• Tim Johnson

A Stellar Flavor of Autumn

If you are looking for a piece of autumn in the evening sky stay up late and go outside. The constellations of autumn are ready to display now around midnight.

The zodiacal constellation Aries appears high in the East. You'll see the gibbous moon right under the constellation late Sunday night.

Look again the following night, Monday night, and the moon appears near the bright planet Jupiter. There is no other celestial object that is as bright at that hour as Jupiter, other than of course the moon.

On Tuesday night the moon has advanced and appears right next to the star cluster Pleiades, also known as Seven Sisters. These are all stars and one of the planets of autumn. Near midnight they are already waving the season ahead.

If you are still interested in holding onto summer, look up at the stars soon after sunset. The stars are still there. Overhead there is the Summer Triangle, three stars arranged in a large triangle. There is Deneb, the main star in the constellation Cygnus, the swan; Altair, the main star in the constellation Aquila and lastly Vega, the main star in the small constellation Lyra. There is no brighter star in early night sky. And it is almost overhead.

 

 

Sunrise and Sunset
Day Sunrise Sunset
Fri., Sept. 1 6:07 7:15
Sat., Sept. 2 6:08 7:13
Sun., Sept. 3 6:09 7:12
Mon., Sept. 4 6:10 7:10
Tues., Sept. 5 6:11 7:08
Wed., Sept. 6 6:12 7:07
Thurs., Sept. 7 6:13 7:05
Fri., Sept. 8 6:14 7:03
Temperatures and Precipitations
Day Max (Fº) Min (Fº) Inches
August 25 75 64 0.09
August 26 73 66 0.80
August 27 81 63 T
August 28 78 64 0.00
August 29 75 64 0.03
August 30 73 67 0.06
August 31 79 64 T

 

Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 73º F

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