Download 1 Sep: 6.13am BST 15 Sep: 6.43am BST 30 Sep: 7.14am BST

Moray’s Night Sky
Sunrise: 1 Sep: 6.13am BST
Sunset: 1 Sep: 8.12pm BST
15 Sep: 6.43am BST
15 Sep: 7.33pm BST
30 Sep: 7.14am BST
30 Sep: 6.51pm BST
The sky view is for midnight on the 15th September. Sunrise is at 6.43am and sunset at 7.33pm.
September is also the month of the Autumnal Equinox when the Sun’s apparent path crosses the
equator heading south. The equinox occurs at 10.04am BST on Friday 23rd September, and from
that date till the Vernal Equinox in March, the nights will be longer than the days.
We’ll start at Ursa Major (the Plough), which is easy to spot and is in the northwest. Following the
pointers through Draco’s tail we find Polaris the Pole Star, marking north. Again from the Plough,
following the line formed by the handle round in a curve towards the horizon we find Arcturus, a red
giant, and one of the brightest stars in the sky at the bottom of the fairly faint kite-shaped constellation
of Bootes (the Herdsman).
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Back to the Plough and following the line through the pointers and Polaris, we come to the distinctive
‘W’ of Cassiopeia.
The star at the centre of the W, is γ Cas with the star at the bottom of the left-hand V, δ Cas forming a
line pointing at the famous Double-Cluster (NGC 869 and 884) in Perseus.
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Figure 1: Double Cluster in Perseus
Looking southwest the sky is dominated by the constellations of Cygnus (the Swan), Lyra (the Lyre)
and Aquila (the Eagle) whose brightest stars of Deneb, Vega and Altair respectively make up the
Summer Triangle. The Swan’s beak is marked by Albireo and halfway between Albireo and Altair is
Sagitta (the Arrow) a small but lovely constellation representing an arrow sailing harmlessly between
the two birds. To the left of Altair is another small constellation Delphinus (the Dolphin) its four
principle stars forming a box shape known as Job’s Coffin. Finally, from these constellations, follow a
line from Deneb through Vega and you will find an undistinguished constellation Hercules, with its
wedge of stars forming ‘the keystone’. During September, Comet Garradd is moving from Sagitta
towards Hercules as detailed on the next page.
Looking to the northeast you will see a bright star above the horizon, which is Capella the brightest in
Auriga (the Charioteer). Facing East follow a line from Capella to the south and you will find the
constellations of Perseus, Andromeda, and the Square of Pegasus.
Going back to Cassiopeia, there are 2 Messier objects, M52 and M103, shown below. Both objects
are open clusters with M52 an easy binocular object, though M103 is best soon through a telescope
with low power.
Returning to Cassiopeia and using the right-hand stars of α Cas (Schedar) and β Cas (Caph) as
pointers we come to Cepheus, the mythical King of Ethiopia and husband of Cassiopeia.
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Both Cassiopeia and Cepheus lie in the Milky Way and are areas well worth sweeping through with
binoculars or a telescope. To me Cepheus looks like a bishop’s mitre and below the bottom of the
hat, just above IC1396, is µ Cephei or Herschel’s Garnet Star, a red super giant.
Comet 2009 P1 (Garradd)
Comet 2009 P1 (Garradd) was discovered on 13th August 2009 by G J Garradd of Siding Spring
Observatory Australia. While it is presently at Mag 8.0, it’s been reported as a hazy patch in
binoculars or small telescope. It is predicted to brighten to around Mag 6.0 towards the end of 2011
into 2012 and a finder and light curve chart are reproduced below. Daily information on the comet’s
position can be found at www.heavens-above.com.
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The Moon
First Quarter is on the 4th with Full Moon on the 12th, Last Quarter on the 20th and New Moon on the
27th. September’s Full Moon is also called the Harvest Moon, as in earlier times its light allowed
farmers to continue to harvest, as it rises in the east after sunset for several nights in succession.
The Planets
Mercury will be visible low in the East for about 1 hour before dawn.
Venus is too close to the Sun.
Mars is a morning object.
Jupiter will be visible for most of the night, and will be a stunning sight as it is comparatively high in
the sky.
Saturn can be briefly glimpsed in the evening sky low in the east just after sunset. Uranus will be
visible for most of the most of the night.
Uranus for those with large telescopes and dark skies will be visible most of the night.
The ISS
The ISS is a morning object from 24th to the end of the month visible from around 0620 BST on the
24th. Full details of all ISS passes, and more, can be found at Chris Peat’s website www.heavensabove.com, with thanks to Chris for permission to use his sky chart.
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