Stargazing News 29 August 2025 - 25 September 2025

Summary Auroras Dance Under Equinox Skies It’s aurora season! The autumnal equinox (September 22) is traditionally a prime time for auroras because of the way Earth’s magnetic field interacts with the solar wind this time of year. Researchers have observed that around the equinoxes, cracks tend to open in Earth’s magnetosphere, allowing even relatively minor solar activity to trigger auroral displays spaceweatherarchive.com spaceweatherarchive.com. This is known as the Russell–McPherron effect – essentially, “even a gentle gust of solar wind can breach our planet’s magnetic defenses” near the equinox spaceweatherarchive.com. Over the past week, the Sun has kept forecasters on their

What is a Partial Solar Eclipse? A partial solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between Earth and the sun but doesn’t completely cover the sun, so only a portion of the sun’s disk is obscured space.com. To an observer, it appears as if the moon has taken a “bite” out of the sun – leaving the sun as a bright crescent shape in the sky. In a partial eclipse the alignment isn’t perfect; the moon’s central shadow (umbra) misses Earth, so we only experience the penumbra (partial shadow) en.wikipedia.org. Because part of the sun remains visible, a partial eclipse

Key Facts Meteor Showers & Fireballs Even without a major meteor shower peak, the night sky is still offering shooting stars this weekend. Several minor meteor showers are active, and combined with random “sporadic” meteors they can produce up to 10 meteors per hour under dark skies imo.net imo.net. The Moon is new on Sept 21 (invisible at night) imo.net, which means moonless dark skies ideal for meteor spotting in the predawn hours. Active meteor showers right now include: Most of the meteors this weekend will be sporadics, the random bits of dust and rock that hit Earth’s atmosphere every

In-Depth: This Weekend’s Celestial Highlights (Sept. 19–20, 2025) 1. A Dazzling Dawn Conjunction (Moon, Venus & Regulus) – Sept. 19 & 20 If you’re up early, look east before sunrise on Friday, Sept. 19. You’ll be rewarded with a gorgeous trio of celestial objects clustered together in the growing dawn light earthsky.org. The crescent Moon, just 27 days old and barely 7% illuminated, will hover right above brilliant Venus (the brightest “star” in the sky at that hour) predicalendar.com earthsky.org. Just adjacent to Venus you’ll spot Regulus, the blue-white heart of the Leo constellation. NASA calls it “a magnificent conjunction”

Key Facts Saturn Shines at Its Brightest Saturn is the star of the show in mid-September’s night sky. The ringed planet is almost at opposition – the point on Sept 21 when Earth lies directly between Saturn and the Sun science.nasa.gov. In practical terms, this means Saturn is currently at its closest and brightest for 2025. It rises in the east around sunset and stays up all night long, outshining most stars around it. Look for a steady, yellowish point of light in the eastern evening sky (in the constellation Aquarius). Unlike twinkling stars, planets shine with a steady light.

Dark Skies & Meteor Showers: Perseid Fade, Aurigid Fireballs? Late August 2025 offers wonderfully dark skies thanks to the timing of the Moon. August 23 marked a rare third new moon in a season (sometimes called a “Black Moon”), leaving nights around Aug 27–30 exceptionally dark ts2.tech. By Aug 29–30 the Moon is only 6–7 days old – a slim waxing crescent that sets relatively early in the evening. In fact, on Aug 29 the Moon will be roughly first-quarter phase and set around local midnight (give or take), meaning minimal moonlight interference for most of the night. This creates