2017 Week 35: (August 27-September 2)

The week after the solar eclipse is not looking incredibly great for casual sights in the sky.  However, there are some cool things going on with Mercury later in the month.  The chart below shows some of the basic things you can see from your backyard.

Date	Event
August 29	First Quarter
August 30	Saturn 4°S of Moon

The Moon has gone from New (during the eclipse) to First Quarter by Tuesday.  I always say the first quarter is my favourite phase because it is out at a reasonable time in the evening and has many interesting structures along the terminator.

First Quarter Moon

Saturn in the south will be hanging out with the Moon during the next evening.  Since Saturn is sitting at a low declination you should try to observe it soon before it goes below the horizon for the season.

Saturn

The Summer Triangle sits right over our head as the Sun goes down.  You can catch the bright trio of Deneb, Vega and Altair at your zenith.

Neptune is becoming an easier target as it approaches opposition later next week.  Unfortunately its opposition is polluted out by the light of the near Full Moon.  When the Moon moves far enough to the East I will try to find it for the first time in 2017.  It sits just over a degree away from Lambda Aquarii, a naked eye star in Aquarius.  It is just outside the field of view with my 25mm eyepiece on my 8" reflector telescope but will fit tidily inside my 41mm Panoptic eyepiece.

Pisces is also rising in the East and will give us a good shot and finding Uranus.  Uranus sits about the same distance from the naked eye Omicron Piscium as Neptune is away from Lambda Aquarii.  I'll give that one a shot with my 41mm as well.

Of course Andromeda is coming up too and many can have the chance to naked eye M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy from their favourite dark site.

M31 - Andromeda Galaxy

There are several astronomy events coming up in September, stay tuned to our page to learn more about them!