September is a busy Moon month
By Frances Parnell
On the 4th at 11:55 p.m. face east-northeast to see the Moon with bright yellow Jupiter about 6 degrees upper right. They’re not that close, but both are so bright it’s definitely eye-catching!
On the 5th at 11:55 look east-northeast to observe the Moon, one day before last-quarter, trailing the Pleiades star cluster by less than 5 degrees.
At dusk on the 20th, look southwest to see the waxing crescent Moon about 4 degrees lower right of red Antares, the Heart of the Scorpion.
At 2:50 a.m. on the 23rd, the Sun is directly over the equator at the Equinox and Autumn officially begins in the northern hemisphere.
One hour after sunset on the 26th, the waxing gibbous Moon shines 3 degrees below right of Saturn. Face south-southeast to catch this sight.
Watch the Full Harvest Moon rising on the 29th. It’s 223,636 miles away, not quite a Supermoon, but will still appear large as it rises behind distant buildings and trees.
FAST FACT: Nothing in the Universe can exceed the speed of light. But physics proves that after the Big Bang the Universe itself expanded at twice the speed of light. The diameter of the Universe is 548,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles, that’s 548 sextillion miles, or 548 billion-trillion miles! If you thought the Universe was large, actually it’s larger than we could ever have imagined!
“Keep looking up!”