Monday, September 26
The mighty planet Jupiter reaches opposition today at 4 P.M. EDT in the constellation Pisces. It will rise as the Sun sets and set as the Sun rises, offering excellent views all night and early morning.
Jupiter is also close to Earth in its orbit right now — closer than it has been since 1963, according to NASA. That’s because neither Jupiter nor Earth orbits the Sun in a perfect circle, and only occasionally do the planets’ orbits bring them particularly close together. But this year, the giant planet is within some 367 million miles (591 million kilometers) of Earth, making it appear particularly big and bright — 50" across and magnitude –2.9 — in the sky.
Two hours after sunset, Jupiter is more than 20° high in the east. The later in the evening you observe, the better, as the clearer your views will be. You can’t miss its bright light some 11° below the Circlet of Pisces; Jupiter is the brightest source of light in the sky overnight, until Venus rises tomorrow morning.
Zoom in on Jupiter with a telescope and you’ll see it is flanked by its four largest moons. Stretching out to the east (from closest to farthest) are Io, Europa, and Ganymede. Alone to the west is Callisto. If you do catch the planet earlier in the evening, you may even see its Great Red Spot transiting the face, reaching the middle of the planet around 8:45 P.M. EDT. (The Spot will transit again tomorrow morning, reaching midway across Jupiter’s face around 6:40 A.M. EDT on the 27th.)
Sunrise: 6:51 A.M.
Sunset: 6:50 P.M.
Moonrise: 7:29 A.M.
Moonset: 7:28 P.M.
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent (1%)
Tuesday, September 27
The darkest nights this month are the best time to spot the far-flung ice giant Uranus, the second-to-last planet in our solar system. The magnitude 5.7 planet is an excellent binocular or small scope target tonight, rising in the east around 8 P.M. local time. Give it a few hours to climb higher above the horizon; by 11 P.M., it is more than 25° high in southeastern Aries. The planet will continue to move higher into the morning hours, so early risers can expect even better views.
The easiest way to find Uranus in binoculars is to first locate Menkar, Cetus the Whale’s magnitude 2.5 alpha star. From there, shift a little less than two fields of view (in 7x50 binoculars) to find a small triangle of three 6th-magnitude stars. One of these is 53 Arietis. Uranus sits near the western edge of the triangle. Its small disk spans just 4" and may appear bluish-gray.
About 14.5° northeast of Uranus in the sky lies 2nd-magnitude Hamal, the brightest star in Aries. Roughly 4° southeast of this star is Aries’ second-brightest star, magnitude 2.6 Sheratan.
Sunrise: 6:52 A.M.
Sunset: 6:49 P.M.
Moonrise: 8:36 A.M.
Moonset: 7:53 P.M.
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent (4%)
Wednesday, September 28
Let’s return to Pisces tonight for a much fainter target than Jupiter. Today, we’re focusing on a galaxy group in the northeastern portion of the constellation, near Andromeda. Cataloged as Arp 331 or the NGC 383 group, this set of galaxies is sometimes called the Pisces Chain or the Pisces Cloud as well.
Even with a dark sky, you’ll need a large scope to track down this gaggle of galaxies, so go for as much aperture as you can. The brightest member of the chain is 12th-magnitude NGC 383, for whom the group is named. This galaxy also appears the largest, spanning some 2'. You’ll find it about 3.2° south of Mirach (Beta [β] Andromedae). Just 30" to its southwest is the starlike galaxy NGC 382 (magnitude 14).
Stretching in a line southeast of NGC 383 are (from north to south) NGC 386 (magnitude 14), NGC 385 (magnitude 13), NGC 388 (magnitude 14), and NGC 384 (magnitude 13). To NGC 383’s north (from south to north) are NGC 380 (magnitude 13.6) and NGC 379 (magnitude 13).
Sunrise: 6:53 A.M.
Sunset: 6:47 P.M.
Moonrise: 9:46 A.M.
Moonset: 10:20 P.M.
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent (9%)