Lacerta
Lacerta, the lizard, scurries high overhead on September evenings. It is between the outstretched wings of Cygnus, the swan, and W-shaped Cassiopeia. You need dark skies and a starchart to help you find this squiggle of five stars.
Fading Symbol
Scorpius, the scorpion, is quite low in the south and southwest as night falls. Its brightest star, Antares, is still easy to see. But the scorpion’s body, which stretches to the lower left of Antares, and its head, to the right of Antares, are harder to pick out.
Daytime Shower
The Daytime Sextantid meteor shower is at its peak tomorrow. Most of the meteors zip across the daytime sky, so you can’t see them. But you can hear them by tuning to a weak, low-end FM radio station. When a meteor passes by, the signal will strengthen for a few seconds.
Moon and Saturn
Look for the planet Saturn quite close to the Moon this evening. It looks like a bright star and is just above the Moon at nightfall. The brighter planet Jupiter stands a bit to their right.
Moon and Planets
The Moon has some bright companions this evening. The planet Jupiter is close to the upper left of the Moon, with the fainter planet Saturn farther from the Moon. Jupiter outshines all the other pinpoints of light in the evening sky right now.
First-Quarter Moon
The Moon is at first quarter at 8:55 p.m. CDT today. Sunlight will illuminate half of the lunar hemisphere facing Earth. After that, the Moon will enter its waxing gibbous phase, growing fatter each day until it’s full on October 1.
Autumn
Today is the September equinox, which is the beginning of autumn in the northern hemisphere. This is one of two times of year when the Sun rises due east and sets due west for almost the entire planet (the other is the March equinox).
Moon and Antares
The Moon is in the southwest at nightfall this evening. The bright star Antares, which represents the heart of the scorpion, stands to its lower left.
Dumbbell Nebula
The Dumbbell Nebula, which is the last breath of a dying star, is in the constellation Vulpecula, the fox, which stands high in the southeast at nightfall. Seen through a telescope, the nebula resembles a hand weight like you would use at the gym.
Vulpecula
The constellation Vulpecula, which represents a fox carrying a goose, is high in the southeast as night falls. It’s near the middle of the Summer Triangle, which is defined by the bright stars Vega, Deneb, and Altair.