September 2022 – Astronomy Now

Messier 15: Pegasus’ vast stellar metropolis

19 September 2022 Mark Armstrong

Messier 15 (NGC 7078) in Pegasus is a showpiece object of the early autumn sky and one of the finest globular clusters to grace the northern sky.

Observe far-off Neptune at its best for the year

14 September 2022 Mark Armstrong

Neptune comes to opposition at late-evening on Friday, 16 September, when it’s located among the stars of northern Aquarius.

Watch the Moon hide Uranus

12 September 2022 Mark Armstrong

On the night of Wednesday, 14 September there’s a pretty rare circumstance to observe as the planet Uranus is occulted by the Moon.

Home in on NGC 457, Cassiopeia’s superb ET Cluster

12 September 2022 Mark Armstrong

Shining brightly at magnitude +6.4, brighter than either of the Messier clusters, NGC 457 can be seen by eagle-eyed (or should I say owl-eyed?!) individuals at pristine observing locations.

NGC 6905: a planetary nebula that’s no ‘flash in the pan’

5 September 2022 Mark Armstrong

NGC 6905 is a fine planetary nebula with the colourful moniker ‘the Blue Flash Nebula’.

Frank Drake, SETI pioneer, 1930–2022

3 September 2022 Keith Cooper

Frank Drake, the radio astronomer who pioneered the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), died yesterday (2 September) at the age of 92.