Star Diary Podcast | What’s in the night sky September 19-25, 2022

What’s in the night sky for the week of September 19-25, 2022.

Chris Bramley Hello and welcome to Star Diary, the podcast for the creators of BBC Sky at Night Magazine. You can subscribe to the print edition of the magazine at skyatnightmagazine.com or our digital edition on iTunes or Google Play.

Ezzy Pearson Greetings, listeners, and welcome to the Star Diary, a weekly guide to the best things to see in the Northern Hemisphere’s night sky. In this episode we report on the coming week from September 19th to 25th. I’m Ezzy Pearson, the magazine’s features editor, and I’m joined by review editor Paul Money on today’s podcast. Hello Paul.

Paul money Well then, Ezzy! We are nearing the end of September… I can’t believe September is over so quickly. Good mourning! where did it go

ezzy So what are your top tips for saying goodbye to September this week?

Paul Well, we’re actually in the morning sky for most of this week because we’re mostly following the moon and a lot of the events are happening, you know, associated with the moon. So it is good if you suffer from insomnia. It’s called In the Morning Sky. Now we start with the moon line over Mebsuta. I can never pronounce this Mebsuta?. Maybe Meb-SU-ta. This is Epsilon Geminorum, size three. That’s on the 19th. Now it’s to the right of Pollock’s and Kappa Geminorum on the 20th. Well, I always find that interesting because it also forms a triangle. If you take Castor and Pollux and the moon, you get a triangle. But between Castor, sorry, Pollux and the moon you have this little star Kappa. And it’s always missed because we generally always mention “Oh, yes, Castor and Pollux and the moon” and often forget the well-known kappas there as well. So ready to watch. So if you’re chasing around with binoculars, now you look at the moon as a crescent and you come across an extra star and you’re like, “Didn’t you mention that star?” Well actually there will be many other stars in the field of view as well because it’s quite a rich area. That’s where the Milky Way runs through. But there are some things, here we are again, following the moon as it crescent thinner and thinner. Now in the 21st, this narrow crescent moon is several degrees above the beehive cluster. And she’s messy 44. It’s in crab crab. Well, the thing about this is that the moon is a crescent, so the reason is a lot of light. If only there was a full moon right now, it would blow out the heap completely. You wouldn’t be able to see the hive. Hardly. Hardly. One would have to have a telescope to see it. When there is a crescent moon there is not as much light flooding the sky. So you got a chance to see this crescent moon with the actual cluster just below it? Because I always love these piles of things. You know, it and Messier 45 are definitely two of my favorite clusters, I have to say. Now the crescent moon is moving from Cancer to Leo, so we must be around 5:00 in the morning. Yes, I know you again with your stupid hour, but that’s how it really works. And the moon on the 23rd is directly below the star Eta Leonis. Well, Regulus is usually the one we mentioned. In fact, we mentioned a few weeks ago that Venus is close to Regulus in bright twilight. Well, the thing about this is that Leo is getting taller. As Venus falls back into sunlight, Leo steadily pulls out of that light so we see it in darker skies. So at 5am because the sky is getting darker we are approaching because we are now in the fall. So we’re actually heading towards winter soon. My goodness, this gets around fast. That’s not fair. Will this winter be cold soon. But think of the clear, clear night.

ezzy Clear nights are always great.

Paul Exactly. So the 23rd is also the autumnal equinox. As for the northern hemisphere, of course it’s the vernal equinox for the southern hemisphere. Autumn has officially begun for us. An interesting thing is the weatherman for meteorological purposes, which they like to use on the first of the month. Therefore, September 1st is classified meteorologically as autumn, but the original meaning was actually not the astronomical meaning, namely the autumn exinox, which occurs on the 23rd. So, we can honestly say that autumn has now officially begun. And I say the moon is also next to Eta Leonis this morning. So it’s worth checking out. So further from the 23rd to the 25th for our last object. And fancy a challenge?

ezzy Always up for a challenge.

Paul We’re always up for a challenge, right? Now we have mentioned the bright twilight irregularities closest to the week Venus. Well, Venus is still in twilight. It’s getting deeper and deeper into this twilight. The problem with this, however, is that Venus is bright, so you can usually see it pretty well as long as it’s above the horizon. However, the challenge here isn’t Venus, I mean it’s the easy one. But Venus takes you to a really, really slender crescent moon. We’re talking about them just two degrees above the horizon. So we have to reiterate that you need a clean, clear horizon. Hopefully there won’t be any missed morning fog at all. A little haze. That would spoil it. Don’t watch too long because we don’t want you to catch this on the sun. The Sun is only eight degrees away from the Moon and Venus. So this is a challenge. Pete also points this out in the September issue, something not to watch for too long. Grab it and then done. So they all keep traveling there because of the sun, but it’s worth it.

ezzy Always check when the sun rises when observing Venus or Mercury in the morning.

Paul Definitive. It doesn’t work without that. It’s not worth risking your eyesight for something like that. But if you see Venus, you should see the crescent moon. If you’re using binoculars, 10x50s should be enough. It’s only 0.6% lighting. I mean, that’s incredibly thin.

ezzy um

Paul I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a thin moon myself. Well, the thinnest moon I’ve ever seen is a total solar eclipse, so technically…

ezzy I don’t think that counts!

Paul But the beauty is that Venus will guide you there. And that’s the thing. But it will be a challenge in this bright dawn. So I would say be very careful. I set it to around 6:30am for me, but the time depends on where you are in the UK. And obviously at that time the sun has already risen in some places. So, as you mentioned, take Ezzy, find your own local sunrise time, and go over it. But get it before the sun comes up. But I like challenges.

ezzy Yes. And also make sure to leave a good, healthy margin on either side as you work out the sunrise to ensure you’re definitely looking away in time.

Paul Exactly.

ezzy It certainly sounds like there are some interesting things to see this week. To recap, we have the Autumnal Equinox on September 23, when day and night are of equal length. And then the thin crescent moon will also appear and move across the sky throughout the week. You might even have a good chance of seeing some earthshine. We hope you do. And if that gave you a lot of great things to see this week and you want to make sure you stay up to date on everything that’s in the night sky each week. Be sure to subscribe to the Star Diary podcast and we hope to see you here next week. So thank you for joining us today, Paul.

Paul I’m glad, Ezzy, and I look forward to seeing you next week.

ezzy For more spectacular locations that will grace the night sky throughout the month, be sure to pick up a copy of the BBC Sky at Night Magazine. Well we have a 16 page Pullout Sky Guide with a full rundown of everything worth looking for. Whether you enjoy gazing at the moon, the planets or the deep sky, whether you use binoculars, a telescope or both. Ask the guide. Guide has provided you with the detailed stock charts to track your way across the night sky. From all of us here at BBC Sky Magazine. Goodbye.

Chris Bramley Thank you for listening to this episode of The Start, our podcast from the creators of BBC Scotland Magazine. You can find more of our podcasts on our website at Scotland Magazine dot com or on Acast, iTunes or Spotify.