This September, 6 planets, 5 asteroids brighter than +10 magnitude* and one comet will be available for observation.

With the Moon in September there will be many events related (covering bright stars and planets), but only one is visible to us. On the mornings of the 18th and 19th she will be next to Venus (18th, see picture), Mars and Mercury (19th).

On September 6, the Moon enters the full moon phase, on the 13th the last quarter begins, on the 20th the new moon begins, and on the 28th the first quarter begins.

Mercury can be observed almost the entire month, starting from September 5 near the eastern horizon in the mornings before sunrise. The best time for observations will be from the 12th to the 20th. At this time, the planet will rise one and a half to two hours before the Sun, and the brightness will gradually increase from +1.0 to -0.5. On September 17, the planet will pass close to Mars.

Venus visible in the morning three hours before sunrise as a very bright white star in the east in the constellation Cancer at the beginning of the month, later in the constellation Leo. The planet's brightness is -4.0. On September 20, Venus will pass close to Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo.

Mars gradually emerges from the Sun's rays, and can be observed in the morning as a dim orange star near the eastern horizon. By the end of the month, the planet's visibility period is already more than two hours. On September 17, Mercury will pass near Mars. The planet's brightness in September remains at +2.

Jupiter not visible due to its proximity to the Sun and low position above the horizon.

Saturn visible for two hours after sunset in the southwest as a fairly bright star in the constellation Ophiuchus. The planet's brightness is +0.5. Through binoculars and a small telescope, the satellite Titan is visible near the planet. Gradually, the period of visibility of the planet is reduced.

Uranus We see all night in the constellation Pisces. The brightness of Uranus at this time is +5.7. The planet's brightest satellites, Ariel, Titania and Oberon, have a magnitude of +14.7 and are only accessible through medium-power telescopes or when photographing the planet. To find a planet, you need binoculars or a telescope and a star chart.

Neptune has the same visibility conditions as Uranus and is visible in the constellation Aquarius. Neptune's magnitude is +7.8. The brightest satellite of the planet Triton has a magnitude of +14.0 and is not accessible to observation in small telescopes. To find a planet, you need binoculars or a telescope and a star chart.

In August, 8 asteroids have a magnitude greater than +10: Ceres(constellation Gemini, +8.9), Pallas(constellation Eridanus, +9.0), Vesta(constellation Leo, +8.0), Iris(constellation Aries, +8.5) and Julia(constellation Pegasus, +9.0).

To find any asteroid you need binoculars, often a telescope, and a star chart. Any asteroid in a telescope looks like an “ordinary star” that moves among the stars day by day.

In September for observations in amateur telescopes one comet will be available - ASASSN1(not to be confused with the Assassins, named after the supernova search program** " A ll S ky A utomated S urvey for S uper N ovae"). The comet is visible almost all night in the constellation Taurus and has a magnitude of +8.5 at the beginning of the month.

Images:

Good evening everyone.

Summer is over, autumn has come and the rains have begun. From the first to the fourth of September the sky was constantly covered with clouds; on September 4 in the morning I managed to photograph Venus during a slight clearing, and since then the clouds have constantly covered the sky. On Friday, September 8, the sky cleared at six in the evening, when the Sun was already setting and had long disappeared behind the trees, and at half past seven in the evening the clouds flew in again. Today at four in the morning Venus appeared from behind the clouds for a few seconds and disappeared. During this time, several strong flares occurred on the Sun, but the substance ejected from the convection zone went towards Venus, not the Earth - so now it is important to photograph Venus as soon as possible in the morning for stripes in its clouds, which can be visible even without the use of light filters. I talked about flashes in my response to reader Andrey Voronov (ufoguf), which can be read here -. And today at four o’clock in the evening it was clear and partly cloudy - so I took a photo of the Sun for you. Let's look at the pictures I got.

Sunday Sun September 10 - from 16:11 to 16:26 pm.
By tradition, I will first show synthetic pictures from the Meteoweb website - http://meteoweb.ru/astro/sun002.php, here is a general view of the solar photosphere today.


Map of active zones on the Sun.


And three graphs of the electromagnetic activity of our star.

And now - the real Sun, his long shot in a direct image.


The same photo, colored in a cheerful yellow color.


General plan of the Sun in its original, upside-down form; all other pictures will also be upside down - in this picture the northern hemisphere of the Sun is completely visible and most of southern.


The picture shows that our old familiar group of spots “2674” is about to disappear on the side of the sun invisible from the Earth as a result of the rotation of the Sun around its axis, in the center of the solar disk a small group numbered “2678” is visible, and from behind the edge of the solar disk with an invisible A “new” group of spots, which has just been assigned the number “2780”, has moved onto the visible side. Let's take a closer look at these spots - here's a close-up of the "2674" group.

A small spot the size of Mercury, numbered "2678".

"New" group "2680".

And finally - a general view of the entire southern hemisphere of the Sun and most of the northern one.


I did not make a folder with the original photographs for public access - the photographs, of which there are only a few, went into my archive. The evening today promises to be clear until 21:00, and I will try to photograph something else for you - so I do not say goodbye to you for long and wish all my readers a calm Sunday evening rest. Until next time with celestial bodies in my whale blog.

Venus on the morning of Tuesday, September 12 - with stripes after solar flares.
The weather has completely deteriorated - autumn has come, the sky is clouded. On Sunday, September 10, I photographed the Sun, but I wasn’t able to photograph anything in the evening - the summer residents were burning fires, the sky was very cloudy and smoky, and the illumination only increased - the light of the lanterns was reflected from the burning particles that filled the sky. I found the Andromeda nebula - galaxy M31 - in binoculars as a very faint spot, but did not dare to photograph it due to poor atmospheric conditions. It was cloudy all Monday, midnight came, Tuesday came and the sky was completely overcast. At four o'clock in the morning my old little kitty Sonechka got excited.


I decided to see what was happening on the street and, going out onto the fire balcony, I saw Venus flashing among the clouds. At half past five, the clouds around Venus cleared up and at twenty minutes to five I began photographing the planet, which was shining in an almost clear area of ​​the sky.


There were clouds around Venus on all sides, but the planet itself was in the window from 4:38 to 4:50 - this allowed me to take more than two hundred pictures of it. It must be said that what happened in last days solar flares affected Venus significantly to a greater extent than the Earth - the direction of eruptions of matter from the solar convection zone was towards Venus, and besides this, which has practically no magnetic field, the planet is not protected in any way from the impacts of the solar “wind”. I wrote about all this in the comments to the story of our author Philip Terekhov, where I expressed the idea that as a result of the violence of the solar element, stripes could appear in the atmosphere of Venus so obvious that they can be observed without filters - https://lozga. livejournal.com/153696.html. This hypothesis of mine could only be verified by photographing Venus, and today we finally managed to do it. Venus was in the constellation Leo, its angular diameter decreased to 11.9 seconds of arc, and below and to the right of it were Mercury and Mars, but they were covered with clouds, and I did not see them. Now let's look at Venus - this is the result of adding up all 213 of its photographs that I took today from 4:39 to 4:50 in the morning.


This image is too small, but by artificially enlarging it we can clearly see the stripes.

Here is a black and white enlarged image.

Most of the photographs of Venus I took today turned out to be of high quality, but I specially sorted the highest quality photographs of Venus - there were 194 of them, and I added only them; as a result, the stripes became even more noticeable.


Here is an enlarged black and white image of Venus with clearly visible streaks in its atmosphere.

And finally - a color enlarged image of Venus and carrot-colored transverse stripes.

If I had an infrared filter, the stripes would come out much more contrasting and interesting, but it hasn’t arrived in the mail yet. Nevertheless, the available images are sufficient to conclude that solar flares with the ejection of matter towards Venus ruffle the atmosphere of this defenseless planet and give rise to stripes in it that are visible to the naked eye without filters. I would have loved to take more pictures, but at 4:50 the clouds covered Venus, and at 5:00 they filled the entire sky with their curly flocks.


I collected all the original photographs in a folder for public access, they are available here - https://yadi.sk/a/6SsE65cN3Moefz - you can view them and use them to compile images of Venus yourself. With this, I say goodbye to you until good weather, which will allow me to take new interesting photographs of celestial bodies. I wish everyone a good morning, good mood and well-being. Until new meetings with heavenly bodies in my humble whale blog.

The sun and satellite against the background of the solar disk at 16:44 pm on September 12!!!
Good evening everyone. Today was a sunny day, a clear evening began and I photographed a rare phenomenon - the passage of an artificial Earth satellite against the backdrop of the solar disk!!! Let's take a look at these wonderful photos. But first, let's look at the synthetic pictures from the Meteoweb website; Here is a general map of sunspots.


Map of active zones in the solar photosphere.


And - graphs of the electromagnetic activity of the Sun.

And here is a general plan of the real Sun in a direct image - with artificial satellite Earth against the background of the solar disk not far from its center!!!


The same photo, colored by me in a cheerful yellow color.


From now on, all pictures will be upside down. Let's see how the satellite moved against the background of the solar disk - from 16:44:28 to 16:44:44.








My camera synchronizes with the phone and sets time stamps in "EXIF" according to the phone clock - the time is quite accurate. All original photographs are available in the folder at: https://yadi.sk/a/TWLHZFX93MpnHP. Look at the satellite in pictures from DSC03397.JPG to DSC03407.JPG!!! And here is a close-up of the satellite itself.

This artificial celestial body is located in a low orbit - approximately 1.5 - 2 thousand kilometers, the orbit is polar, the satellite moved against the background of the solar disk from south to north, and you will find the timing in the metadata of the original files in the "properties" section by right-clicking.
A lonely spot “2680” is visible in the sun, here is a close-up image of it.

And finally, a general shot of the southern hemisphere of the Sun after the satellite has long since departed.


The satellite is not on NORAD's lists - most likely it is another American spy satellite.
I wish everyone a good mood and well-being this evening and say goodbye to you for a while. See the original photos of the Sun in daddy at: https://yadi.sk/a/TWLHZFX93MpnHP and don’t be sad. Goodbye and see you again with the heavenly bodies - real and artificial - in my humble whale blog.

Evening of September 12, pink moon at 10:45 pm.
Good evening everyone. Today was a clear and dark night - I decided to photograph the Andromeda nebula, the M31 galaxy, in our dirty and overexposed Shchelkovsky sky - I installed a UHC filter to increase the contrast and reduce the influence of light - and took the telescope out to my fire balcony. But while I was getting ready, the galaxy rose so high in the sky that it disappeared over the edge of the balcony on the floor above; we need to shoot the Andromeda nebula early, around nine in the evening. I found Neptune through binoculars, but could not point the telescope at it - in the constellation Aquarius, not a single star was visible to the naked eye and there was nothing to grab onto with the help of a red dot finder. At this time the Moon rose and, in order not to leave empty-handed, I decided to photograph our companion - directly with a UHC filter screwed to the diagonal mirror. All images of the Moon below are straight. And the Moon, as expected, turned out to be pink, and the light filter increased the chromatism - the red color is clearly out of focus.


It looks cool, but frankly, it's ugly. But everything changes if you convert these pink pictures into black and white.


A "UHC" type filter greatly increases image contrast when shooting a low Moon washed out by atmospheric currents - it is very useful for obtaining interesting black and white images; here is the North Pole and the Sea of ​​Rains.


Here is the area of ​​the "town of Gruithuizen".


Area of ​​the Tycho and Clavius ​​craters.


And finally - the south pole of the Moon.


I wish everyone a good night and good dreams. If I succeed, I’ll photograph Venus this morning. Goodbye and see you again with the heavenly bodies in my whale blog.

Venus and "Lord Sirius" on Saturday September 16 from 4:24 to 4:30 am.
Good morning everyone. Yesterday, Friday, was rainy and very windy. I went to Moscow on business, including to see my doctor - the wind kept trying to tear my umbrella out of my hands all day. I was returning home to Shchelkovo on our 361st bus - I had to go to Globus for tea on the way back, and get there with railway station Funnels are problematic - and I had to go by bus. The bus literally made its way through a veil of rain and herds of sheep in cars on credit - our lambs, as always, caused massive traffic jams and bleated in the rain. But when I finally got to the Globe, I saw that the wind had cleared the clouds - Arcturus was sparkling in the west and this promised the opportunity to photograph Venus in the morning if the weather did not deteriorate again. At four o'clock in the morning I went out onto the fireman's balcony - and saw Venus, the Moon and Sirius flashing in the clouds to the right and below them - this was my first observation of Sirius in the coming autumn. In the photograph - “Lord Sirius” is in the center and below him; the bright star on the left is Procyon, alpha Canis Minor, the three stars to the right and above are Orion's belt, and the star to the very right is Rigel, beta Orionis.


This photo was taken at five in the morning - after I finished photographing Venus and had already processed her images. And here is a general plan of the morning sky - Venus is in the clouds on the left, the Moon is shining in the center of the picture, Castor and Pollux from the constellation Gemini are visible above the Moon, the bright star to the right of them at the same altitude as the Moon is Procyon, above Procyon and at the same altitude as Castor and Pollux Alhena, Gamma Gemini, is visible, and just to the right and in the clouds shines Betelgeuse, Alpha Orionis.


Now let's look at the pictures of Venus - its images are inverted, and here is Venus in its natural size, in which it is visible through my small refractor.


The distance to Venus has increased to 213.143 million kilometers, and its apparent diameter has decreased to 11.7 arcseconds. The following photo is the result of adding up the best frames in natural size - a dark stripe is clearly visible in it near the equator and next to the terminator.


Here is an enlarged black and white image of Venus with this stripe clearly visible.

Solar flares clearly affected the atmosphere of Venus so strongly that stripes appeared in its clouds, visible even without ultraviolet or infrared filters. And finally - a color enlarged image of Venus.

Original photographs for addition and landscapes with views starry sky this morning and Sirius are available in the folder at: https://yadi.sk/a/eHKDwe6B3MvwmW - be sure to look at them and use them to independently add up images of Venus. I wish everyone a good morning, a relaxing holiday and good mood this weekend. Goodbye and see you again with the heavenly bodies in the blog of the sick old Kitisha.

Venus, Sirius and a cricket with his violin at 4:45 am on September 17.
Good morning everyone. Forecasters promised heavy clouds and rain by three o'clock in the morning. However, the second half of the night and morning were clear, and at 4:30 I took my small refractor out onto the balcony to photograph Venus in the cloudless sky. And indeed there were no clouds visible - from Venus (bottom left) to Sirius (bottom right) the sky was clear.


In addition, a cricket settled in our house - he played his song on a tiny violin all the time while I was photographing Venus and the stars.


Crickets do not fall asleep until late autumn - if the temperature outside is even a few degrees above zero, they play their songs in November and even in early December. With the onset of frost, they go deep into the buildings and hibernate until mid-April. In the next photo there is “Lord Sirius” and above him on the right is the entire constellation of Orion.


In the photographs taken with my small camera "Sony DSC-WX30" with its tiny matrix, there was even an Orion trapezoid surrounded by a nebula - the sky was really clear.


Now let's look at the photographs of Venus - they are all shown upside down. The photograph, composed of 161 photographs, shows that the planet's atmosphere actually turned red after a series of solar flares - this is not an optical illusion caused by yesterday's bad weather and poor shooting conditions.


The following life-size image of Venus was obtained by adding together the best 117 frames.


Now let's look at the enlarged black and white image of the planet - the stripes have almost dissipated and now to shoot them you will need an infrared filter, which is still on the way from the Chinese store "Svbony" with a cute girl under the pseudonym Ida Miss.

And finally - a color enlarged image with a hint of stripes near the terminator in both hemispheres.

I really wanted to photograph Mercury, which today was very close to Mars, but at 4:50 the clouds promised by weather forecasters appeared and at 4:51 I had to stop filming Venus. I took a few more shots through the gaps in the clouds and at 4:55 the shooting was finally completed. Only at 4:59 Mercury and Mars were supposed to appear above the roof of the five-story building opposite my balcony to the left and below Venus, but dense clouds did not give me the opportunity to see them. I assembled the telescope and returned home to process the pictures and show them to you. All original photos are available in the folder at: https://yadi.sk/a/k1UgWUL63MwxUo - you can use them to create your own images of our heavenly neighbor. And the cricket continued to play his little violin until the sun rose.

With this, I say goodbye to you for a moment and wish everyone a good mood and well-being on this Sunday. Goodbye and see you again with planets and stars in my whale blog.

Morning of September 19 - "Lord Sirius", the Orion Nebula and Venus with a cricket.
Good morning everyone. Last night there were clouds - they did not allow me to photograph M31, the Andromeda nebula. But this morning it was clear, not a cloud - and I took my little refractor out onto the balcony to photograph interesting celestial bodies for you. I decided not to take species photographs, but to photograph “Lord Sirius” himself - here it is, the image is upside down.


In the next photograph with a longer shutter speed, below and to the left of Sirius, a gray dot is visible next to it - this is Sirius’s satellite, the white dwarf Puppy.


I told you in detail about this star system a year ago - read this story again, it is very interesting. And here is the Orion Nebula in an inverted image.


In our overexposed sky, it is very difficult to photograph diffuse objects - even with filters of the "UHC" and "CLS" types, nothing works, and these filters are best used for photographing details on the surface of planets. The photo of the Orion Nebula came out poorly, but the nebula is still visible.
I have not seen Mercury or Mars. At half past five I saw a very thin crescent of the Moon flashing among the branches of a birch tree behind a five-story building - Mercury was higher and to the right of it, but against the light background of the sky it was no longer possible to see it. So I focused on photographing Venus. The size of Venus has decreased to 11.6 arcseconds, the planet has moved away from us by 215.314 million kilometers, and the stripes in its atmosphere formed after solar flares have almost disappeared.


In the lower part of the half-disk of the planet near the north pole (the image is upside down) something is visible. Let's look at the results of adding the 244 best frames.


In this photo, the darkening near the north pole (below) is barely visible. The planet's atmosphere rotates in the opposite direction, and the areas that were hit by solar flares are hidden from us on the invisible side of the planet - so Venus returns to its usual cream color. Here is an enlarged black and white image of Venus.

And - a color enlarged image of our heavenly neighbor in all her glory.

At 5:45 I was done last frame when photographing Venus, the cricket also put his violin in a small case - he went to bed, and I went home to process the pictures and show them to you.

I did not create a folder with files for public access, but all the pictures are saved in my archive - and I can always create such a folder if I am asked to do so. I wish everyone a good morning, good health and mood, and say goodbye to you for a while. Goodbye and see you again with celestial bodies in my whale blog.

In September 2017, the morning sky will probably attract special attention from astronomy lovers, where we will be able to observe not only a small parade of planets such as Mercury, Venus and Mars, but also a number of beautiful conjunctions of these planets both with each other and with The main star of the constellation Leo is Regulus. An additional decoration will be the approach of the mentioned luminaries of the crescent Moon at dawn on September 18. We can only hope for clear weather.

Before going into detail about the most notable astronomical phenomena are waiting for us in September 2017, we will inform our readers about them in a brief form. Please note that Here (and further in the review) Universal Time (UT) is given. T Moscow = UT + 3 hours. :

Our main star is the Sun

Until September 17, the Sun moves through the southern part of the constellation Leo, after which it moves into the constellation Virgo, while remaining in the northern hemisphere of the celestial sphere. But day by day the angular distance between the Sun and the celestial equator decreases, and on September 22 at 20:02 Universal Time the center of the solar disk will reach the celestial equator, the autumn equinox. In the northern hemisphere of the Earth, astronomical autumn will begin, and in the southern hemisphere, astronomical spring.

As the declination of the daylight decreases, daylight hours continue to shorten. And if on September 1 at the latitude of Moscow the length of the day is 13 hours 50 minutes, then by the day of the autumnal equinox it decreases to 12 hours 09 minutes, and by the end of the month - to 11 hours 36 minutes.

The decline of the 24th eleven-year cycle of solar activity continues: the number of sunspots remains low, and on some days they are not observed at all on the solar disk. But in August 2017, several rather interesting groups of sunspots were noted on the solar disk, which generally brightened the situation. Let's see how the situation with sunspot activity will develop in September.

It is interesting to follow changes in the sunspot activity of the Sun associated with changes in its activity. So, if you make visual observations of the solar disk day after day in a small telescope and sketch sunspots (if any), and then calculate the Wolf number, it will be possible to determine trends in solar activity. The Wolf number can be averaged over decades and months, which will make the observation results even more clear.

How to determine the Wolf number? For this you need multiply the number of sunspot groups you see by 10 and add the total number of visible sunspots. If one spot is visible, then the Wolf number (W) will be equal to 11, if two groups of spots consist of 5 spots, then the number W = 25. And if there is not a single spot, then the Wolf number is 0 (W = 0). And this result must also be noted in the observation log.

It is worth remembering that observing the Sun without using special protective equipment is very dangerous for your eyesight. When observing daylight, it is necessary to use either special solar light filters with all accompanying precautions, or use the method of observing the Sun on the screen. You can get more detailed information about ways to safely observe the daylight by going through.

Our natural satellite is the Moon

in September 2017: full moon - September 6 (at 07:03), last quarter - September 13 (at 06:25), new moon - September 20 (at 05:30), first quarter - September 28 (at 02:54).

Planets

In September 2017, the main attention of astronomy lovers will be focused on the morning sky, where, against the backdrop of the growing dawn, it will be possible to observe such bright planets as Mercury, Venus And Mars. And during the first month of calendar autumn, watching this small morning parade of planets, we will witness beautiful conjunctions (approaches) on celestial sphere first Mercury and Regulus (α Leo, +1.4 mag) - September 10, then Mercury and Mars - September 16 and, finally, Venus and Regulus - September 20. And on September 17–19, the golden crescent of the waning Moon will accompany all these luminaries in the morning sky. So astrophotography lovers will have something to capture in their photographs!

As for the other two bright planets, Jupiter And Saturn, then they can be found in the southwestern - western part of the evening sky. Moreover Jupiter visible mainly from the southern regions of Russia for a short time low above the horizon against the background of the evening dawn as a yellowish star -1.7 mag. The planet continues to visit the constellation Virgo, slightly north of the brightest star of this constellation - Spica (α Virgo, +1.0 mag.). The thin crescent Moon will pass north of Jupiter on the evening of September 22.

Saturn continues to remain in the southwestern part of the constellation Ophiuchus as a white-yellow star +0.5 mag. Despite the fact that after dark the planet is still above the horizon, it is best observed from the southern regions of Russia, where it is highest in the sky, while in the middle latitudes of our country Saturn is visible low above the horizon. The Moon, in a phase close to the first quarter, will pass north of Saturn on the evening of September 26.

And owners of binoculars in the evening and throughout the September night will be able to observe such faint planets as Uranus And Neptune, who visit respectively the constellations Pisces and Aquarius. Moreover, on September 5 Neptune will be in opposition to the Sun, which means that September will have the most favorable visibility conditions for this planet, the brightness of which will be +7.8 mag. Neptune is quite easy to find about 1° southeast of the reddish star +3.8 mag. λ Aquarius. But it is worth noting that it is better for novice astronomy lovers to start searching for Neptune (and at the same time Uranus) when there is no bright Moon next to them in the sky. For Neptune, the days close to the opposition will be unfavorable for observations, when the full and therefore very bright Moon will pass through the constellation Aquarius.

Search Uranus in the sky will be easier, since the brilliance of this planet is much brighter than Neptune and is +5.7 mag. But in large cities with strong light and dust in the atmosphere, it is better to look for the planet on those evenings when bright moonlight does not bother you. The Moon will appear in the sky not far from Uranus on September 7–9 in a phase close to full.

And now let's move back to the morning sky, where our attention will be attracted Venus, shining as a very bright “big” star, the magnitude of which is –4.0 mag. It is simply impossible to notice it in the dark sky. From the beginning of September, the planet will be visiting the constellation Cancer, and on September 1 it will be just south of the bright open star cluster Manger (M44), which is clearly visible through binoculars. By September 11, Venus will leave the constellation Cancer and move to the constellation Leo, in which at dawn on September 20 it will pass only half a degree north of the brightest star of this constellation - Regulus, whose brightness is +1.4 stars. And before that, on September 18, a bright golden crescent Moon will pass in the morning sky next to Venus (and Regulus). And it will be a very beautiful conjunction of Venus and the Moon.

Moon, Venus, Regulus, Mars and Mercury in the morning sky September 18, 2017

Moving further east through the constellation Leo, Venus will approach the reddish color by the end of the month Mars, a close conjunction with which will occur on October 5–6. But unlike Venus, Mars is not so bright. Its brightness is only +1.8 mag. Be sure to find it in the sky and remember how modest the Red Planet looks in the morning autumn sky of 2017. In less than a year, you will be surprised how the Red Planet will transform! But we will talk about this separately in future materials, but for now let’s turn to, perhaps, the most important planet of September this year - to Mercury. Why "main"? Yes, because Mercury is not so easy to find in the sky and favorable conditions for its observations are not so often created.

The most Better conditions The visibility of this planet closest to the Sun occurs during periods of evening visibility, which occur in the spring, and during periods of morning visibility in the autumn months. On September 12, Mercury will be in western elongation, therefore it will appear in the morning sky in the company of the mentioned Venus and Mars. Venus will shine much higher (and brighter) than Mercury, while Mercury will pass half a degree north of Mars at dawn on September 16th. The brilliance of Mercury is much brighter than the brilliance of Mars - minus 0.7 mag. versus +1.8 stars vel. And on the morning of September 10, Mercury will pass less than 1° south of the above-mentioned Regulus. Best time for observations of Mercury in September approximately 1 hour before sunrise (starting around September 5). At dawn on September 19, the Moon will pass close to Mercury (and Mars), with Mercury just above the lunar crescent (and Mars a little higher).

Moon, Venus, Mercury and Mars in the morning sky September 16, 2017

These are the interesting conditions for the visibility of planets that will develop in September 2017. So don't miss the opportunity to watch the above astronomical events associated with the planets.

starry sky

At about 10 p.m. local time, the constellation is visible high in the southeast, in which it is easy to identify four stars forming the “Great Square” asterism. To his left stretched the constellation

moments and conditions of visibility of phenomena are given for Novokuznetsk, local time (UT+7)

Planets in September

Mercury(–0.6 m…–1.2 m) – in the second half of the month it is visible before sunrise low above the eastern horizon.

Venus(–3.8 m) – visible in the morning above the eastern horizon.

Mars(+1.8 m) – visible before sunrise, low above the eastern horizon.

Jupiter– not visible.

Saturn(0.5 m) – visible in the evening in the constellation Ophiuchus.

Uranus(5.7 m) – available for observation at night in the constellation Pisces.

Neptune(7 , 8 m ) – available for observation at night in the constellation Aquarius.

Meteor showers in September

α–Aurigids. Activity begins on August 25, ends on September 5. Maximum activity occurs on September 1 (zenith hour number - 10). Avg. speed – 66 km/s. Radiant coordinates: α = 05 h.6; δ = +42° (the nearest bright stars are α Aurigae).

September 17 at 01:22 local time there will be a conjunction of Mars and Mercury with an angular separation of all3.3′. However, the phenomenon will not be observed in Siberia, since the planets will be below the horizon. The approach of the planets can be observed in the afternoon of September 16 or in the morning of September 17 using optical instruments equipped with coordinate circles. The elongation of the pair from the Sun will be 17°, which requires special care when searching and observing the phenomenon in the daytime to avoid damage to vision sunlight. Visible brightness of Mercury and Mars –0.8 m And 1.8 m accordingly (Mercury is 11 times brighter); visible disc diameter 6,3 ″ (Mercury) and 3.6″(Mars).

For Novokuznetsk and the surrounding area, the circumstances of the phenomenon are as follows: 16 September 17:20— height of the pair above the horizon 15 ° , division 17′; 17 September 06:20- height 10°, division 10'.

see also: "Observer's Calendar for September 2017" ; astroalert.su.

September 29 – October 1, 2017 will take place near BerdskXII Siberian Astronomical forum "SibAstro-2017" . Additional Information -

The time has come for the evening sky survey for mid-September. At latitude 56 degrees at 22 o'clock we will be able to see the following picture -

Click on the image to expand to full size.
No bright planets are visible in the sky during this period of time. Among the brightest stars, the following luminaries attract attention. In the west, not high above the horizon - Arcturus, alpha Bootes. This is one of the brightest stars in our sky - the brightness of Arcturus is close to zero magnitude. Directly to the south, leaning slightly toward the western sky, a large triangle of bright stars is visible high above the horizon. This is the summer-autumn triangle: Vega-Deneb-Altair. The acute angle of this triangle looks down towards the horizon - this is the star Altair, alpha of the constellation Aquila. Its brightness is around first magnitude. The two stars of the triangle that are located closer to the zenith are Deneb, alpha of the constellation Cygnus, on the left, and bright Vega, alpha Lyrae, on the right. Deneb's brightness is slightly fainter than first magnitude, and Vega's brightness rivals Arcturus in our sky - its brightness is around zero magnitude. In the south-southeast, Fomalhaut, the alpha of Southern Pisces, rises just off the horizon. This is a star of the first magnitude. In the northeast, at the same altitude (near the horizon), Aldebaran, alpha of the constellation Taurus, is visible - its brightness is also close to first magnitude. And higher and to the north you can find Capella, the alpha of the constellation Auriga. Its brightness is close to zero magnitude.
Now more about visibility of planets this month:
Mercury- visible in the mornings in the east before sunrise, low above the horizon. The planet's brightness is growing and will vary from 0.5 to -1.4 magnitude. Mercury moves through the constellations Leo and Virgo;
Venus- visible in the morning in the east, its brightness is -3.9 magnitude. Moving this month through the constellations Cancer and Leo;
Mars- visible in the mornings in the east before sunrise, low above the horizon. The planet's brightness is 1.8 magnitude. Mars moves through the constellation Leo;
Jupiter- visible only at the beginning of the month in the evenings immediately after sunset, low above the horizon. Its brightness is 1.6 magnitude and moves across the constellation Virgo. In the middle and end of the month, a period of invisibility of the planet begins.
Saturn- visible in the constellation Ophiuchus low above the horizon in the southwest just after sunset. The planet's brightness is 0.5 - 0.6 magnitude;
Uranus- visible throughout the night in the southern sky quite high above the horizon. Magnitude 5.6. Moves through the constellation Pisces;
Neptune- visible throughout the night in the south-southwest side of the sky. Luminosity 7.8 magnitude. Moves through the constellation Aquarius.

To search for Uranus and Neptune, you need at least binoculars (and for good observations, a telescope) and a star map. Maps of the path of Uranus and Neptune and infographics on them can be found here -