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[Chelsea Gohd] What’s Up for September?
Saturn puts on a spectacular show,
a sunrise conjunction shines bright,
and we ring in the autumnal equinox.
Saturn will be putting on an out-of-this-world
performance this month.
While Venus and Jupiter shine in the eastern morning sky,
the ringed planet will be incredibly bright in the sky
throughout September...
...in the eastern evening sky
and western early-morning sky.
But why is Saturn the star of the show?
Well, on September 21, Saturn will be at opposition,
meaning Earth will find itself in between Saturn and the Sun,
temporarily lined up.
This also means that Saturn is at its closest and brightest
all year!
Saturn will be visible with just your eyes in the night sky,
but with a small telescope,
you might be able to see its rings!
If you look to the east
just before sunrise on September 19,
you'll see a trio of celestial objects
in a magnificent conjunction.
In the early pre-dawn hours, look east toward the waning,
crescent Moon setting in the sky and you'll notice
something peculiar.
The Moon will be nestled up right
next to both Venus and Regulus,
one of the brightest stars in the night sky.
The three are part of a conjunction,
which simply means that they look close together in the sky
(even if they’re actually far apart in space).
To find this conjunction, just look to the Moon.
And if you want some additional astronomical context,
or want to specifically locate Regulus, this star lies
within the constellation Leo, the lion.
On September 22, we mark the autumnal equinox
or the official start of fall in the northern hemisphere.
Astronomically,
this is the time
when the Sun finds itself exactly above the equator.
On this day, our planet isn't tilted toward
or away from the Sun, and both day and night are
almost exactly 12 hours (with a few small exceptions).
Here are the phases of the Moon for September.
You can stay up to date on all of NASA's missions
exploring the solar system and beyond at science.nasa.gov.
I'm Chelsea Gohd from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
and that's What's Up for this month.