September 2025 skies
BY: DICK COOKMAN & Elias Russell
🚀 Highlights: Comets, Mars, Meteor Showers, Planet Plottings, Constellations, September Moon.
Focus Constellations: Cygnus the Swan (with Deneb), Lyra the Lyre (with Vega), Aquila the Eagle (with Altair), Pegasus the Flying Horse (rises in the east), Andromeda (home of the Andromeda Galaxy and next to Pegasus!), Perseus (important because of the September meteor shower)
☄️Comets – Space Visitors on the Move
A couple of these icy visitors come in September, binoculars required.
Comet Nishimura (C/2023 P1) moves across the morning sky, best observation is just before sunrise in the southeast. Binoculars or a small telescope will show its cloudy head and faint tail.
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks marches on towards the Sun but is still too dim to be seen without a scope. It's a quiet month for comets. If you are patient and have a scope on hand, you can follow these fuzzy travelers night by night.
🚀 Mars – What are the Rovers Up To? Our robot explorers are still hard at work on Mars.
Mars is in the evening sky in Virgo, low in the west after dark. It's orange, easy to differentiate from stars because it does not twinkle.
Our robotic explorers are working on overtime:
Perseverance is cruising Jezero Crater, collecting rock samples and testing critical equipment that can help future astronauts. Some new research suggests it could have discovered microscopic proof of past water activity in sediments.
Curiosity, the "veteran" rover, climbs Mount Sharp, examining layers of ancient lake bed. Fresh data indicates minerals produced in salty water, where microbial life potentially existed long ago.
InSight listens in silence for Mars' "marsquakes," giving scientists hints about the planet's interior.
Fun fact: With a telescope or binoculars, Mars is a faint red dot. Observers can measure its rotation rate and see hints of surface detail!
🌟 Meteor Showers - September Epsilon Perseids
The September meteor showers this month are the Epsilon Perseids, which peak between the nights of September 9–11. The shower is not as active as the Perseids on August 12, yet you might be able to spot 5 to 10 meteors per hour.
Best viewing time: Late at night, when the constellation Perseus appears in the northeast sky.
Tip: Reach a dark spot free of city light, lie down — feet to the northeast, and allow your eyes to take about 20 minutes to adjust. A few meteors may produce light trails lasting seconds. It's a less active performance than that of August but still a wonderful chance to see "shooting stars" streak across September evenings.
🪐Planet Plottings
Mars (1.6), low in the west in Virgo, sets before 9:00PM EDT on the 11th, while Saturn (0.6 to 0.7) and Neptune (7.8 to 7.7) rise in Pisces about the same time and can be seen throughout the rest of the night. Mars is on the other side of the Sun and was at its dimmest on August 24. Following the partial solar eclipse by the New Moon in the south Pacific on the 21st, the Autumnal Equinox at 2:19PM EDT on the 22nd, and the passage of the waxing crescent Moon on the 24th, Mars sets even earlier at month’s end and will be hard to find in the Sun’s glare. The waning gibbous Moon passes Saturn and Neptune on the 8th, the day after the south Pacific Full Fruit or Corn Moon is totally eclipsed by the Earth. Both are at their brightest for 2025 at opposition on the 21st and 23rd, respectively.
Uranus (5.7 to 5.6) rises in Taurus prior to midnight and will be visited by the waning gibbous Moon on the 12th. Jupiter (-1.9 to -2.0) in Gemini is next, rising at 3:00 AM EDT on the 1st, over an hour before Venus (-3.8) makes its appearance in Cancer. Sparkling Venus separates from Jupiter in September as it moves into Leo and rises almost 3.5 hours after Jupiter by the end of the month. The waning crescent Moon passes Jupiter on the 16th and Venus on the 19th.
Mercury (-0.9 to -0.5) moves from Leo into Virgo, rising in the eastern sky an hour before sunrise in early September and rapidly dropping into sunset’s glows it approaches Superior Conjunction on the 13th. The waxing crescent Moon passes the tiny messenger of the gods on the 22nd.
🌌 September Skies – Constellations to Spot
Evening sky features:
Cygnus the Swan (Northern Cross) flies high overhead, its brightest star Deneb shining like a diamond.
Lyra the Lyre is nearby; look for tiny but flashy Vega, part of the Summer Triangle.
Aquila the Eagle hovers over the southeast, and
Pegasus the Flying Horse rises up in the east after nightfall. September is a wonderful time to get out and explore the Milky Way, appearing as a shining silver river across the sky. Grab a friend and a blanket, and see how many constellations you can find!
🌚September Moon
September’s New Moon is in Virgo at 3:54PM EDT on the 21st, 22 hours and 25 minutes before the Autumnal Equinox. New Moon provides a partial Lunar eclipse in the southern hemisphere and introduces Lunation 1271 which ends 29.57 days later with the New Moon of October 21 at 8:25AM EDT. The Full Moon which totally eclipses the Sun in the southern hemisphere is on the 7th at 2:09PM EDT in Aquarius. It is the Fruit or Corn Moon. Colonial Americans called it “Harvest Moon”, a name attributed this year to the October Full Moon which occurs closer to the Autumnal Equinox which is at 2:19PM EDT on the 22nd. To the Celts it was “Singing Moon”, and it is “Crysanthenum Moon” in China. Medieval English thought of it as “Barley Moon” and to Anishinaabe (Odawa, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Mississauga) people, it is Waatebagaa-giizis (Leaves Turning Moon).
Summer (Niibin) skies are dominated by Nanaboujou, the heroic Anishinaabe Protecting Spirit and trickster who is replaced by Mooz (the Moose) in the autumn (Dagwaagin) skies. The Greeks called him Pegasus, the winged Horse, high in the eastern evening sky in September, and setting in the wee hours after midnight. According to the National Park Service, to the Anishinaabe, Mooz has “sacred significance, representing endurance, wisdom, and survival, with the animal being a vital food source, clothing, and tool provider. Moose were considered sacred, granting humans permission to use them through ceremonies of respect and honor, often involving the use of tobacco. Stories also detail the hunt, the community-wide celebrations, and the deep connection between humans and the moose, which is a culturally important resource for Anishinaabe people.”
Here are two references for further information:
Oral Story on the Anishinaabeg Deer Family, the Moose and Adik Clans, and the Murder of the Moose. https://youtu.be/fuPDrEleYmc?si=xJCxnSirCwh4U_lZ
https://www.zhaawanart.com/post/star-stories-part-10-the-moose-on-earth-and-in-the-sky
Cultural teachings of the Mississauga people include the cycle of life and nature of 13 Grandmother Moons. “This is a time when it is said that all of creation makes offerings to Mother Earth. The beautiful colours of fall and the awakening of spirits
