Big Dipper

The Moon is at perigee, subtending 33 arc minutes from a distance of 360,672 kilometers (224,111 miles), at 1:00 UT; Mercury is 1.3 degrees south of the Moon at 2:00 UT.

The new moon (lunation 1111) occurs at 12:02 UT.

Venus is 6 degrees north of the Moon at 19:00 UT.

The Curtiss Cross, an X-shaped illumination effect located between the craters Parry and Gambart, is predicted to occur at 1:18 UT.

The peak of the Draconid meteor shower (10 to 30 per hour) occurs at 2:00 UT; Last Quarter Moon occurs at 7:33 UT.

Asteroid 1 Ceres is 0.9 degree north of the Moon, with an occultation taking place in southern Africa, at 21:00 UT.

Mercury is 3 degrees south of Saturn at 7:00 UT.

The Moon is at apogee, subtending 30 arc minutes from a distance of 405,160 kilometers (251,755 miles), at 1:00 UT; Jupiter is 0.9 degree north of the Moon, with an occultation taking place in southern Australia, at 21:00 UT.

Venus is 0.1 degree south of the first-magnitude star Regulus (Alpha Leonis) at 8:00 UT.

Mercury is 1.8 degrees north of the first-magnitude star Spica (Alpha Virginis) at 1:00 UT.

Full Moon (known as the Barley, Corn, or Fruit Moon), this year’s Harvest Moon, occurs at 3:19 UT.

Uranus (apparent size 3.7", magnitude 5.7) is at opposition at 7:00 UT.

Neptune is 6 degrees south of the Moon at 11:00 UT.

The autumnal equinox occurs in the northern hemisphere at 14:49 UT; First Quarter Moon occurs at 19:41 UT; The Lunar X (the Purbach or Werner Cross), an X-shaped illumination effect involving various rims and ridges between the craters La Caille, Blanchinus, and Purbach, is predicted to occur at 21:39 UT.

The Moon is at perigee, subtending 32 arc minutes from a distance of 365,752 kilometers (227,278 miles), at 3:00 UT; Mars is 0.1 degree north of the Moon, with an occultation visible from French Polynesia and central South America, at 21:00 UT.

The Moon is 0.8 degree south of the first-magnitude star Spica (Alpha Virginis), with an occultation visible from most of Antarctica, Mauritius, and the southern Indian Ocean, at 5:00 UT; Saturn is 5 degrees north of the Moon at 14:00 UT.

New Moon (lunation 1110) occurs at 2:11 UT.

Venus is 3 degrees north of the bright open cluster M44 (Praesepe or the Beehive) in Cancer at 23:00 UT.

Venus is 4 degrees north of the Moon at 17:00 UT.

Mercury is in superior conjunction at 13:00 UT.

Asteroid 1 Ceres is 0.6 degree south of the Moon, with an occultation visible from western Russia, the Middle East, northern Africa, Europe, Canada and most of the United States, at 9:00 UT; the Curtiss Cross, an X-shaped illumination effect located between the craters Parry and Gambart, is predicted to occur at 12:54 UT.

Jupiter is 0.6 degree north of the Moon, with an occultation visible from central and southern South America, at 11:00 UT.

Curiosity at Mars The NASA rover, Curiosity, the size of a small car and nuclear-powered, landed on Mars in August and took its first view of the red planet. This ambitious mission hopes to find the building blocks of life as well as study the Martian climate and geology. Sir Patrick Moore discusses what Curiosity will be doing, as well as what to see in the September night sky. Times of upcoming broadcasts of this edition can be found here.

Mercury is in superior conjunction at 9:00 UT.

Asteroid 4 Vesta (magnitude 7.0) is 0.9 degree north of the Moon, with an occultation taking place from Antarctica and the southern Pacific, at 0:00 UT.