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Red Dirt Astronomy: Skies & Space for September 2022

Planets
Mercury – The planet is well above the western horizon as the month begins. It will remain close to the same position until mid-month. Unfortunately for observers in Oklahoma, the angle of the ecliptic, the path of the planets across the sky, is such that the planet will be hard to find.
Venus- The first part of the month, Venus will be very low in the east near the star Regulus in Leo. On the 5^th, the planet passes the star, dropping below the horizon the following morning.
Mars – Rising before midnight, Mars will be shining brightly as passes the star Aldebaran in Taurus on the 9^th. This month Mars will brighter than Aldebaran. On the 19^th the last quarter moon will be close by the planet. 
Jupiter – Reaching opposition on the 26th, closest to Earth, the giant planet will present a wide separation of the Galilean moons for telescopic observation. It will shine very brightly in the early evening sky just south of the constellation Pegasus the Flying Horse.  
Saturn- In the southeastern sky as evening begins, the planet will be bright and conspicuous. On the 7^th and 8^th it will be close to the gibbous moon.
Uranus- The planet rises in the late evening hours and slowly moves through the constellation Aries as a telescopic object.
Neptune- At opposition of the 16^th the planet is distant over 2.6 billion miles from Earth. Dimmer than the eye can see at 6^th magnitude, its +7.8 magnitude disk can only be seen through a telescope. 

Sky & Space Anniversary Events for September 2022
Sept. 3:  First Quarter Moon
Sept. 5: Voyager 1 launched (1977)
Sept. 8: Saturn near Moon
Sept. 10: Full Moon
Sept. 11: Jupiter near Moon
Sept. 12: President John F. Kennedy’s address at Rice University, the “GO TO THE MOON SPEECH” was delivered. (1962)
Sept. 12: 1992 STS-47 (Space Shuttle Endeavour) launched  (1992)
Sept. 15: Cassini spacecraft plunged into the atmosphere of Saturn (2017)
Sept. 17: Last Quarter Moon
Sept. 23: Equinox (days of equal length, Autumn Begins)
Sept. 25: Mars Observer launched, fell silent three days before entering Mars orbit, lost. (1992)
Sept. 25: STS 86 (Space Shuttle Atlantis) launched (1997)
Sept. 25: New Moon
Sept. 27: The Dawn Spacecraft was launched to visit asteroid Vesta. (2007)