In the fall, we have the clearest nights with convenient star gazing in the evening hours. We have the year’s best lunar eclipse in early November. The summer evening stars are still prominent while the fall evening groups gradually appear in the eastern sky. The evening planets slowly increase in number with one in early fall, two in mid fall and three as fall ends.

Fall this year begins about sunrise on September 23rd. On this date, the sun rises due East and sets due West over most of the world. At the poles, the sun skims the horizon. At the North Pole, the sun soon will drop out of view, beginning five months of night. Three days after the start of fall, we have break even day when both day and night are exactly 12 hours in length. The amount of daylight each day will continue to drop until December 21st, when there will be only 9 and 1/3 hours of sunlight.

Let’s consider the earliest times we can see the stars and planets. In late September, the sky is fairly dark at 8 p.m. You’ll be able to see the stars till about 6 a.m. the following morning, 10 hours later. In late October, the sky turns dark by 6:20 p.m. (Standard Time). The sky brightens at 5:40 a.m. the following morning, 11 hours later. In late November (about Thanksgiving), the night stars come out by 6 p.m. Stars are in view till 6 a.m., giving us 12 hours of star gazing.

Each fall, we have great full moons that provide extra evening moonlight for three to four nights that follow. This year, the Harvest Moon comes in late summer on September 10th. The first full moon of fall is the Hunters Moon on October 9th. In the 18th and 19th century, hunters used the Hunters Moon’s extra moonlight for hunting as the animals traipsed across freshly harvested fields.

The next full moon of the fall occurs on November 8th. Early that evening, we will have a lunar eclipse as the moon passes through the Earth’s shadow. Starting around 6:30 p.m., the moon will enter the Earth’s deep shadow. It will look as if someone is taking a bite out of the moon! By 8:05 p.m. the moon will be completely in the Earth’s shadow. After about 8:30 p.m., the moon will start to emerge from the Earth’s shadow. By about 10 p.m., the moon will have moved out of the Earth’s shadow. This lunar eclipse will be perfectly safe to view. In mid eclipse about 8:20 p.m., the moon will be darkest, likely appearing a deep orange or brown. (The only light then reaching the moon will be light bent around the edge of the Earth and heavily filtered by our atmosphere.)

All through the fall, the most prominent star group is the Summer Triangle, a large pattern formed by three bright stars. The Triangle features the brightest evening star, Vega. Vega shines with a white-blue light in the western sky. In the early fall at dusk, the long sides of the Triangle nearly point South.

The fall evening group to watch is Cassiopeia, made up of five bright stars in the northern sky. On early fall evenings Cassiopeia’s zig zag pattern resembles a backwards “E”. Late in the fall, Cassiopeia turns into a tilted “M” as it climbs high in the North.

The most striking fall sight is the 7 Sisters star cluster low in the North East. Look for the Sisters around Halloween. You’ll see a tiny mist of stars, resembling a distant bottle filled with lightning bugs. Once the 7 Sisters get higher, count them. If you can see six stars on a clear night, you have good vision.

As the fall progresses, the number of evening planets increases from one to three. In early fall, the planet Mars shines steadily in the South with its yellowish light. By the end of October, the brilliant planet Venus may be glimpsed very low in the West as twilight begins. Venus will then appear as a tiny point in the blue twilight. By late fall, Mars will have faded and Venus will easily visible in the West. In the late evening hours, the star group Orion with its three star belt will be striking. Go from the middle of the belt and through a bright star to the left and you will come to the planet Saturn, shining steadily in Gemini.

To request more sky information including free fall sky maps, call the Frostburg State Planetarium at (301) 687-4270.