September 2014 – Skies News

Focus Constellations: Cassiopeia, Perseus, Camelopardalis, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Draco, Cepheus, Cygnus, Lyra, Aquila, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pegasus, Pisces, Andromeda

Comet Journal

Comet C/2014 E2 (Jacques) will remain at 6th magnitude in the night sky throughout September as it moves from Cepheus, through Cygnus and Vulpecula, and into Aquila. It is close to the zenith after sunset when it can be easily viewed in binoculars and presents a bright head and teardrop shaped tail to observers. It will pass Deneb in Cygnus on September 4th – 5th.

C/2013 V5 (Oukaimeden) is a morning comet at 6th magnitude and may reach 5th magnitude in September as it approaches perihelion on the 28th. It will sweep below Procyon in Canis Minor in early September and move along the northern boundary of the Milky Way as it circuits through the southern morning sky, approaching the tail of Hydra by the end of the month. It will be easily viewed in binoculars and will pass closest to Earth (less than 45 million miles) on Sept. 16th.

C/2012 K1 (PanSTARRS) is a morning comet which is also at 6th magnitude. It moved southward between Leo and Cancer in July and August and is now approaching the head of Hydra as it drops into southern hemisphere skies in September. It passed perihelion on August 27th and is expected to remain a magnitude 6 for the rest of 2014.

Comet C/2013 A1 (SIDING SPRING) is another morning comet at 8th magnitude. It is moving into southern hemisphere skies below Orion and through Lepus and getting brighter as it approaches perihelion in late October.

Comet C/2012 X1 (LINEAR) is at 8th magnitude. LINEAR is currently in southern hemisphere skies and will reappear above the southern horizon in Sculptor next year as it drops away from Earth on its journey back to the Oort Belt.

Mars Landers

Opportunity is moving southward along the west rim of Endeavour Crater with plans to reach Marathon Valley, a notch in the crater rim with an abundant clay mineral signature observed from orbit. After a brief two sol investigation of a target dubbed Fairweather, the rover resumed its southward journey on Sol 3744 (August 5, 2014,) traveling a total of 1137 feet (347 meters) in the next week. From the 15th through the 19th, Opportunity experienced 3 flash memory resets after completing examination of a surface target called Mt. Edgecumbe. Nevertheless, the rover was able to travel another 157 feet during the interval. Mission scientists devoted the next eight days to analyze causes and develop plans to reformat the flash file system to correct the reset problem. Solar array energy production during August was excellent, approaching 700 watt-hours per sol.

As it approaches the second anniversary of its landing on Mars, NASA’s Curiosity rover is also approaching its first close look at bedrock that is part of Mount Sharp, the layered mountain in the middle of Mars’ Gale Crater. During its second year, it has been driving toward long-term science destinations on lower slopes of Mount Sharp. Those destinations are in an area beginning about 2 miles (3 kilometers) southwest of the rover’s current location, but an appetizer outcrop of a base layer of the mountain called Pahrump Hills lies much closer — less than one-third of a mile (500 meters) from Curiosity. The rover proceeded toward the outcrop but ran into difficulty traversing the soft rippled sand in the intervening Hidden Valley. The rover team decided to reverse course and head toward Bonanza King, an alternative outcrop with a similar appearance and a similar position in the geological layers of the area. Initial investigation with the mini-drill the team revealed that the pale, flat Martian rock at Bonanza King wasn’t stable enough for drilling.

The team decided to skip the drilling and the deep sand filling Hidden Valley forced them to choose an alternative route slightly north of Hidden Valley. They then reverted to the earlier plan to proceed directly to the outcrops on the lower slopes of Mt. Sharp, 2 miles southwest of the current location of the rover.

Meteor Showers

Comet Kiess (C/1911 N1) is a long period comet that visited the inner solar system twice in the last millenium. The debris scattered in its orbit is responsible for the annual September 1st Aurigid meteor shower which normally produces less than 10 meteors per hour but stormed at 130 meteors per hour in 2007. The waxing crescent Moon produces minimal glare and will not interfere with the shower which emanates out of Auriga in the northeastern evening sky. The Perseid Meteor Shower on August 12th is succeeded by a minor shower on Sept. 9th known as the Epsilon Perseids which, like the Aurigids is likely to produce fewer than 10 meteors per hour.

Planet Plotting

The evening planets of September are Mercury, Mars, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus.

Mercury (-0.2 to 0.0) in Virgo experienced Superior Conjunction with the Sun on August 8th, and its poorest evening apparition of the year occurs in the latter part of September. It reaches a Maximum Elongation from the Sun of 26° on the 21st when it is low in the west due to the shallow angle of the ecliptic from the horizon in September. Mars (+0.6 to +0.8) in Scorpius sets slightly more than 3 hours after the Sun throughout September. Saturn (+0.6) in Libra sets 3 hours after the Sun on the 1st and 2 hours after sunset at the end of the month. Mars is within 6° of Saturn on the 1st and the separation grows as Saturn descends into the glow of sunset. Neptune (+7.8) in Aquarius and Uranus (+5.7) in Pisces are both in the sky almost throughout the night, rising before sunset and setting slightly before sunrise.

Jupiter (-1.8 to -1.9) in Cancer and Venus (-3.9) in Leo and Virgo are morning planets.

Jupiter and Venus were in a magnificent conjunction on August 18th and the two are rapidly separating as Venus drops into the glow of dawn and mighty Jupiter moves higher in the sky. The interval between the rising of Jupiter and sunrise increases from 2.5 to 4.5 hours in September.

Planet……Constellation……Magnitude……Planet Passages

Sun………Leo, Virgo………-26.8…………New Moon, ………………………………………………………9/24, 2:14AM EDT Mercury..Virgo……………-0.2/0.0…….Max. Eastern Elongation ………………………………………………………….9/21, 6PM EDT
Venus..Cancer, Leo………-3.9
Mars….Libra, Scorpius….+0.6 to +0.8
Jupiter…..Cancer…………..-1.8 to -1.9
Saturn…..Libra……………..+0.6
Uranus….Pisces…………….+5.7
Neptune…Aquarius…………+7.8

Autumnal Equinox

The equinox occurs on September 22nd at 10:29PM EDT. At that time the axis of Earth will be perpendicular to a line between Earth and Sun, causing the hours of daylight to equal the hours of night everywhere on Earth. The Noon Sun will be at the zenith at the equator, 45° above the north and south horizon at latitudes 45° N and 45° S respectively, and on the horizon at the north and south poles. Prior to the equinox the Sun is in northern hemisphere skies and afterwards the Sun is in southern hemisphere skies.

The timing of the equinox traditionally controlled the timing of the seasons. Even though it now marks the start of Autumn in the northern hemisphere, not all cultures observed the same timing. Some have considered the cross-quarter days (half way between the solstices and the equinoxes) as the beginning and ending of seasons. In this system autumn in 2014 would start on August 1st (Lamas) and end on November 11th (Martinmas.) Similarly, winter ended on February 2nd (Candlemas) which we celebrate as Groundhog Day and spring ended on April 30th (May Eve.)

September Moon

Lunation 1134 began on the New Moon of August 25th and ends 29.67 days later when the New Moon of Sept. 24th occurs at 2:14AM EDT.

September’s Full Moon is in Aquarius on the 8th at 9:38PM EDT. The Moon of September was the “Harvest Moon” in Colonial America. The Full Moon closest to the Autumnal Equinox is now defined as the “Harvest Moon.” This year the equinox is 13 days after the September Full Moon and 14 days before the October Full Moon. September wins and gets to host the “Harvest Moon!”

Celts designated September’s Full Moon as the “Singing Moon.” Chinese call it “Crysanthemum Moon.” To Medieval English, it was “Barley Moon” and the Anishnaabe (Odawa and Ojibwe) of northern Michigan call it “Manoominike-giizis” (Rice Moon).

The Moon is nearest (perigee) in its orbit (222,692 miles or 56.19 Earth Radii) in September on the 7th at 11:31PM EDT. The highest tides of the month (Spring Tides) occur during New and Full Moon. The Full Moon is within 22 hours of perigee and appears larger than normal. It is not as close as last month and is not classified as a Supermoon which Richard Nolle defined as “ a New or Full Moon with the Moon within 90% of its closest approach to Earth”. The closer Moon exerts more gravitational force on the Earth than normal so expect high tides to be slightly higher than those typically expected.

Apogee distance (maximum distance) is 252,180 miles (63.63 Earth Radii) from Earth on the 20th at 10:22AM EDT.

Planet..Constellation..Magnitude..Moon Passage..Moon ……………………………………………………………Phase/Age

Sun…….Virgo……-26.8…………………2:14AM EDT, 9/24 ……………………………………………………………..New ~ 0 days Mercury..Virgo…..+0.1……………………4.0°N, 6AM EDT, 9/26 ………………………………………….Waxing Crescent ~ 1.82 days Venus…..Virgo…..-3.9…………………3.8°SSW, 1PM EDT, 9/23 ………………………………………….Waning Crescent ~ 29.12 days Mars…….Libra……+0.6…………………4.1°N, 1PM EDT, 9/1 …………………………………………..Waxing Crescent ~ 7.12 days
…………..Scorpius..+0.8………………..6.0°N, 1PM EDT, 9/29 ……………………………………………Waxing Crescent ~ 5.45 days Jupiter….Cancer….-1.9……………….5.0°S, 7AM EDT, 9/20 ………………………………………….Waning Crescent ~ 25.87 days Saturn…..Libra……+0.6…………….0.7°S, Midnight EDT, 9/27 ………………………………………….Waxing Crescent ~ 3.20 days Uranus….Pisces…..+5.7……………….1.1°N, 10PM EDT, 9/10 …………………………………………..Waning Gibbous ~ 18.49 days Neptune..Aquarius..+7.8………………5.0°N, 8AM EDT, 9/8 …………………………………………..Waxing Gibbous ~ 13.91 days