Equinox

Since the new moon is on the Sept. 17, this is a great time for night sky viewing. We just need all the fire haze to go away, so we can see the sky. We also need to stop the fires. Right now, it’s thundering, raining and hailing. A little later it will turn to snow which excites me because I love snow.

Unfortunately, all the sudden, the cold is going to kill all of our plants. But hopefully the drought will go away.
On the Sept. 22 autumn will begin. That’s when the Equinox occurs when the Sun sits over the equator. Then it will move south. The word Equinox means that the Sun crosses the equator from North to South this month which will occur at 7:31 a.m. our time that day.

On this day we all have equal portions of day and night. After that our days will get shorter and nights longer, while the Southern Hemisphere gets longer days and shorter nights. I love longer nights for sky viewing.

September 23-26 the moon will be meeting with Jupiter and Saturn. The moon is the second brightest object in our sky after the Sun. Jupiter is the fourth brightest with Venus being the third brightest. On the Sept. 23, the moon will reach its 1st quarter so it will be half lit.

Sept. 23 the moon will be just below and to the right of Jupiter, and on Sept. 24, it will be just below Jupiter. On Sept. 25 it will be just to the lower right of Saturn, and on Sept. 26, it will be just to the lower left of Saturn. Since they’re both bright planets, the moon shouldn’t take the light away from them.

By Sept. 26, the moon will be ¾ lit.  So go out in the evening and look in the South just to the left of the Milky Way, and watch this.