Dr. Wes Ryle
September 2026
Night Sky
September 6th (AM) - The Moon and Mars join in the pre-dawn skies. They will be visible rising around 2:30 AM and moving through the sky together until dawn.
September 8th (AM/daytime) - Jupiter and the Moon will make a close pass, visible in the early morning hours from roughly 5AM to dawn. Later in the daylight hours, the Moon will occult Jupiter. This will be visible through binoculars or a telescope, but be sure to stay away from the Sun!
September 14th - Venus and the crescent Moon will be side by side, visible around sunset until they set about an hour later.
September 22nd - The fall equinox occurs on this day at 8:08PM EDT, marking the astronomical transition from summer to autumn for the northern hemisphere.
September 22nd - Venus reaches its greatest brightness this evening at a magnitude of -4.6. Look very low in the western sky right after sunset. Binoculars or a telescope will show a thin crescent.
Space Exploration
September 1, 1859 - On this date, in 1859, astronomer Richard Carrington observed a bright flash from a sunspot group on the Sun. Over the next two days, Earth experienced the strongest geomagnetic storm in recorded history.
September 3, 1976 - Viking 2 landed on the red planet, one of a pair of landers that ushered in decades of NASA's exploration of Mars.
September 12, 1962 - John F. Kennedy's famous "We Choose to Go to the Moon" speech took place at Rice University.
September 21, 2003 - The Galileo mission, which explored Jupiter and its moons for nearly 8 years, was intentionally destroyed through an atmospheric plunge on this date in 2003.
September 23, 1846 - After its position was predicted due to variations in the orbit of Uranus, Neptune was discovered telescopically by astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle.
Moon Phases
September 4th - 3rd Quarter
September 10th - New
September 18th - 1st Quarter
September 26th - Full (Harvest Moon)
Planet Visibility
Mercury - Lost to the Sun's glow for much of the month. It may be visible immediately after sunset, very low on the southwest horizon at the end of the month.
Venus - Despite reaching peak brightness this month, Venus will be lower on the western horizon, visible for a short time after sunset.
Mars - Rising in the east around 3 AM and visible until sunrise throughout the month.
Jupiter - Rises around 5AM in the east and is visible until dawn.
Saturn - Rises in the east around 10PM at the beginning of the month, and around 8PM at the end of the month - visible throughout the night.
