so north of its bright star Regulus. Mars is the brighter and redder of the two. On the morning of 19 November, the moon is south of Mars, with Regulus still nearby.
Saturn emerges further into the eastern morning sky, north of the brighter Spica, the main star of Virgo. On 22 November, the moon is south of Saturn and Spica.
At Dark Moon there is a partial eclipse of the sun visible from Antarctica, southern South Africa, Tasmania and, during sunset, from the south of Aotearoa / New Zealand. The eclipse is greatest from West Antarctica, and from the western coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, the eclipse is nearly total, albeit very low in the southern sky, at around 06:20 UT on 25 November. From Cape Town, the moon covers 4% of the sun at 06:53 local time (04:53 UT), from Hobart, the moon covers 1.6% at 18:50 local time (07:50 UT), and from Invercargill the moon covers 19% at 20:41 (07:41 UT), soon before sunset. From Christchurch, the sun sets just before maximum eclipse, from Wellington only the first small part of the eclipse can be seen before sunset, and from Auckland it can’t be seen at all.
Look out for the Leonid meteors around the middle of November.
On 26 November, the very new crescent moon is between Venus and Mercury, very low in the SW just after sunset. On 27 November, the moon is above the bright evening star Venus.
Jupiter shines very brightly in the evening and night sky, skirting along the borders of Pisces and Aries, and setting in the early hours. On the evening of 6 December, the moon is north of it.
Mars, though still less bright than Jupiter, is now quite prominent in the night and morning sky, as it moves towards its close pass with Earth in March. It rises around midnight in the south of the constellation Leo. On the morning of 17 December, the moon is south of it.
Saturn is in the morning sky in the constellation Virgo, just north of and slightly dimmer than its bright star Spica. On the morning of 20 December, the moon is south of the Saturn-Spica pair.
On 23 December, the very old crescent moon is below Mercury, low down in the SE dawn sky. It is a good time to see Mercury, as the planet reaches 21.8°W of the sun that day; the view is reasonable from both hemispheres of Earth.
At full moon, there is a total eclipse of the moon visible from Scandinavia, eastern Europe, Asia, Australasia, NW North America and the Arctic. The faint penumbra reaches the moon at 11:33 UT on 10 December, and the umbra (main shadow) at 12:45. Totality is from 14:06 to 14:57, and the umbral and penumbral phases end at 16:18 and 17:30. The moon does not pass through the central part of the Earth’s umbra, and so does not go as dark as it did in June. Europe as far west as Britain, Ireland (exc SW), and France (exc SW) can see a partial eclipse at moonrise. From S California and Arizona across to N Dakota and Manitoba, the moon sets during totality. Further east than this, the moon sets before totality begins. Further west, you can see the whole total phase.
At the start of the month, Mercury is visible in the dawn sky, rising nearly two hours before the sun. Above it, and round towards the sun’s noon position, is Saturn, which has now grown a little brighter than the nearby bright star Spica in Virgo. Further round, in the south of the constellation Leo, is Mars, getting brighter all the time as it heads for opposition in March. On 14 January, it moves temporarily into Virgo.
Venus is the bright evening star in the west after sunset. Over the next few weeks it will become brighter and set longer after the sun. On the evening of 27 December, the new crescent moon can be seen nearby, making for a lovely sight, one worth seeing on the 26th and 28th, too.
Jupiter shines brightly in the evening sky, setting in the hour or two after midnight for most places. On 2 January, the moon is to its north, and on 8 January it crosses from Pisces into Aries. If you have good binoculars, and scan towards the west from Jupiter on 12 and 13 January, you should be able to see Comet Levy, which is unfortunately unlikely to become anything like bright enough to see without optics. Do not despair, however. There is a comet on its way that looks as if it could be really quite lovely. It is called Pan-STARRS, after the name of the telescope used to discover it. At the moment it is far fainter than Pluto, so most telescopes won’t show it, but it may well brighten up so as to be easily visible to the naked eye in March 2013.
Look out for the Quarantid meteors around 3 and 4 January.