Get those cameras out there!
8th & 9th September sees
Saturn, Venus, Spica, and the crescent moon forming a beautiful ragged line in the sky.
Depending on your location, you may also be able to see Mercury joining the line up low on the horizon.
The above image shows the evening sky looking west as seen from Adelaide at 19:54 pm local time on Sunday September 8.
AND! For many places around Australia on the 8th & 9th, there will be a series of International Space Station fly overs tracking its way across this line-up. A photo op. extravanganza!
Astroblogger, Ian Musgrave in the link below has maps with details of the ISS flyover for Adelaide, Perth Hobart & Melbourne.
Some locations will get to see it two days in a row.
I'm in Brisbane so I'm down for the two days of flyovers too, yaaay!
http://bit.ly/18EKRqk
The ISS flyover times are location dependent so take a look at the Heavens Above site for the specific predictions for your area.
Click on the date to get the star chart.
http://bit.ly/19w6Kt4
OCCULTATION EVENTS: (Not Australia, but lucky you if you live here)
8th September- Occultation of Venus by the Moon visble from
Argentina and Chile just before and after sunset.
(Kiribati, French Polynesia, Pitcairn, Falkland Islands and southern South America).*
For a map and universal times see here:
http://bit.ly/UW8pjk
8th September- Occultation of Spica by the Moon visible from
the Middle East and Europe right around sunset.
(Europe, north Africa, Arabian Peninsula, central Asia and western Russia).*
For a map and universal times see here:
http://bit.ly/1fLbool
"This will also present a good chance to see Venus during the daytime, using the nearby crescent Moon as a guide. This is a fun thing to try, and no gear is required! Though Venus may seem tough to find against the bright daytime sky, appearances are deceptive. With an albedo of 67% versus the Moon’s average of 14% Venus is actually brighter than the Moon per square arc second of size!" -Universe Today.
Read more:
http://www.universetoday.com/104542/see-venus-and-the-moon-together-in-the-sky-on-september-8/#ixzz2eHKULNRm
* Bracketed locality information from Astronomy 2013 Australia Book.