What's Up in the Night Sky -September

Fred Barrett | Aug 30, 2012

August was a very exciting month. There was the Perseid meteor shower on the 11th; the Milky Way was at its best and will continue to be so through September; and the Curiosity rover made a very complicated and successful landing on Mars.

More information came out confirming the existence of the Higgs boson from Cern, the European Centre for Nuclear Research. The Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland, a huge underground particle accelerator or atom smasher, was used to make the discovery. The Higgs Boson, first proposed by Physicist Peter Higgs of Edinburgh University and often called the “God Particle”, was anxiously sought after by physicists. Higgs thought that particles interact with a medium made up of particles called bosons. The interaction with this “Higgs Field”, which exists everywhere in space, gives mass to all other particles. Physicists believed that the Higgs boson was a cornerstone of the Standard Model of particle physics. The Standard Model defines how the particles that make up everything in the universe interact with each other. Mainstream media called the Higgs boson the “God Particle” because it was believed to originate in the Big Bang and could answer questions about the creation of the Universe. The real story of the naming of the “God Particle” is somewhat unexpected and more funny than serious. Physicist Leon Lederman titled a book he wrote “The Goddamn Particle” because of the frustrations involved in finding the particle. The title was truncated to “The God Particle” by his publisher out of fear that “Goddamn” would be offensive.

Last but not least, August has a “Blue Moon”. A Blue Moon occurs when there are 2 full Moons in a single month.

Jupiter rises in the east about 12 a.m. in early September and near 10 p.m. by month’s end. It brightens as the month progresses. Between September 7th and 9th and just before sunrise, Jupiter can be found above or near the half Moon as it passes through the Hyades. Mars and Saturn are very low in the southwest an hour or so after sunset at mid month. On September 19th, Mars will be to the right and quite close to the crescent Moon. Saturn will be well to the right of the Moon. Venus can be viewed about an hour before sunrise in the east to the left of the crescent Moon on September 12th. On September 30th Venus will be above and slightly to the right of Regulus, which sits at the bottom of the handle of the Sickle of the constellation Leo.

The Sickle is referred to as an asterism and makes up the right side of Leo. Asterisms are part of a constellation or a group of stars that remind us of everyday objects. The big dipper in the constellation Ursa Major is also known as an asterism. Regulus and Venus will be extremely close on October 3rd.

Watch for the Zodiacal light in the east about an hour to 2 hours before sunrise from September 14th to 28th. The Zodiacal light is light reflected from dust and debris in the plane of the solar system. Dark skies are essential. Look for a rightward leaning cone or pyramid of light, which will be quite broad at its base. Another point of reference is Venus, which will be on the light’s axis. Try using averted vision to help you pick it out. Averted vision is a technique to bring the more sensitive periphery of the eye's retina to bear on what you are observing. The centre of the eye is more specialized for colour and brightly lit objects. Looking slightly to the side of a faint star or deep sky object causes the light to fall on the sensitive outer area of the retina and allows you to catch in your vision what the centre cannot.

Autumn begins at the Autumnal equinox on September 22nd at 10:49 a.m.

The Milky Way will have a moonless sky for 2 weeks after September 6th. Get out with your binoculars and go exploring. The bugs are gone and the nights are cool, with low humidity. The seeing should be spectacular.

There are 2 terms that define how good a night is for astronomy. They are ‘Seeing’ and ‘Transparency’.

Good ‘Seeing’ happens when the stars don’t twinkle. That twinkling is caused by lots of wind movement in the atmosphere. This changes the density of the air at different altitudes in the sky and causes the light coming down to refract or bend randomly and often. Thus, the light from a star or other deep space object bends and moves and arrives at different times at your eye. The result is the shifting movement we call twinkling. Transparency is caused by particles, dust and humidity in the air. The light from stars in the sky is dimmed and the less light you have arriving at your eye, the less you will see in the sky. If the ‘Transparency’ is poor, you may see only a fraction of what’s up in the sky. The Milky Way can disappear completely. For more information on Seeing, Transparency and local weather, check out Cleardarksky.com/c/Ottawakey.html.

This month’s full Moon on September 29th is called the Full Harvest Moon – the best Moon of the year. There’s the smell of fresh fallen leaves and crisp cool nights to explore the grandeur of the skies.

If you have questions or suggestions, Fred Barrett may be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Beginner’s Observer’s Guide by Leo Enright is available at the Sharbot Lake Pharmacy or by contacting the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada www.rasc.ca/publications, subscriptions for our very own excellent Canadian astronomy magazine, Sky News, are also available from RASC..