Astronomy Events for September 2021

This article will enable the reader to observe many of this month’s astronomy-related events including the positions of planets as well as rocket launches. Due to variance in the weather, not all dates for rocket launches are finale.

To start, the zodiac constellation associated with this month in western astrology is Virgo. However, since the position of the stars have drifted since astrology’s origins, the constellation that sits behind the Sun is actually Leo. Venus will be visible all month in the west just after sunset. Jupiter and Saturn will be visible all month as a close pair of bright lights that stalk the southern sky.

Sept 7th: Earth’s natural satellite will enter its new Moon phase. This will allow for better sky-viewing since the moon's light will be absent.

Sept 13th: Waxing first quarter moon.

Sept 14th: Neptune will be at its closest distance to Earth putting it in its prime for viewing. Though, considering that it is the most distant planet from the sun, it still remains incredibly difficult to observe. Mercury will also be at its greatest eastern elongation meaning that, from our perspective, it will be at its greatest distance from the sun in the direction east. This makes it easier to observe the planet especially after the overbearing light of the sun sets below the horizon. Arianespace will also launch 34 satellites for the OneWeb internet constellation as part of its OneWeb 10 mission on this day.

Sept 15th: SpaceX will launch the first all-civilian mission called Inspiration4.

Sept 20th: The full harvest moon will arrive on September 20th. As the name suggests, the harvest moon got its name because its moonlight assisted early farmers to see at night.

Sept 22nd: September 22nd is the September equinox. Not only does this mark the first day of fall in the northern hemisphere (or spring in the southern hemisphere), but it also means that roughly equal amounts of daylight will be distributed throughout the world as the path of the sun traces the equator.

Sept 27th: Mercury will enter its retrograde orbit. This will make its motion appear to go backward in our sky due to the planet passing ahead of Earth with its comparatively faster and smaller orbit.

Sept 23rd: The Landsat 9 satellite will set off to the sky to take detailed land-imaging measurements of Earth.

Sept 28th: The waning last quarter moon will stalk the sky.

Sept 30th: The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will launch the Rapid Innovative Payload Demonstration Satellite 2 (RAISE 2).

Additional launches for September include:

• SpaceX will launch a batch of Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg California. Starlink is promised to consist of a large constellation of satellites that will provide internet across the globe from the orbit of space.

• China will launch the Tianzhou 3 cargo resupply to the Chinese space station.

• The French company, Arianespace, will launch the SES-17 and Syracuse 4A communications satellites.

• Rocket Lab will launch two Earth observation satellites for the company, Blacksky’s “love at first insight” mission.