What’s In It For You
Happy September, all! In three weeks, northern hemisphere seasons will change from summer to autumn, while southern hemisphere seasons move from winter to spring. Where I live, the weather is starting to feel distinctly fall-ish at night, and that means when I go check out the planets and stars, I need to start wearing more clothes to keep warm. It always seems a little strange to be viewing my favorite summer constellations while wearing a heavy jacket and hat, but that’s the nature of seasonal change and sky observing.
Before you head out to stargaze, check out the September edition of Our Night Sky, the short observing show I do for Astrocast.tv each month. This month we look at the planets Venus and Saturn low in the west after sunset. For early morning observers, we check out Mars and Jupiter. Then, we move on to some familiar constellations for each hemisphere, giving you a quick and panoramic view of “what’s up”. Finally, we chat a little bit about Nova Delphini 2013. It’s a nova, a term reserved for a star that flares suddenly in brightness. Astronomers think this one flared up after the buildup of gas from a smaller companion star got to be too much. The gas ignited, brightening the star tremendously in just a short time. It’s slowly fading out now, but you can still see it if you know where to look. So, check out the September edition of Our Night Sky and get out there under the starry skies! By the way, Our Night Sky is now available in Hindi! Many thanks to my colleague in astronomy popularization, Rimjhin Singh, for making this new edition possible!
Thank you for pointing out that summer continues for three more weeks and does not end on Labor Day! Every year, I have to repeat ad nauseam to people, both online and in person, that summer does not end until the Autumn Equinox. I blame this on the media and their constant repetition of erroneous information.
Where do you live? Here in New Jersey, the nights are still warm and humid. There is no need for heavy jackets, just for something to cover areas exposed to mosquitoes.
Laurel,
It’s too easy and simplistic to blame the media and I wish people would stop it. We are geared to autumn by many cultural and physical clues: going back to school in September, the announcement of “fall schedules” for sports, the fall sales at stores (to be honest, those started in July, though), the changing of leaves, which began a couple of weeks ago here I live (in the Rockies), in some places the beginning of harvest for the autumn. So, while it may be fashionable to blame the media, there’s more to it than that. It’s more complex, and there’s more “in the moment” to discover about why we equate Sept. 1 with the beginning of autumn. The media certainly plays a part, but it is — in the final analysis — a reflection of society and culture at large. So, pointing the finger at the media means we point several fingers back at ourselves and the way we use the terminology.