Monday 23rd to Sunday 29th September 2024
First of all there is an excellent opportunity to spot the International Space Station on the evening of Monday 23rd. The ISS should appear in the west at 8.30pm and spend about five minutes passing almost directly overhead, before disappearing towards the east.
If you stay up later on the Monday evening, a 58%-lit waning gibbous Moon will rise above the horizon to the east a little before 11pm. Slightly down and to the right of the Moon, you will then see planet Jupiter shining brightly at a magnitude of around -2.4
Imagine a straight line running from Jupiter to the Moon and then continue upwards in that direction to find the 6th brightest star in the night sky, Capella.
Capella is the alpha (or most significant) star in the constellation of Auriga with a magnitude of near enough zero. Although to the naked eye, Capella looks like a single star, it is actually a quadruple star system. The star is also one of the closest to us - only 43 light years away.
Because the Earth is tilted 23.5 degrees as it orbits around the Sun, some stars can only been seen when the Earth is tilted towards them. This applies to objects that appear to sit close to the horizon.
Capella is known as a "circumpolar" object because it is located closer to the celestial north pole, or in other words, we can see it all year round because it is much higher above the horizon and never sets below the horizon. I have provided a time-lapse photograph of circumpolar star trails, courtesy of Wikipedia.
www.starsoversomerset.com
Screenshots courtesy of Stellarium
Copyright Adrian Dening and Radio Ninesprings 2024
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