Good evening, fellow stargazers!
Well folks, autumn is only a few weeks away. Summer here in South Carolina is beginning to wind down, although the humidity will likely be sticking around for at least another month -- possibly till just after Halloween into November.
About an hour after midnight on Friday, September 9th, I was able to capture some really good photos of the Full Harvest Moon -- the name given to the Full Moon in September here in North America in relation to the coming autumn harvest season.
The Full Harvest Moon can be seen in my first photograph taken between the two large gas giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn. The second photo is a close-up of the Harvest Moon as it appears to us from the surface of the Earth.
Just above the tree line to the south between the planets and Luna, you can easily spot Fomalhaut, one of the brightest stars in the night sky (the third-brightest as seen from Earth), forming a sort of inverted triangle in the southeastern sky.
Looking towards the eastern sky, also just above the tree line, Mars can still be seen close to the bright red giant star, Aldebaran -- the Eye of Taurus the Bull.
In my last two photos, I captured Mars as it appears now between Aldebaran and the Pleiades Star Cluster. Mars currently sits just inside the Constellation Taurus the Bull and will remain so throughout the month of September.
The bright star, Capella, can be seen just to the side forming a triangle in the eastern sky. Capella is the brightest star of the Constellation Auriga the Charioteer.
In my final photo I outlined the major stars of the Constellations Taurus and Auriga in their relation with the "Seven Sisters" and Mars rising in the eastern sky.
All of these photos were taken an hour after midnight. If y'all are able to stay up another hour, or so, the
bright stars of the Constellation Orion the Hunter will also appear
above the horizon as the winter constellations will being to reappear
overhead in the sky dome.
Y'all might also notice that Mars is getting brighter in the sky as our Earth is moving closer to opposition with the Red Planet -- the point where Earth will be between Mars and the Sun, which will take place on Thursday, December 8th of this year. Given the distances and the orbits of our two worlds, Mars only reaches opposition to the Earth every 26 months, or so.
Once again I hope y'all enjoyed my night time photography. If y'all live in the Northern Hemisphere, be sure to check out the visible planets of our Solar System this month.
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