It shines all month at magnitude –2.9, the brightest object in the night sky after the Moon. Jupiter reaches opposition on the 26th in southern Pisces. A telescope will reveal the distant planet’s dim bluish disk, spanning a mere 2″. Follow that line east to a bright magnitude 5.5 star - Neptune is roughly midway between this and the zigzag’s easternmost star. The group looks like a miniature Cassiopeia, with one star missing in the northwest. Look for a zigzagging line of four stars 5° south of Lambda, each slightly fainter than its western neighbor (magnitudes 6.3 to 7.2). Wait until late evening, once Neptune has reached a decent altitude, then scan the region with binoculars. With Jupiter coming to opposition 10 days later, it is not far away, 11° east of Neptune. Find it 5° due south of Lambda (λ) Piscium, the southeasternmost star in the Circlet of Pisces asterism. Shining at magnitude 7.7 in northeastern Aquarius, it’s within easy reach of binoculars. 16 and is consequently visible all night. 15 eastern elongation, when it appears faintest - about 12th magnitude - nearly 9′ due east of Saturn. Iapetus passed superior conjunction in late August and now heads to a Sept. Tethys, Dione, and Rhea shine at 10th magnitude and orbit every two to five days. Inside Titan’s orbit are many more moons, all fainter. You’ll find it north of Saturn early on Sept. Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, is magnitude 8.5, an easy target for small telescopes. The rings span 42″ across the major axis and only 10″ across the minor axis. Saturn’s disk remains near its peak diameter of 18″ across the equator, with a polar diameter of 16.5″. Overall, this angle is declining as Saturn moves along its orbit such variations are the result of the way Saturn’s orbit is tilted with respect to Earth’s by 2.5°. 30, slightly better than the 12° tilt over the summer. The apparent tilt of the rings increases to 15° by Sept. Telescopic views reveal the magnificent ring system, visible even in the smallest scope. It glows at magnitude 0.3 in western Capricornus the Sea Goat, outshining 1st-magnitude Fomalhaut 24° to its southeast.įollow Saturn all evening as it climbs higher it shows off best when it is 35° high in the southern sky, around local midnight. 7 and 8, a gibbous Moon stands near the ringed planet. The early evening is dominated by Saturn’s appearance in the southeastern sky as darkness falls.
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