"Above all, do not lose your desire to walk . . . If one just keeps on walking, everything will be all right."- Soren Kierkegaard
In History
Sept. 8, 1966 The first episode of the TV series Star Trek aired, inspiring dreams of humans exploring the “final frontier.”
Sept. 13, 1922 You think this summer was hot? It was 136 degrees in Libya. That record still stands.
Sept. 23, 2007 Fall begins with the autumnal equinox at 3:51 a.m.
Oct. 1, 1897 Yerkes Observatory, Williams Bay, Wisc., was dedicated. It houses a 40-inch refracting telescope, still the largest of its kind in the world.
Oct. 4, 1957 The Space Age and the Space Race began 50 years ago when the Soviet Union orbited Sputnik 1.
Oct. 5, 1882 Rocket pioneer Robert H. Goddard was born in Worcester, Mass.
Moon Phases
• Full (eclipsed): Aug. 28, 4:35 a.m. (Green Corn or Sturgeon Moon); Sept. 26, 1:45 p.m. (Harvest Moon)
• Last quarter: Sept. 3, 8:32 p.m.
• New: Sept. 11, 6:44 a.m.
• First quarter: Sept. 19, 10:48 a.m.
Lunar eclipses are rarer than solar eclipses, and we have an excellent opportunity to view the moon, fully eclipsed, during the predawn hours of Aug. 28. Get up early; you don't want to miss this.
Subtle darkening in the penumbral phase will begin a few minutes before 2 a.m., the partial (umbral) phase a few minutes before 3, and totality will begin at 3:52 and end at 5:23, just as morning twilight begins. The partial phase will end just as the moon sets, about 15 minutes before sunrise.
Venus, which graced the evening sky for much of the year, is now the "morning star" in the constellation Cancer, having passed between us and the sun (inferior conjunction) on Aug. 16. Shining at magnitude minus 4.2, it rises around 5:30 a.m. in late August and earlier each evening throughout September.
Look low in the east around 6 a.m. on Sept. 8 to see if you can spot the thin crescent day-old moon about 10 degrees northeast of Venus. Saturn (magnitude 0.6) and the bright star Regulus (magnitude 1.3) in Leo will have just cleared the eastern horizon. By late September, Saturn will rise before 5 a.m., early enough to get a good glimpse of it in a scope before morning twilight interferes.
For evening viewers, now is the time to catch Jupiter, shining at magnitude minus 2 in Ophiuchus near the boundary with Scorpius. It sets before midnight and will be lost in twilight in November. Look for it low in the southwest after dark about 6 degrees above the orange, 1st-magnitude star Antares, "the heart of the scorpion."
Mars, which is gradually gaining in apparent size and magnitude, rises shortly after Jupiter sets and is well positioned for viewing in Taurus by 3 a.m. in late August. It moves rapidly through "the bull," and by the end of September, moves into Gemini. The last quarter moon will be nearby Sept. 4. In late September, compare Mars to Orion's red-giant star Betelgeuse. The two will be of similar magnitude and color and separated by about 15 degrees.
Late in September, a faint and fleeting Mercury might be visible near the horizon in the west-southwest after sunset.
With a small telescope and a current sky chart, you should be able to find Uranus (in Aquarius) and Neptune (in Capricornus). Neptune reached opposition on Aug. 13, and Uranus reaches opposition on Sept. 8, so they are high up in the southern sky around midnight.
Cygnus, an often overlooked but rewarding constellation, is well positioned this time of year and is home to several intriguing nebulae. The North American Nebula (NGC 7000) is probably the best known. With an apparent magnitude of 4 and diameter of about 3 degrees, it is best seen in binoculars or a wide-field telescope.
The Veil Nebula, a supernova remnant, has two components, NGC 6992 and NGC 6960, separated by about 2.5 degrees. They can be spotted in binoculars, but it'll take a fairly large scope with low magnification to capture the veil's real beauty.
Another interesting Cygnus fuzzy is NGC 6826, called the Blinking Planetary Nebula for an illusion when alternating between direct and averted vision when viewing through a scope. In a small scope, it looks like a bluish star. A bigger scope should reveal a faint oval cloud with a central star.
Deneb, the brightest star in Cygnus, along with Altair (in Aquila) and Vega (in Lyra) make up the Summer Triangle asterism. Lyra is home to another planetary, the Ring Nebula (M57). If you can find the Blinking Planetary, you should have no trouble spotting the Ring. See if you can discern a color difference.
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