![]() Wednesday evening and onward will be the best nights to view the moon in binoculars or a backyard telescope. On Tuesday, look for the bright white star Spica twinkling to the moon’s lower left in a darkened sky – around 9 pm local time. The moon will spend Sunday through Wednesday traversing the lengthy form of Virgo (the Maiden). On Monday night, shown here at 8:10 pm local time, the moon will be above the speedy planet. On Sunday night, August 28, the young crescent moon will shine to the right of Mercury. Take care to avoid using binoculars or telescopes to find them until the sun has completely set. On Monday evening, the moon will shift to sit a palm’s width above Mercury. Tonight, the moon will also be accompanied by the medium-bright dot of Mercury shining about a fist’s diameter to the moon’s left (or 10° to the celestial SSE). That change in angle from the sun will allow the moon to set 20 minutes later each day, and will increase the amount of the moon we see illuminated, i.e., its phase. The moon will become easier to see each evening this week as it slides farther from the sun – shifting by its diameter every hour. Seeing the youngest possible moon is a bucket-list item for many astronomers. Since the moon runs through its cycle 12.37 times per year, every second or third lunisolar year requires an extra 13th intercalary or “leap” month. Since solstices and equinoxes are Earth-Sun phenomena, and completely independent of the moon’s phases, lunisolar calendars drift compared to our Gregorian system. ![]() The placement of those months is anchored to a solstice or equinox. Nowadays, we use astronomy apps to tell us when that will happen, whether one can see the moon or not. Unlike our Western Gregorian calendar, a lunisolar calendar uses the 29.53-day cycle of the moon’s phases (its synodic period) to define the months of the year – usually starting each month on the day when the young crescent moon is first glimpsed after sunset. The closer to the equator you live, the easier it will be. Tonight (Sunday) you might catch a glimpse of the young crescent moon’s sliver floating a few finger widths above the western horizon for about half an hour after sunset – but the post-sunset twilight, and any clouds or haziness, could make seeing it a challenge. Meanwhile, night owls will see the winter stars of Auriga (the Charioteer) and Taurus (the Bull) peeking over the eastern horizon at midnight! Astronomers also appreciate that those earlier sunsets allow the summer constellations to remain visible in the west after dusk while we transition to the autumn sky overhead. At this time of year, the sun is rising about 1 minute later and setting about 1.5 minutes earlier at mid-northern latitudes, giving us three more minutes of darkness each day. Welcome to September! We’re only three weeks away from the equinox. Although Venus and Mercury are becoming a challenge, the rest of the bright planets will be easy in binoculars and telescopes. All the planets are observable from dusk to dawn. The moon will return to shine in the evening sky worldwide this week, but we can still enjoy double stars and variable stars, such as the ones in Corona Borealis. Read entitled 110 Things to See With a Telescope is a guide to viewing the deep sky objects in the Messier List – for both beginners and seasoned astronomers. If you’d like me to bring my Digital Starlab portable inflatable planetarium to your school or other daytime or evening event, or deliver a session online, contact me through AstroGeo.ca, and we’ll tour the Universe, or the Earth’s interior, together! My terrific new book with John A. To subscribe to these emails please click this MailChimp link. You can also follow me on Twitter as Unless otherwise noted, all times are expressed in Eastern Time. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and send me your comments, questions, and suggested topics. Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of August 28th, 2022 by Chris Vaughan. On Saturday, September 3, 2022, the moon will reach its first quarter phase.
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