Planet Scenes September 2025
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September 25: Crescent Moon The Moon is back in the evening sky and now very low on the horizon after sunset owing to (i) the low angle of the ecliptic on northern autumn evenings and (ii) the particular orientation of the Moon's orbit in 2025, which has the descending node near the autumnal equinox point, meaning that as the Moon journeys along the southern part of the ecliptic, it is amplifying that southern positioning by heading for its southerly ecliptic latitude in Sagittarius. |
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September 22: Saturn Saturn is one day past its opposition and Neptune, unfortunately not seen on this image, is one day before its opposition. They are both in Pisces, south of the ecliptic and very close to the border between Pisces and Aquarius. |
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September 19: Venus, Moon & Regulus; Jupiter in Gemini The crescent Moon joined Venus and Regulus for a beautiful conjunction on this foggy (near) equinoctial morning, so we captured several different views; Jupiter is brightening slowly in Gemini high above. Venus is now noticeably north of the ecliptic and and Moon even more so, while Jupiter is now almost exactly on the ecliptic, it having reached the ascending node of its orbit only yesterday, September 18. |
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 This pic is provided for viewing on a small screen or personal device |
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 Thanks to my friend Jeff Kniesche for submitting his smart phone pic of the conjunction to me and consenting to having it published! |
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September 15: Venus Venus has moved into Leo and is heading for a very nice conjunction with Regulus and the crescent Moon several days from now. |
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September 13: Saturn and Neptune Saturn and Neptune remain close together in Pisces ~ and both are retrograding rapidly towards their oppositions on September 21 and 23, respectively. I tried taking this picture with the lens wide open, which I see results in bright stars being much more apparent compared to dim ones, resulting in a more authentic-looking image. |
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September 12: T Coronae Borealis The Blaze Star is beginning to look like the Blasé Star, because it has still not erupted. The most recent prediction was that it would erupt either in November 2025 or in June 2026. A November 2025 eruption would be disadvantageous owing to the position of the Sun along the ecliptic (it being closest to Coronae Borealis during that time). |
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September 11: Mars Mars has finally almost reached conjunction with Spica, and the pair is so low to the horizon that they almost set before twilight ends. |
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September 8: Venus, Jupiter and Saturn One day after the total lunar eclipse, which was not visible from the Americas, the almost full Moon still brightened the skies on a very clear morning, but we were nevertheless able to get a decent view of Saturn positioned to the uppper left of the Moon, Jupiter in Gemini, and Venus almost completely through Cancer. |
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September 4: Venus and Jupiter Jupiter and Venus continue to separate as the summer grows old, with Jupiter still situated in central Gemini and Venus moving toward eastern Cancer. Mercury is by this date too far down in the solar glow to catch in a picture. |
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September 2: Mars Mars draws closer to Spica with each day, here seen over holding ponds in a quarry in western King George County, central Virginia. |
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September 1: Venus, Jupiter and Uranus Venus and Jupiter continue to separate, making it increasingly difficult to frame a shot of both planets that includes the horizon glow without resorting to a wide angle lens. Uranus continues to inhabit the central portion of Taurus, south of the Pleiades. |