The Night Sky - September 2020

The nights rapidly draw in during September as the Sun heads southwards along the ecliptic and by 10pm BST on a mid-September evening, the bright summer constellations of Cygnus, Lyra and Aquila are already past the meridian into the south-western sky. The Square of Pegasus, with Andromeda trailing behind is high in the south-east. High overhead is the distinctive 'W' of Cassiopeia, a constellation rich in open star clusters - a good binocular target.

Nearer to home, this is the first of two great months to observe Mars which has its closest approach to Earth on October the 6th. Lying in Pisces, Mars can be seen towards the south-east at the start of the month rising at 9:45pm BST. As well as Mars, September is also a good month to observe Jupiter which will be visible during all the hours of darkness. It lies in the southernmost part of the ecliptic in Sagittarius.