This Week's Night Sky: September 9-15

Let's hope the skies stay clear, because as always, we're in for a treat!



Sunday, September 8

The Moon lies 2° below bright Venus after sunset

This morning is the perfect time to look for Mars. The Red Planet is close to the Beehive Cluster(M44) in Cancer the Crab both today and tomorrow, and at magnitude 1.84 it shines 100 times brighter than the cluster's brightest stars. Since the pair are positioned so close together, it's best to use binoculars or a telescope with a wide field of view to see the pair. At 5 a.m. local time they lie 15° above the western horizon.

Look out for yet another conjunction in the west/southwest shortly after sunset, as a young 10% waxing crescent lies roughly 2° below bright Venus. The pair will be visible together for almost an hour after sunset, so make sure you have a clear view of the western horizon, for what should be a great sight!

Monday, September 9

Keep a look out for spectacular Venus after sunset all this week. The planet shines at a dazzling magnitude -3.57 and is easily visible to the naked eye. Make sure you have an unobstructed view of the western horizon to see how bright Venus is. A telescope will reveal its 75% illuminated disc.

Saturn is tricky to find this month, but you can use the 20% illuminated Moon to spot the ringed planet this evening. For observers in Ireland, Saturn lies 2° above the Moon, and the pair are visible for over an hour after sunset. Train your eyes towards the Moon using a small telescope and reveal its ancient mountains and craters casting shadows on the lunar surface. If you want to focus on Saturn, use a telescope to gaze at the gas planet's magnificent rings, which are tilted 18° towards our line of sight.


Tuesday, September 10

Take advantage of Moonless morning skies to see the Zodiacal light. From the Northern Hemisphere, the time around the autumnal equinox is the best for viewing this spectacle. You will need to be in a dark sky location with a clear view of the eastern horizon to observe the cone-shaped haze. Optimum viewing should be just before twilight at 5 a.m. LT.

Mars is also visible in the morning skies all month long. It rises just after 3 a.m. Local Time and appears near the Beehive Cluster in Cancer the Crab. Mars shines nearly 100 times brighter than the cluster's brightest stars, and the pair lie just a degree apart this morning. A pair of binoculars or even a small telescope is the best choice to view this spectacle.

Wednesday, September 11


Jupiter steals the show, as the biggest planet in our solar system rises this morning at around 1 a.m. Local Time, shining at a brilliant magnitude -1.64. A pair of binoculars should reveal the planet's four moons; Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Point a telescope at the planet and observe its two main cloud bands, and if the time is right and your telescope is big enough, you should be able to see Jupiter's Great Red Spot. By the end of the month Jupiter rises at around midnight, setting it up for some spectacular winter evening viewing!

Thursday, September 12

The path of Comet ISON in September

The much anticipated Comet ISON(C/2012 S1) recently came inside the orbit of Mars, marking its arrival into the inner solar system. Comet hunters need a 10-inch or larger telescope to spot the comet, which currently glows at around 13th or 14th magnitude. It lies around 3° to the north-east of Mars this week, but once again- a large telescope is key to spotting it!

A September morning sky wouldn't be the same without the Great Nebula in Orion. At magnitude 4.0, it is easily visible to the naked eye as a fuzzy patch in the east, but binoculars or a small telescope will reveal its true beauty!

Friday, September 13

If you find yourself away from the city lights, gaze overhead to observe the humbling Magellanic Cloud which spans its way across the sky. Dark skies reveal the haze of millions of stars scattered throughout our Milky Way galaxy. Point a pair of binoculars or a wide-view telescope towards the constellation Cygnus the Swan, to reveal it's main star cluster- M39.

The stunning Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius

If you have a clear view of the south, try and find the Lagoon Nebula, which is visible at magnitude 5.80. At 9:30 p.m. Local Time it lies just over 12° above the horizon in the constellation Sagittarius. Binoculars will reveal the nebula's oval shape, and you should be able to make out a definite core.





Saturday, September 14

The ever-present Plough/Big Dipper is visible all night long in the northern sky. Use the two stars at the front of the dipper; Merak and Dubhe to draw a line towards Polaris, the North star.

The Pleiades shine with a distinctive blue hue, rising shortly after 10 p.m. local time. Another deep sky object which really makes you think how mind boggling huge the universe really is, you should be able to see several stars packed tightly together with the eye alone- the famous "Seven Sisters" always give you a sense of perspective. A good set of binoculars are the most popular choice of equipment to observe this gem!

Sunday, September 15

The Moon reaches perigee, the closest point in its orbit around the Earth, at 5:31 p.m. Irish Standard Time. Our natural satellite rises at 5:30 p.m. Local Time, and is visible as a 70% waning gibbous until shortly after 2 a.m. A telescope will reveal its ancient craters and mountains casting shadows on the lunar surface in incredible detail.


Stay tuned to Irish Space Blog for all the latest news in the world of space exploration and astronomy! This Week's Night Sky will be published every Sunday, giving an insight into what you should be looking out for in the week ahead. We hope you like it!

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What Would Our Fragile Oasis Look Like from a Billion Miles Away? Astronomy: The Humblest of Hobbies

How many of you out there have a telescope at home? Did you have one when you were younger? Do you want one when you are older? Have you used one at your local observatory, or perhaps messed around with one at your grandparent's house, not really knowing what it was when you ran out of things to do before you went to bed? Have you seen for yourself the exact landing site on The Moon where Neil and Buzz walked nearly 44 years ago? Well, if you haven't, I suggest you take a step outside and look up for a while when it's not too cold or cloudy- you might learn a thing or two!

My first Moon shot. Can you see the footprints?

It was just past 10 p.m. as I stood next to the tripod. I had at least four layers of clothes on which were supposed to keep me warm, yet i still stood there half-shaking with the cold, and half-shaking with the excitement of seeing something through my telescope for the very first time. Tonight's target was Jupiter. This brand spanking new 5-inch refractor I bough for my birthday arrived maybe a week beforehand, but the ever-present Irish clouds spreading from the west did me no favours whatsoever, so the telescope stayed inside. I used this time wisely to do my research that might come in handy for whenever that clear night arrived. I joined online forums, groups and all that kind of stuff, trying to see if I could get any advice and tips. What would Jupiter look like through a scope of my size? Would I be able to see it's cloud bands? Could I see the Great Red Spot? I kept asking what the largest planet in our solar system would look like through my telescope. All of the answers I got were helpful and gave me a slight indication into what I might be able to see. But just like asking an astronaut what does Earth look like from space, they always say "You really have to see it for yourself", and how it's "Simply indescribable". To say I was looking forward to this night was an understatement! 

The city around me grew quieter as the night drew on. Luckily there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and Jupiter was rising higher in the east. Conditions were perfect and I had even left my scope out for an hour or so, in order that it would adjust to the sub-zero temperatures outside. Time to go planet hunting! 

After finding Jupiter with my 20mm eyepiece, I took a moment to see if I was able to spot it's four moons; Ganymede, Europa, Io and Callisto. They were all there and looking great! I quickly changed to the 10mm and got a much anticipated zoomed-in view. What a sight! I literally did not know what to do when I saw the two main cloud belts for the first time, so I just stepped back from the eyepiece and looked at Jupiter as it really was, a bright point of light in the sky- over 387 million miles away.

I continued to planet gaze for another hour or so. It's not that I got bored of looking at Jupiter, it's just that I had found other things in the night sky. The Pleiades came into view and I got the chance to really see them for the first time as well. It was now midnight. 

As every astronomer knows, there comes a point during every observing session when you just step away from the telescope for a few minutes and just look at the sky as a whole- just gazing into infinity. If you're lucky you might see a couple of satellites zooming overhead- another great sight to behold. Now though, I'm looking straight at The Orion Nebula(Not bad for the first night on the job right?) When you look at Orion and you see the massive dust and gas enveloping that stellar nursery, you realise that you are witnessing the birth of stars, planets, asteroids- maybe even life itself! Again, more questions arise- I wonder if this is what it was like when our solar system was being created. How many stars will end up forming there? 

Earth seen as a Pale Blue Dot

Soon you really begin to think how small we really are on this planet of ours. You look up and see thousands of stars- many of them hundreds of times larger than our very own Sun. One thing I couldn't help but notice when I was looking at Jupiter- the largest planet in our solar system- was how small it still looked from Earth- even with a telescope. But the one constant thought in my head revolved around this question. Imagine if we were nearly a billion miles away from Earth and we tried looking back. Would we see any shape to our fragile oasis, or would we just appear as a Pale Blue Dot. Would we even matter? Well, of course! We matter to each other.

"It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience".

-- Carl Sagan

What I'm trying to say here is that after I caught that first glimpse of Jupiter through the scope, I've really started thinking about how small we really are on this ball of blue we call home. Astronomy may not be everyone's cup of tea, and most people don't know the first thing about it if you ask me, but it certainly puts things into perspective for you. It puts you in your place. Now I don't want to sound all inspirational here, but just like the great Carl Sagan said, when you realise how small we really are, all of our quarrels and worries seem so unimportant- 

"Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors, so that in glory and triumph they can become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot" 

If that doesn't show you how small we are I don't know what does. You can fit Planet Earth inside the Sun 1 million times over. Yet the sun is still not even a tiny fraction in terms of the overall composition of our galaxy. Yet, the Milky Way is so small on this universal context that it's impossible to get your head around how tiny we all are. But if you want to see for yourself how small we are on this universal scale, just go outside-- and look up!