What is gracing the September 2024 skies?  A juuuuust barely partial lunar eclipse, the best viewing for Saturn, 5 lunar close encounters, and the transition to fall.

Hi everybody, I’m Rob Webb, your Last Minute Astronomer, bringing astronomy to normies and nerds, with little time to spare.

 

We’ll start by talking about September’s big events, then highlight the naked eye planets, and finish up with the lunar phases, so you can plan ahead better than me.  

7th – 8th – Opposition of Saturn – Saturn, Earth, and the Sun are essentially lined up, causing Saturn to rise at sunset, and set at sunrise, with best viewing around midnight.

 

17th - Just Barely Partial Lunar Eclipse - The Moon passes into the shadow that Earth is casting into the solar system, but only a little.  Times here are Eastern Daylight, so adjust for your location, assuming you are in the Americas, Africa, or Europe.  The penumbral stage will be almost not noticeable, however the hour of partiality will be.  At 10:12pm the Moon will start to graze the dark inner portion of the Earth’s shadow called the umbra.  About half an hour later it’ll be at maximum eclipse, with 8% of it covered up.  Another half hour later, the dark shadow will no longer be noticeable, and the moon will be in the penumbra until 12:47am.

8:41pm - Penumbral Eclipse Starts

10:12pm - Partiality Starts

10:44pm - Maximum Eclipse (8%)

11:15pm - Partiality Ends

12:47pm - Penumbral Eclipse Ends

 

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