Bakersfield Night Sky — September 1, 2024
We’re now in the second week of the semester for Bakersfield College and the Fall schedule of shows at the William M Thomas Planetarium is now posted. We’re doing something different this semester. In partnership with Worlds Ltd, we’re showing “Mesmerica” on the Saturdays in September and then do our regular Thursday evening shows in October, November, and December. Mesmerica tickets are purchased through the Mesmerica ticket site while the tickets for the other regular Planetarium shows are purchased through the usual Vallitix site.
For Mesmerica, there are three showings on each of the Saturday evenings in September. Instead of a science-based presentation like we usually show, Mesmerica uses a lot of vivid abstract imagery in conjunction with beautiful music created by James Hood to give an uplifting experience. You might be able to see some clips of it on the web but it’s an entirely different level of experience being immersed in it under the dome. At the time I wrote this, the first two Saturdays had already sold out!
The other regular Planetarium shows this fall will be “Black Holes” (perennial favorite) in October, “Moon Base” in November (new—first shown last spring), and our traditional holiday show, “Season of Light” on the first two Thursdays in December. Remember that Mesmerica tickets are purchased through the Mesmerica site while the regular Planetarium show tickets are purchased through Vallitix!
Early risers today might have been able to spot a very thin waning crescent moon next to Mercury low in the east-northeast sky shortly before sunrise. The moon was just to the left of Mercury. The moon will be at new phase the following day. Over the next few mornings you’ll see Mercury climb higher in the pre-dawn sky and get brighter as it does so. Although Mercury reaches its greatest elongation (separation from the sun on our sky) on September 4, the best view will probably be a couple of mornings later on September 6 for us in Bakersfield. It’ll rise about an hour and a half before sunrise.
On the evening of September 4, you might be able to see a very thin waxing crescent moon next to super-bright Venus low in the west shortly after sunset. The moon will be to the lower right of Venus, so it may be difficult to see through the Bakersfield haze. Venus and the moon will be close enough together that they’ll fit within the same field of view of your binoculars. The following evening, the moon will be a fatter crescent to the left of Venus and not quite as close as the previous evening. The following evening, September 6, a fatter crescent moon will be to the left of Virgo’s brightest star, Spica.
On the pre-dawn morning of September 9, you’ll be able to see Mercury next to the brightest star of the constellation Leo, Regulus. They’ll be less than a pinky-width at arm’s length apart from each other and Mercury will be the brighter one on the left of the two.
The moon will be at first quarter phase the night of September 10/11. Four nights later, on Saturday, September 14, the Kern Astronomical Society will celebrate the International Observe the Moon Night by hosting a free public telescope viewing at the Park at Riverwalk. They’ll show the moon, Saturn, and other objects through their telescopes, just east of the lake, starting at about 7 p.m. and finishing at 10 p.m. or earlier, depending on the amount of public demand.
The attached star chart above shows the sky for the free star party on September 14. The waxing gibbous moon will be among the stars of Capricornus in the southeast and Saturn will be further east on the left side of Aquarius. High overhead will be the constellations Cygnus (the Swan), Lyra (the Lyre), and Aquila (the Eagle). Deneb at the tail of Cygnus, Vega in the base of Lyra, and Altair at the neck of Aquila make the Summer Triangle. Earlier in the summer, the Summer Triangle was high overhead around midnight. Now as we’re getting closer to the autumnal equinox, the Summer Triangle is high overhead at around 8 p.m. In between the bottom two stars of Lyra is a nice planetary nebula, called the Ring Nebula or M57. On the right (west) side of the trapezoid part of Hercules is the beautiful globular cluster, M13.
To the right of Hercules, you’ll see the kite-shaped constellation, Bootes, with bright Arcturus at its foot. The KAS telescopes might also be pointed lower south in the direction of Sagittarius and the tail-end of Scorpius because that is toward the bulge of our galaxy and there are a lot of star clusters and nebulae clustered around that part of the sky. The KAS members are a great group of folks eager to share their view of the sky with you, so come on by Riverwalk on the 14th!
Two nights later, in the early morning hours of September 17, a waxing gibbous moon will cover up the planet Saturn starting at 4:10 a.m. and move past Saturn by 5:06 a.m. The following night will be a true full supermoon, regardless of which definition of supermoon you use. It’ll be a closer full moon than last month’s. I’ll write more about that in my next column. I hope you’ll be able to enjoy a nice dark sky under the stars!
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Nick Strobel
Director of the William M Thomas Planetarium at Bakersfield College
Author of the award-winning website www.astronomynotes.com
