Celestial Events 
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The Moon The very early crescent 
moon highlights the gathering of Ve- 
nus, Jupiter, Saturn, and the star Spica 
in the western sky on September 1 and 
2. The late crescent moon passes very 
close to Mars during the morning of 
September 24, covering the planet (an 
occultation) over parts of the Southern 
Hemisphere. Phases are: first-quarter 
on September 6, full on the 13th, last- 
quarter on the 20th, and new on the 
27th. First-quarter occurs again on Oc- 
tober 6 and full moon on the 1 3th. Apo- 
gee (farthest from the earth) is on 
September 5 and October 2 and 30; per- 
igee (nearest the earth) is on September 
16 and October 14. The full moon on 
September 13 is the harvest moon, that 
on October 13 is the hunter’s moon. On 
both occasions, the full or nearly full 
moon rises only about half an hour later 
each night for several days in a row, as 
compared with the average delay of 
about fifty minutes. 
Stars and Planets Early in August, Ve- 
nus is near Jupiter and Saturn, all in the 
west during twilight. Venus, the bright- 
est, appears about half an hour after 
sunset, then Jupiter appears, and finally 
Saturn, to Jupiter’s right. By then you 
can also see Spica, in Virgo, to the left 
and above Venus and about as bright as 
Saturn. All of them set at about the end 
of twilight. After the first of the month, 
Venus creeps slowly toward Spica, 
passing above it on the 6th, then mov- 
ing away, meantime separating from 
Jupiter and Saturn as they set earlier 
each night until, by midmonth at the 
latest, they are too low to be visible in 
the twilight. Venus continues to set at 
about the same time, relative to sunset. 
In the morning, Mars becomes more fa- 
vorably placed, rising about four hours 
before the sun. But it still isn’t much 
brighter than a second-magnitude star, 
such as Polaris, the North Star. It will 
begin to brighten dramatically in No- 
vember, and should be a fairly promi- 
nent object this coming winter. On 
September 15, the sun moves from the 
constellation Leo into Virgo, joining 
the five planets already in Virgo — Mer- 
cury, Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto, there 
all month, and Venus, there until the 
19th. Uranus, in Libra, and Neptune, in 
Ophiuchus, are not far from Virgo’s 
m '• ^Uranus 
x Jupitfei*. ^ 
Spica • ~ T 
■^Mercury ' 
82 
