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Sky Highlights and NEKAAL Events for SEPTEMBER 2015
September 5 – Last Quarter (moon absent from evening sky)
September 12 – OPEN HOUSE at Farpoint Observatory, JOIN US beginning 8:30 pm
September 13 – New Moon
September 21 – First Quarter
September 19 – NEKAAL PICNIC, Farpoint Observatory, 6:00 pm
September 27 – Full Moon & TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE (see SKY EXTRAS, below)
PLANETS in September 2015
Evening Sky:
Midnight:
Uranus – in southeast
Neptune – in south
Morning Sky:
Venus – in east
Mars – in east
Uranus – in southwest
CONSTELLATIONS well placed in evening during September 2015
North to South, at 9-11 pm:
Ursa Minor, the Little Bear, also the Little Dipper
Draco, the Dragon
Cepheus, the King of Ethiopia
Lyra, the Lyre
Cygnus, the Swan
Delphinus, the Dolphin
Aquila, the Eagle
Ophiuchus, the Serpent Handler
Capricorn, the Sea-Goat
Saturn season is coming to a close. You can still see Saturn low in the evening twilight, but only early in the month.
The Summer Triangle continues nearly straight overhead (near the zenith) in the evenings.
No comets visible in binoculars from Kansas this month. Best telescope bet this month is comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2), high in the sky, Bootes, just after dusk. You'll need a 6-8“ telescope. There's also the new, slightly fainter comet Jacques (C/2015 F4), high in Lyra. If you want to try for comet 67P, the very one now visited by the Rosetta spacecraft, you'll need to look high in the eastern sky, in Gemini, and you'll need a very large telescope–this comet is fading so this is your last chance for a while.
No significant meteor showers this month. (Orionids in October)