A look at the starry sky is particularly worthwhile in September.
The nights are often as clear as stars like in no other month.
Jupiter and Saturn dominate the darkness.
Stuttgart - The astronomical autumn begins in September.
The sun moves from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere.
On this day, day and night are of the same length.
In the technical language equinox, also called equinox.
The sun is then exactly vertically above the earth's equator.
The nights will be longer again from September 22nd.
The first constellations can be seen in September around 9:30 p.m.
Next to the moon, Jupiter and Saturn are the most striking giant planets in the night sky.
Both are already relatively high in the south-east when it gets dark.
Saturn is much fainter than Jupiter.
The moon moves south past Saturn on the night of September 16-17.
A highlight in the evening sky.
The Americans call the hump moon phase between the crescent and full moon.
Everyone can convince themselves by a look at the earth satellite why it is called that in this phase.
At the end of September, Saturn sets almost two hours after midnight.
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Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system.
© imago
Venus in the starry sky in September
Soon after sunset you can see the bright Venus low in the southwest sky.
She remains true to her role as the evening star.
It is still not particularly noticeable.
Soon after 9 p.m. it sinks into the layers of haze near the horizon and becomes invisible.
At the end of the month, Venus withdraws shortly after 8 p.m.
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Venus: Venus is the second planet in the solar system.
So in the sky it is always very close to the sun.
© NASA JPL
Mercury difficult to see in September
Mercury reaches its maximum distance from the Sun in September.
Because of its much more southerly position, it sets shortly after the sun and eludes our view.
Mars is chased by the sun, which almost overtakes it in late September.
The red planet is in the daytime sky and remains invisible below the horizon at night.
Neptune in September: invisible to the naked eye
The planet furthest from the sun, the bluish Neptune, comes in opposition to the sun in the constellation Aquarius on the 14th.
Because it is 30 times as far from the sun as the earth, it is so faint that it cannot be seen with the naked eye.
It was only discovered on September 23, 1846 at the Berlin observatory after its position was calculated due to orbital disturbances of the planet Uranus - a triumph of theoretical astronomy.
Since its discovery it has already circled the sun once and is now back in the constellation Aquarius, in which it was discovered.
With a diameter of 49,424 kilometers, it is four times the size of the earth.
In August 1989 the “Voyager 2” space probe was the only terrestrial scout to pass the bluish hydrogen planet.
Its largest moon, Triton, was also discovered in the year Neptune was discovered.
He walks around Neptune in just six days.
With a diameter of 2707 kilometers, Triton is only 80 percent the size of our Earth's moon.
At minus 238 degrees it is considered to be the icebox of the solar system: Geysers spray liquid nitrogen upwards, which falls back to the surface and immediately freezes as hard as a rock.
The constellation "Big Dipper" rolls over the northern horizon
The Big Dipper sank to the northwest.
In contrast, the w of the sky of Cassiopeia sparkles in the northeast.
The Pegasus is already high in the east.
The central part of the Pegasus is marked by a mighty square of stars, which is called the autumn square - the Pegasus is the guiding constellation of the autumn sky.
The Andromeda star chain hangs on the northeast corner of Pegasus.
Andromeda Nebula: Strange and curious celestial object for centuries
In the Andromeda you can see an inconspicuous spot of light on a clear autumn night.
Every star friend is familiar with this celestial object known as the “Andromeda Nebula”.
There is no evidence of the Andromeda Nebula in ancient times, although it was certainly seen.
It was first mentioned by the Arab astronomer Al Sufi in the 10th century.
He describes it as a nebula in front of the mouth of the fish carried by Princess Andromeda.
Simon Marius made the first telescopic observations of the Andromeda Nebula on December 15, 1612.
Marius, court astronomer in Ansbach, Franconia, describes it as a burning candle in a horn.
In his day hollowed-out cattle horns were used and a lighted candle stuck into it when one was out in the dark.
The horn kept the wind from blowing out the candle.
Larger than the galaxy: the spiral galaxy "M 31"
The French astronomer Charles Messier gave the Andromeda nebula number 31 in his famous nebula catalog in 1784.
He described it as two luminous cones, the bases of which abut each other and the tips of which point in opposite directions.
For centuries, the Andromeda Nebula was considered a strange and curious celestial object.
Almost a hundred years ago, Edwin Powell Hubble succeeded with the 2.5-meter mirror telescope of the Mt. Wilson Observatory in California - at that time the largest telescope in the world - the unequivocal proof that the Andromeda Nebula is a huge star system similar to that of our Milky Way.
"M 31" is a mighty spiral galaxy made up of 400 to 500 billion stars.
In size, mass and number of stars it even exceeds the galaxy, our Milky Way.
With around 2.5 million light years, M 31 is the galaxy closest to us, in a sense our neighboring Milky Way.
The Perseids in 2021 were an astronomical high point in August. Shooting stars were particularly good to see in the sky on the night of August 12th. (
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