September is the season of high and refreshing autumn weather, and the sun continues to move south. By the autumnal equinox on September 23, the sun will shoot directly at the equator, and the days and nights across the country will be the same length. Say goodbye to the gorgeous summer starry sky, star lovers will also usher in another golden season of stargazing.
Let's take the Beijing area as an example to sort out the starry sky in September that deserves our attention.
Careful friends will find that since September coincides with the change of summer and autumn, the monthly astronomical phenomenon of this issue is full of extremely strong starry sky changes:
1. "July fire" landscape
clearly What I want to talk about is the celestial phenomenon in September, so why do we talk about the "flowing fire in July"?
"July Flowing Fire" is often used to describe the scorching summer heat. In fact, if you are familiar with the starry sky and history and culture, you know it is wrong. The ancients said: " flows fire in July, and in September" refers to the seventh month of the lunar calendar. After dark, you can see the big Mars slowly moving and falling toward the west, indicating that the weather is about to get colder.
The "fire" here does not mean fiery, but refers to the "big spark". "Great Mars" is not the same thing as the "Mars" we often say, but the "Antarctic" in Scorpio. Because it emits a bright yellow light, it has become an important reference for the ancients to observe the change of seasons.
Mars is about to fall / Starlink CSVA photographer Wang Tianwei
Therefore, if you want to fully understand the meaning of "July Flowing Fire", it is recommended that you choose fine weather and go south to the west on the horizon after dark Looking around, you can find this bright star and watch its falling process.
The following diagram takes Beijing after nightfall on September 1 as an example. You can see Antares (fire) at the core of Scorpio gradually sinking to the west, and will disappear from the horizon after 10 pm:
Star Walk2 simulation How about schematic
? Is it possible to look up at the stars? !
two,Summer, Autumn and Winter "Starry Sky Conference"
In addition to the "July Fire" that reflects the changing seasons, we can also see the starry sky scene where the summer, autumn and winter seasons meet at this season:
1, we focused on explaining for you last month In the scene of "The Milky Way Falling in the Nine Sky" , in fact, when the sky turned dark in early September, the Milky Way could still be seen standing upright in the starry sky. But over time, its posture will soon become no longer vertical. Interested friends should seize the last opportunity to watch the vertical galaxy.
2. Since it is in autumn, the " autumn quadrangle " in the sky has also entered the viewing period. After nightfall, this "quadrangle" will rise from the east horizon. The "autumn quadrilateral" is composed of three bright stars (α, β, γ) in Pegasus and one bright star (α) in Andromeda. The four stars are called Murojuichi and Muroju. Two, one, two. When the "quadangle" rises higher in October, we will give you more exciting explanations.
After nightfall, the "autumn quadrangle" rises from the east (Star Walk2 simulation diagram)
3. It should be noted that at this time, Orion has quietly risen in the early morning. The king of the starry sky this winter has come to report! This also indicates that we need to add more clothes when we go out.
3. Meteor shower
Just past August Perseid meteor shower , everyone must remember the spectacular sight of hundreds of meteors every hour,Aroused many people's interest in the meteor shower.
In fact, meteor showers often occur, but the flow rate varies. When the time comes to September, there will be alpha Auriga meteor shower with maximum value on September 1, and "September Perseus ε meteor shower" with maximum value on September 9. However, compared to the Perseid meteor shower in August, which has a ZHR value of more than 100, the ZHR value of these meteor showers in September is only single digits, and observation is not recommended.
But what needs to be reminded is that as long as you go outdoors and look up at the starry sky, you will always have the opportunity to see meteors passing by, and there is the possibility of occasional meteors meeting you every moment.
In addition, it is also the Perseid meteor shower. You should pay attention to the difference between "September Perseid ε Meteor Shower" and August. In order to distinguish it, people also add the month to its name.
Occasional shooting stars may be more exciting, it is all patience and luck / Starlink CSVA photographer Wei Wenjun
IV. Suggestions for shooting deep sky objects
The combination of deep sky celestial bodies and landscape is a very artistic but also very challenging creation. In September, the editor believed that some important celestial bodies or constellations can be used to make good use of the time points of the rise and fall on the horizon to make some attempts in this regard.
Especially those who have equatorial mount and astronomical modification machine, it is recommended to pay attention to the following nodes:
1. After sunset, M31 rises in the northeast direction successively, Andromeda galaxy, M33 Triangulum galaxy_ span45span are two large deep sky objects in the galaxy cluster . Even with the wide-angle lens, the friends can easily take the M31 visible to the naked eye. This is an excellent creative period of deep space + landscape.Requires dark night level 1-4, wide and pure horizon, best to match Hoshino equatorial mount.
2. With the rise of Perseus , the California Nebula and Pleiades star cluster at the bottom of Perseus appear to the horizon. This is also a good creative theme for shooting deep sky celestial bodies + landscapes.
3. Orion climbed out of the horizon before dawn , due to its rich and spectacular emission nebula, we can take the opportunity to find iconic landmarks, or use portraits as the foreground, try to shoot: Barnard ring + landscape, M42 The Orion Nebula+landscape, the Horsehead Nebula+landscape and other magical scenes. After the weather continues to turn cold, Orion will rise higher and higher, and then it will become more and more difficult to do such a creation.
Orion is rising from the horizon / Starlink CSVA photographer Dong Shuchang
4. Bright Jupiter will sink into the western horizon before dawn , when it is in a suitable position above the horizon, it is also a shot Creative themes of Jupiter + portrait or landscape. Including the "July Fire" mentioned at the beginning of this article, when the Great Mars is about to sink to the horizon, the same technique can be used to creatively shoot the Scorpio color palette.
Couples hold hands and look into the distance
Mars (that is Antares, the bright yellow star in the picture) falls west to the horizon / Starlink CSVA photographer Jiang Jianqi
Of course, skilled in the use of high-precision equatorial tracking, familiar with the later stage The partners of heaven and earth synthesis processing can shoot more difficult deep-sky celestial bodies + terrestrial beautiful blockbusters, so I won’t go into more details here.
To summarize briefly: Although September is not as lively as the meteor shower in August, the season changes.The starry sky presented during this period is very rich, and it makes people feel more emotional about the relationship between the star shift and the change of seasons- At night, the big Mars that dominates the summer is slowly falling, and the Orion who dominates the winter is slowly rising in the early morning.
This is the magic of the autumn starry sky.
Finally, I would like to remind everyone: Starlink CSVA monthly astronomical calendar will be released at the end of the previous month, so stay tuned.
Planning: Xinglian CSVA Research Production Team
Written by: Liu Chengshan
Editor: Jiang Chenming
Calendar poster production: Liu Bin
————— / END/ —————
"Star Alliance CSVA" also looks good in the past
.
