StarDate Susitna 9-20-26, by Kathleen Fleming

Dark skies are back, and so is StarDate Susitna.  Kathleen Fleming will talk about the Fall Equinox, which is coming up on Tuesday the 22nd, as well as where to look for several planets visible in the mornings and evenings, when the clouds part.

These 3 star charts of the south west sky as seen from the Susitna Valley show why we cannot see Mercury or Venus after sunset.  Where the Sun, and the planets following it, sets at an angle closer to perpendicular to the horizon, like it does in and near the tropics, these 2 inner planets are easy to spot in darker sky.  (Of course the stars are not visible during daytime, but star charts show them anyway.  Also, star charts may SEEM backwards, but they are designed to be held overhead, so with north at the top west is on the right side, opposite of a terrestrial map).
Star charts made with heavens-above.com.

This is the southern portion of the sky, as seen from the Susitna Valley, on the night of Saturday the 26th, actually it's 2 am the morning of the 27th,  Notice the Great Square, which is part of the constellation Pegasus.  Saturn has been in this vicinity (under the Square) for a few years and will be all winter.  But once each month the Moon, in a progression of phases, passes near Saturn.  This month it's the Full Moon passing Saturn, 2am 9-27.  I wonder if Saturn will be easy to see with such a bright Moon so close.  Image taken from a star chart created on heavens-above.com.