Astronomy News for the Month of September 2021


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For amateur radio operators and scanner enthusiasts, when in the Denver metro area, please join the Colorado Astronomy Net on the Rocky Mountain Radio League's WØWYX 146.94 MHz and 449.825 MHz repeaters.
Due to hardware issues, links with the Allstar node, Echolink and the Cripple Creek repeater are down until further notice.
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 Excerpts from JPL mission updates are provided as a public service as part
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For special JPL programs and presentations in your area visit the JPL Solar System Ambassador website.
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In this Newsletter...


Background screen credits: NGC5775
Imaged March 21/22, 2001
using the 16" Kitt Peak Visitors Center telescope
as part of the Kitt Peak Advanced Observing Program.


"This starlit shot of the Athabasca River in Alberta, Canada, features the constellations of Aquarius, Pisces Austrinus, and Cetus. This same region of the sky hosts Neptune this month." Astronomy Magazine, September 2021, P. 32. Alan Dyer


The Month At-A-Glance
A calendar displaying the daily astronomical events.


19 day moon

The Moon

Phases

Apogee/Perigee

Moon/Planet Pairs

For reference: The Full Moon subtends an angle of ~0.5°.

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The Planets & Dwarf Planets

Planetary Reports generated by "TheSkyX" software. These reports provide predicted data for the planets for the first of each month for the current year. The rise and set times for the Sun and the Moon for each day of the month as well as meteor shower radiants are also included in the reports. These reports have been optimized for the Denver, Colorado location, however, the times will be approximate for other locations on Earth.

(All times are local unless otherwise noted.)

Planetary Highlights for September

"Six major planets are in view before midnight during September, offering full range of binocular and telescopic sights. Mercury and Venus hug the western horizon soon after sunset, while Jupiter and Saturn provide a dazzling spectacle in the southeast. Both planets are well placed all evening. Uranus and Neptune are best viewed in binoculars or a telescope." Astronomy Magazine, September 2021, P. 32.

Mercury

Is at greatest eastern elongation (27°) on the 13th. Mercury is stationary on the 26th. Mercury sets at 8:22 p.m. on the 1st and about 7:00 p.m. by month's end. Look for Mercury to the west about 30 minutes after sunset all month. The best evenings to try and spot Mercury are on the 8th or 9th. Mercury is in the constellation of Virgo shining at magnitude 0.2 on the 15th.

Venus

Sets at 9:03 p.m. on the 1st and about 8:30 p.m. by month's end. Look for Venus in the west soon after sunset. Venus moves from the constellation of Virgo into Libra shining at magnitude -4.1 on the 15th.

Earth

Autumnal equinox occurs at 3:21 P.M. EDT on the 22nd.

Mars

Sets at 8:02 p.m. on the 1st and about 6:48 p.m. by month's end. Mars is too close to the Sun to be visible this month. Mars will return to the morning sky in December. Mars moves from the constellation of Leo into Virgo shining at magnitude 1.7.

Jupiter

Rises at 6:52 p.m. on the 1st and about 4:47 p.m. by month's end. Jupiter is still near it's best viewing for the year and is visible almost all night long. Jupiter is in the constellation of Capricornus shining at magnitude -2.8.

Saturn

Rises at 6:00 p.m. on the 1st and about 3:59 p.m. by month's end. Along with Jupiter, Saturn is also near its best viewing for the year and is visible almost all night long. Saturn is in the constellation of Capricornus shining at magnitude 0.3.

Uranus

Rises at 10:06 p.m. on the 1st and around 8:06 p.m. by month's end. Uranus is returning to the evening sky this month and should be visible later after sunset. Follow Uranus across the sky with binoculars or a telescope almost all night long. Uranus is in the constellation of Aries shining at magnitude 5.7.

Neptune

Is at opposition on the 14th, rising as the Sun sets. Neptune rises at 7:58 p.m. on the 1st and about 5:58 p.m. by month's end. Neptune is at it's best for the year. As with Uranus, follow Neptune across the sky with binoculars or a telescope almost all night long. Neptune is in the constellation of Aquarius shining at magnitude 7.8

Dwarf Planets

Ceres

Rises at 11:48 p.m. on the 1st and about 10:03 p.m. by month's end. Even though, Ceres is now rising in the late evening, it is best observed after midnight, when it is higher in the southern sky. Ceres is in the constellation of Taurus shining at magnitude 8.6.

Pluto

Sets at 2:45 a.m. on the 1st and about 12:45 a.m. by month's end. Pluto is visible in the evening sky, but will require moonless, dark sky nights well away from city lights. Pluto is in the constellation of Sagittarius shining at magnitude 14.3.

As always, good luck at spotting Neptune, Ceres and Pluto, a large telescope and dark skies will be needed.

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Astronomical Events

Meteor Showers

  • The Alpha Aurigids - This shower's duration seems to persist from August 25 to September 6. Maximum occurs on September 1. The annual maximum hourly rate may be as high as 9, but outbursts of over 30 occurred in 1935, 1986, and 1994, and observers recorded up to 130 meteors per hour in 2007.

  • The Epsilon Perseids meteor shower is a relatively new meteor shower which can be observed from September 4 to the September 14. The Epsilon Perseids peaks on the night of the September 9, morning of September 10. Observers may expect to see up to 5 or 6 meteors per hour during the peak.

    Meteor Shower Radiant Report

    For more information about Meteor Showers, visit Gary Kronk's Meteor Showers Online web page.

    Meteor Scatter (or Meteor burst communications) - "is a radio propagation mode that exploits the ionized trails of meteors during atmospheric entry to establish brief communications paths between radio stations up to 2,250 kilometres (1,400 mi) apart." Tune your shortwave or your HF amateur radio to 54.310 MHz SSB and see if you can hear any pings. Try other frequencies as well... 6m FT8 digital - 50.313 Mhz & 50.276 Mhz, JP-65 digital mode and the carrier frequencies of the lower VHF bands for TV channels 2, 3 & 4.

    Meteor Rx How-To by Terry Bullett (WØASP)

  • Comets

    "SEVEN YEARS AGO, the Rosetta spacecraft surveyed Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko by dropping the Philae probe onto the surface, later finishing the adventure with its own soft landing.

    The comet rises before midnight along with the Pleiades in the northeast, but you'll want to wait until the wee hours of the morning for it to get above the thickest part of our atmosphere. Our two-week Moon-free window closes midmonth. Glowing feebly at magnitude 10 to 11, Churyumov-Gerasimenko requires an 8- to 10-inch scope from a dark site." Astronomy Magazine, September 2021, p. 38.

  • For information, orbital elements and ephemerides on observable comets, visit the Observable Comets page from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

    For more information about Comets, visit Gary Kronk's Cometography.com webpage.

  • Eclipses

    Solar Eclipses

  • No solar eclipse activity this month.

    Lunar Eclipses

  • No lunar eclipse activity this month.

  • Observational Opportunities

  • Look for Mercury, Venus in the early evening, just before sunset.
  • Look for Saturn and Jupiter almost all night long.
  • Look for Neptune and Uranus in the late evening and early morning.

  • Asteroids

    (From west to east)
    Ocultations

    IOTA Logo

  • Information on various occultations can be found by clicking the IOTA logo.
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    Subscriber Gallery

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    Member Meteor Sightings

    In this section I will post meteor, fireball, etc sightings that have been published on the American Meteor Society's web site. I want to make this an active section of the web pages and newsletter and would like to publish the links to member sightings. If you have any published sightings, please provide me with the links and I will post them here for all to enjoy.

    Event ID Date/Time Location Observer Link
    3587-2015 2015-11-22 17:38 MST CO Kevin S 3587aw
    3829-2015 2015-12-05 18:06 MST CO Burness A 3829a
    3871-2015 2015-11-13 01:55 MST CO Charles N 3871a
    986-2020 2020-02-21 22:20 MST CO Lukas S 986
    3716-2020 2020-07-24 23:22 MDT CO Lukas S 3716
    4774-2021 2021-08-13 21:57 MDT UT Lukas S 4774

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    Planetary/Lunar Exploration Missions

    (Excerpts from recent JPL mission updates)

    JPL Latest News
    The Latest from Space

    JPL Latest News

    August 17, 2021
    Astronomers Find a 'Break' in One of the Milky Way's Spiral Arms

    Full Article & Images

    "The newly discovered feature offers insight into the large-scale structure of our galaxy, which is difficult to study from Earth's position inside it.

    Scientists have spotted a previously unrecognized feature of our Milky Way galaxy: A contingent of young stars and star-forming gas clouds is sticking out of one of the Milky Way's spiral arms like a splinter poking out from a plank of wood. Stretching some 3,000 light-years, this is the first major structure identified with an orientation so dramatically different than the arm's.

    Astronomers have a rough idea of the size and shape of the Milky Way's arms, but much remains unknown: They can't see the full structure of our home galaxy because Earth is inside it. It's akin to standing in the middle of Times Square and trying to draw a map of the island of Manhattan. Could you measure distances precisely enough to know if two buildings were on the same block or a few streets apart? And how could you hope to see all the way to the tip of the island with so many things in your way?"

    Read the latest news and discoveries from JPL's dozens of active space missions exploring Earth, the solar system and worlds beyond.

    Past, Present, Future and Proposed JPL Missions.

    For special JPL programs and presentations in your area visit the JPL Solar System Ambassador web site.

    Juno - August 5, 2021
    NASA’s Juno Celebrates 10 Years With New Infrared View of Moon Ganymede

    Full Article & Images

    "The spacecraft used its infrared instrument during recent flybys of Jupiter's mammoth moon to create this latest map, which comes out a decade after Juno's launch.

    The science team for NASA's Juno spacecraft has produced a new infrared map of the mammoth Jovian moon Ganymede, combining data from three flybys, including its latest approach on July 20. These observations by the spacecraft's Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument, which "sees" in infrared light not visible to the human eye, provide new information on Ganymede's icy shell and the composition of the ocean of liquid water beneath. JIRAM was designed to capture the infrared light emerging from deep inside Jupiter, probing the weather layer down to 30 to 45 miles (50 to 70 kilometers) below Jupiter's cloud tops. But the instrument can also be used to study the moons Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto (known collectively as the Galilean moons in honor of their discoverer, Galileo)."

    Images from NASA's JunoCam.

    More information on the Juno mission is available at: Juno and Mission Juno.

    The public can follow the Juno mission on Facebook and Twitter.

    New Horizons - July 14, 2021
    Great Exploration Revisited: New Horizons at Pluto and Charon

    Full Article & Images

    "Six years ago today, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft made history with the first up-close exploration of the Pluto system — providing breathtaking views and detailed data on Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, revealing the surfaces of these distant, mysterious worlds at the outer reaches of our solar system.

    These simulated flights over Pluto and Charon include some of the sharpest images and topographic data that New Horizons gathered during its historic flyby on July 14, 2015. These are the first "movies" of Pluto and Charon made from the highest-resolution black-and-white image strips, taken by New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), as the spacecraft zipped by at more than 30,000 miles per hour."

    New Horizons gallery

    Find New Horizons in the iTunes App Store.

    For more information on the New Horizons mission - the first mission to the ninth planet - visit the New Horizons home page.

    TESS - August 4, 2021
    NASA's TESS Tunes into an All-sky 'Symphony' of Red Giant Stars

    Full Article & Images

    "Using observations from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers have identified an unprecedented collection of pulsating red giant stars all across the sky. These stars, whose rhythms arise from internal sound waves, provide the opening chords of a symphonic exploration of our galactic neighborhood.

    TESS primarily hunts for worlds beyond our solar system, also known as exoplanets. But its sensitive measurements of stellar brightness make TESS ideal for studying stellar oscillations, an area of research called asteroseismology."

    For more information on the TESS mission, visit the Latest Tess Stories page.

    Past, Present, Future and Proposed JPL Missions

    Visit JPL's mission pages for current status.

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    Mars Missions

    Be A Martian

    Mars website mobile version is here!

    MARS WEATHER
    Mars Daily Weather Report

    Mars on the Go! NASA Be A Martian Mobile App
    If you want the latest news as it happens, try our Be A Martian app.
    Download on Mobile Devices
    Android | iPhone | Windows Phone
    JMARS

    JMARS is an acronym that stands for Java Mission-planning and Analysis for Remote Sensing. It is a geospatial information system (GIS) developed by ASU's Mars Space Flight Facility to provide mission planning and data-analysis tools to NASA's orbiters, instrument team members, students of all ages, and the general public.

    Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics

    "The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU) began in 1948, a decade before NASA. We are the world's only research institute to have sent instruments to all eight planets and Pluto.

    LASP combines all aspects of space exploration through our expertise in science, engineering, mission operations, and scientific data analysis. As part of CU, LASP also works to educate and train the next generation of space scientists, engineers and mission operators by integrating undergraduate and graduate students into working teams. Our students take their unique experiences with them into government or industry, or remain in academia to continue the cycle of exploration.

    LASP is an affiliate of CU-Boulder AeroSpace Ventures, a collaboration among aerospace-related departments, institutes, centers, government labs, and industry partners."

    LASP/MAVEN - August 17, 2021
    LASP researcher Scott Piggott named AIAA Professional Engineer of the Year

    Full Article & Images

    "The Rocky Mountain Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the world's largest aerospace technical society, has selected researcher Scott Piggott as its 2020-2021 Professional Engineer of the Year. Piggott, a spacecraft guidance, navigation, and control software engineer at the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), has worked on several programs from inception through flight, including the SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule, the Orion capsule, and the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM)."

    Visit LASP and MAVEN for more information.

    Mars 2020 - Perseverance - August 26, 2021
    NASA's Perseverance Plans Next Sample Attempt

    Full Article & Images

    "The rover will abrade a rock this week, allowing scientists and engineers to decide whether that target would withstand its powerful drill.

    In its search for signs of ancient microbial life on Mars, NASA's Perseverance rover is once again preparing to collect the first of many rock core samples that could eventually be brought to Earth for further study.

    This week, a tool on the rover's 7-foot-long (2-meter-long) robotic arm will abrade the surface of a rock nicknamed "Rochette," allowing scientists to look inside and determine whether they want to capture a sample with the rover's coring bit. Slightly thicker than a pencil, the sample would be sealed in one of the 42 remaining titanium tubes aboard the rover."

    Learn more about the Mars 2020 (Perseverance) mission.

    Mars Science Laboratory - Curiosity - August 17, 2021
    NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Explores a Changing Landscape

    Full Article & Images

    "A new video rings in the rover's ninth year on Mars, letting viewers tour Curiosity's location on a Martian mountain.

    Images of knobbly rocks and rounded hills are delighting scientists as NASA's Curiosity rover climbs Mount Sharp, a 5-mile-tall (8-kilometer-tall) mountain within the 96-mile-wide (154-kilometer-wide) basin of Mars' Gale Crater. The rover's Mast Camera, or Mastcam, highlights those features in a panorama captured on July 3, 2021 (the 3,167th Martian day, or sol, of the mission).

    This location is particularly exciting: Spacecraft orbiting Mars show that Curiosity is now somewhere between a region enriched with clay minerals and one dominated by salty minerals called sulfates. The mountain's layers in this area may reveal how the ancient environment within Gale Crater dried up over time. Similar changes are seen across the planet, and studying this region up close has been a major long-term goal for the mission."

    For information about NASA's partnership with Foursquare.

      Mars Rover Landing - Free for the Xbox 360 (requires Kinect)

      Visit the Mars Science Laboratory page.

    Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission - August 16, 2021
    Global Trio of Orbiters Shows Small Dust Storms Help Dry Out Mars

    Full Article & Image

    "By combining observations from three international spacecraft at Mars, scientists were able to show that regional dust storms play a huge role in drying out the Red Planet.

    Dust storms heat up higher altitudes of the cold Martian atmosphere, preventing water vapor from freezing as usual and allowing it to reach farther up. In the higher reaches of Mars, where the atmosphere is sparse, water molecules are left vulnerable to ultraviolet radiation, which breaks them up into their lighter components of hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen, which is the lightest element, is easily lost to space, with oxygen either escaping or settling back to the surface."

    MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER HIRISE IMAGES
    All of the HiRISE images are archived here.

    More information about the MRO mission is available online.

    Mars Odyssey Orbiter - April 7, 2021
    NASA's Odyssey Orbiter Marks 20 Historic Years of Mapping Mars

    Full Article and Images

    "NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft launched 20 years ago on April 7, making it the oldest spacecraft still working at the Red Planet. The orbiter, which takes its name from Arthur C. Clarke's classic sci-fi novel "2001: A Space Odyssey" (Clarke blessed its use before launch), was sent to map the composition of the Martian surface, providing a window to the past so scientists could piece together how the planet evolved."

    Daily Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images
    Can be found at the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) website.

    The Odyssey data are available through a new online access system established by the Planetary Data System.

    Visit the Mars Odyssey Mission page.

    Journey to Mars - InSight - Revealing the Heart of Mars - July 22, 2021
    NASA's InSight Reveals the Deep Interior of Mar

    Full Article and Images

    "Three papers published today share new details on the crust, mantle, and molten core of the Red Planet.

    Before NASA's InSight spacecraft touched down on Mars in 2018, the rovers and orbiters studying the Red Planet concentrated on its surface. The stationary lander's seismometer has changed that, revealing details about the planet's deep interior for the first time.

    Three papers based on the seismometer's data were published today in Science, providing details on the depth and composition of Mars' crust, mantle, and core, including confirmation that the planet's center is molten. Earth's outer core is molten, while its inner core is solid; scientists will continue to use InSight's data to determine whether the same holds true for Mars."

    Interactive selection of raw images taken by the cameras aboard InSight.

    Learn more about the InSight Mission.

    Mars Missions Status

    New Mars missions are being planned to include several new rover and sample collection missions. Check out the Mars Missions web page and the Mars Exploration page.

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    Astronomy Links and Other Space News

    (If you have a link you would like to recommend to our readers, please feel free to submit it.)

    Green Laser

    Colorado Astronomy Links

    Radio Astronomy Links

    Other Astronomy Links

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    Astronomical Lexicon

    Definitions of astronomical terms. Many of the astronomical terms used in this newsletter are defined here.

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    UT Logo

    Read the Universe Today Newsletter by clicking on the logo.

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    Acknowledgments and References

    Much of the information in this newsletter is from Astronomy® Magazine (Kalmbach Publishing), JPL mission status reports, the Internet, "Meteor Showers - A descriptive Catalog" by Gary W. Kronk, Sky & Telescope web pages, and other astronomical sources that I have stashed on my bookshelves.

    The author will accept any suggestions, constructive criticisms, and corrections. Please feel free to send me any new links or articles to share as well. I will try to accommodate any reasonable requests. Please feel free to send questions, comments, criticisms, or donations to the email address listed below. Enjoy!

    More Acknowledgements and References

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