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The Sky over Berlin

September 2010

Diese Seite in deutsch *


Index: Links to Astronomy... *
* Overview * Events
  * The Starry Sky in September
* Sunrise and Sunset
* The Phases of the Moon
* The Planets
  * Uranus at Opposition
* Mercury at the Morning Sky
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Overview

The Starry Sky in September

The Starry Sky in StarryNight

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Sunrise and Sunset

...with astronomical dusk/dawn for 52°31'30" North and 13°18'45" East at 3m above sealevel (StarryNight 2.0)

  Dawn 1.: 03:08     11.: 03:32     21.: 03:54     1.10.: 04:13 (MET)
  Rise 1.: 05:19     11.: 05:36     21.: 05:52     1.10.: 06:09 (MET)
  Set  1.: 18:53     11.: 18:30     21.: 18:06     1.10.: 17:43 (MET)
  Night 1.: 21:04     11.: 20:33     21.: 20:04     1.10.: 19:38 (MET)

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The Phases of the Moon

  3rd Qrtr.: 1.: 18:22   New Moon: 8.: 11:33   1st Qrtr.: 15.: 6:50   Full Moon: 23.: 10:17 (MET)

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Die Planeten

  Mercury: in the 2nd half of the month visible at the morning sky in Sextans/Virgo/Leo
  Venus: barely visible at the evening sky in Virgo/Libra
  Mars: invisible at the evening sky in Virgo/Libra
  Jupiter: visible at the nightly sky in Pisces
  Saturn: invisible at the evening sky in Virgo
  Uranus: visible at the nightly sky in Pisces
  Neptune: visible at the nightly sky in Capricornus
  Pluto: visible at the evening sky in Sagittarius

Illustrations: StarryNight 2.0 & -- jd --

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Events

1.9.2010
Alpha-Aurigids maximum (visible Aug. 25 - Sept. 5 with 5<ZHR<10 (weak) and V=65km/s (fast))
3.9.2010 14h MET
Mercury at inferior conjunction with the Sun
6.9.2010 7h MET
Venus at aphelion (far from Sun, distance Sun-Venus 0.729 a.u.)
11.9.2010 2h MET
8 Flora at opposition to the Sun in Aquarius with 8m.2
11.9.2010 19h MET
Moon 3 deg. South of Venus
12.9.2010 4h MET
Mercury standing still, followed by prograde motion
14.9.2010 2h MET
Pluto standing still, followed by prograde motion
19.9.2010
Piscids maximum (visible Sept. 1 - 30 with 5<ZHR<10 (weak) and V=25km/s (slow))
19.9.2010 0h MET
Jupiter 0.8 deg. South of Uranus (see below)
19.9.2010 19h MET
Mercury at greatest Western elongation (18 deg., see below)
21.9.2010
6 Hebe at Opposition in Cetus with 7m.7
21.9.2010 11h MET
Mercury at perihelion (close to the Sun, distance Sun-Mercury 0.307 a.u.)
21.9.2010 13h MET
Jupiter at opposition to the Sun (see below)
21.9.2010 18h MET
Uranus at opposition to the Sun (see below)
23.9.2010 4:09h MET
Sun at autumn point, day-night-equilibrium, start of autumn
23.9.2010 21h MET
Venus at greatest illumination
 
8.9.2010
10th anniversary of the start of STS-106 Atlantis to the 99th shuttle mission (NASA)
9.9.2010
35th anniversary of the lauch of Viking 2 to Mars (NASA)
11.9.2010
25th anniversary of the closest approach of ICE to the comet Giacobini-Zinner (NASA)
12.9.2010
40th anniversary of the launch of Luna 16 to the Moon (USSR)
14.9.2010
95th birthday of John Dobson
17.9.2010
25th anniversary of the start of Soyuz T-14 to Salyut 7 (USSR)
18.9.2010
30th anniversary of the starts of Soyuz 38 to Salyut 6, 7th INTERKOSMOS mission (USSR)
20.9.2010
10th anniversary of the return of STS-106 Atlantis from the ISS (NASA)
24.9.2010
40th anniversary of the return of Luna 16 from the Moon, 1st automatic sample return mission (USSR)
Source of the Celestial Events:
Hans-Ulrich Keller (ed.), "Kosmos Himmelsjahr 2010", Franck-Kosmos Verlag, 2009

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s.b.:

Uranus and its Moons, NASA collage


Uranus at Opposition

Jupiter at Opposition - Jupiter close to Uranus

Uranus is the seventh planet of the Solar system and was discovered in 1781 by Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel. Although theoretically visible with the naked eye this is only valid for observation at ideal conditions with a good eye. THis month Uranus is at opposition to the Sun, so it has its best visibility with an opposition brightnes of 5m.7 and a virtual diameter of 3.7 arc seconds. Its real diameter is 51118 kilometer and with this its about four times bigger than Earth. Despite its opposition position one would hardly find it at the sky, but this year Jupiter can be used as a finding aid:

In StarryNight:

The movement of Uranus and Jupiter in September 2009

Both Jupiter and Uranus are moving retrograde within the constellation of Pisces, and shortly before their opposition position they have their second approach in a series of a triple conjunction. At the 19th of September Jupiter and Uranus are only 0.8 degrees away from each other. With a brightness of -2m.9 Jupiter is brightly visible even at the city sky. Its virtual diamaeter is about fifty arc seconds. With a small swing of the telescope Uranus will appear North of Jupiter. So the one who has never seen Uranus at this opposition there will be the best conditions. Uranus and Jupiter reach their opposition position at the 21st of September. At that day Uranus rises at 18:08h MET (19:08h MET DST) and sets at the next day at about 6h MET (7h MET DST). At the 23rd of September the nearly Full Moon will come close the planetary pair:

In StarryNight:

Uranus, Jupiter and Moon at September 23 at the Berlin sky

The distance between Uranus and Moon at 4h MET (5h MET DST) is 5.7 degrees. One hour later in the morning dawn the distance will shrink to 5.5 degrees. The distance Jupiter-Moon at that time will be 6.2 degrees. Another hour later Uranus and Jupiter will be set already.

At the next encounter with the Moon Jupiter and Uranus have moved away from each other again:

In StarryNight:

Uranus, Jupiter and Moon at October 20 at the Berlin sky

Then Uranus will be about 2.7 degrees North of Jupiter. The distance Uranus-Moon will be 7.2 degrees, the distance Jupiter-Moon will be 6.5 degrees. Uranus has risen at the previous day at 16:12h MET (17:12h MET DST) and will set at that day at 4h MET (5h MET DST).

The next rendezvous with the Moon will take place at the 16th of November:

In StarryNight:

Uranus, Jupiter and Moon at November 16 at the Berlin sky

The minimum distance between Uranus and Moon wil be 5.8 degrees at 23h MET, the distance Jupiter-Moon will be 8.1 degrees at the same time. Uranus and Jupiter will be separated by 3.4 degrees. At the following time this distance will shrink again, because Jupiter will slow down its retrograde motion and is at its end of the opposition loop at the 19th of November. After this it will move prograde again and will approach Uranus again, which reaches its end of the opposition loop at the 6th of December. The third encounter between Uranus and Jupiter will happen in January 2011 with a minimum distance of 0.5 degrees between the two planets...

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Mercury at the Morning Sky

This month Mercury will appear at the morning sky. At the 3rd of September the most inner planet will have its inferior conjunction with the Sun and then it will rise fast into the Eastern sky. Its visibility will begin around the 15th of September. At the 19th it will reach its greatest Western elongation of about 18 degrees:

In StarryNight:

Mercury in the second half of September at the Berlin Eastern sky

It will be about -0m.3 magnitudes bright (according to the Kosmos-Himmelsjahr, according to StarryNight -2m.21). Mercury will rise at that day at 4:04h MET (5:04h MET DST) and with this more than 1 1/2 hours before the Sun. After this it will approach the Sun again and from the 29th of September it can be erased from the list of visible planets, again.

The Earthen probe MESSENGER is currently on its way to Mercury, and its supposed to reach an orbit around the fastest planet of the Solar system at March 18, 2011.

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created: 2010-02-01 from German version
modified: 2010-02-02 translated

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