Sunrise Sunset

Fri., Sept. 3 6:09 7:12

Sat., Sept. 4 6:10 7:10

Sun., Sept. 5 6:11 7:08

Mon., Sept. 6 6:12 7:07

Tues., Sept. 7 6:13 7:05

Wed., Sept. 8 6:14 7:03

Thurs., Sept. 9 6:15 7:02

Fri., Sept. 10 6:16 7:00

There is a peek of autumn this week, if you go outside after 10 p.m. Without the moon showing its brilliant personality, the stars will be bright and vivid.

The Milky Way is overhead and easy to spot. The cloud of billions of stars run from the northeastern horizon overhead to the southwestern horizon. The constellations of autumn are rising to the east of the Milky Way and include Pegasus, Andromeda and Cassiopeia.

The bright planet Jupiter rises in the East and is in the zodiacal constellation Pisces, a long and winding group of stars that portray two mythological fishes. To the north of Jupiter there is the constellation Pegasus, also referred to as the Great Square. Pegasus is a mythological horse, though astronomers of today think of it more as a large square, marked by four bright stars.

The constellation Andromeda is a nondescript constellation and is attached to the eastern end of Pegasus’s square. The constellation is worth finding for those who want to see something far from our own Milky Way.

On a moonless night, an observer can see the faint Andromeda Galaxy, the Milky Way’s nearest neighboring galaxy. So much has been written about this distant galaxy. Light from its stars takes at least two million years to get here. Astronomers believe the Andromeda galaxy is a sister to our own. Though it appears as a faint blur in the night sky, with binoculars it looks elliptical.

M.A.L.