In the regular month look ahead there is plenty to see in the September skies.

With September arriving Beckington Astronomical Society would normally be looking forward to starting our new programme of meetings in the middle of the month. Sadly, until the Covid 19 crisis has abated we have decided to delay restarting our programme.

We shall, of course, keep our members and other observers of the night sky informed of what is happening in the night sky through this regular article and on our social media platforms.

September brings longer hours of darkness and the return of some familiar constellations, asterisms and stars to our night sky.

Ursa Major, including the asterism known as The Plough, will be low in the north. An asterism is a prominent pattern of stars that is generally smaller than a constellation but which is often as well known as the major constellations.

The Plough is a useful signpost in the night sky. Using the "Pointers" (stars called Merak, at the bottom of the bowl of The Plough, and Dubhe, at the top) you can find Polaris, the Pole Star.

Following the line across the top of the bowl, through Dubhe, to the east you will see Auriga, the Charioteer. The brightest star in this constellation is Capella, the third brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere. To the naked eye it appears as a single star but is actually a quadruple star system. Capella is the latin word for Nanny Goat and Capella is sometimes referred to as the Goat Star.

Later in September, look for the constellation of Taurus appearing in the East. Aldebaran is the brightest star in Taurus and is a red giant star, with a radius 44 times that of our sun. It is about 65 light years from the Sun with a significantly cooler surface temperature.

Almost all of the Milky Way should be visible, look for it arching across the sky to both north and south. If you look towards Cassiopeia (higher in the sky than Polaris and to the north east) or Cygnus (again higher than Polaris and north west) you should be able to see some of the clouds of stars that the Milky Way comprises. It really is a beautiful sight.

To the south the Great Square of Pegasus is high in the south east. Below this is an asterism called The Circlet. It is quite faint but worth searching for.

The planets continue to be major features of the night sky. Venus is prominent in the morning sky and will be close to the Beehive Cluster between 11th and 15th September. This cluster lies at the heart of Cancer and Venus will appear to its south west.

Mars is getting brighter and appears larger throughout the month. You will find it in the constellation of Pisces, lower and to the east of the Great Square of Pegasus. Interestingly Mars appears to reverse its travels across the skies this month. The relative speeds of the orbits of the Earth and Mars mean that Earth "catches up" and then passes Mars which causes the effect known as "retrograde motion" whereby Mars appears to travel backwards (west instead of east) for a few weeks before continuing its normal passage across the sky.

Mars will be close to the moon at 04.00 on September 6th, due south.

Jupiter and Saturn continue to be visible in the south west. On the 24th and 25th it is their turn to be in conjunction with the moon.

Please check the Society website or their facebook page the Facebook page for information about when we shall be starting our 20/21 programme.

Clear skies!