One September Night…
The month of September which was highlighted with rich planetary displays, the occurrence of autumnal equinox and an international moon viewing event was just over. This also marked the change of seasons and the start of having longer nights.
In the Philippines, September is usually visited by several typhoons which means that most of the time, the sky is cloudy. If you live in the city where light pollution is more severe, your chances of having a clear sky with good viewing conditions also diminishes.
This is why, seeing the sky full of stars one clear September night was really a great blessing for us. Thank God there was fairly good view of the south and western sky where the nice crescent moon together with two of the most prominent zodiacal constellations, Scorpius and Sagittarius could be found then. The red star Antares, heart of Scorpius, was just a few degrees below the beautiful waxing crescent moon.
But not only Luna and these constellations were captured by the camera. Three deep-sky objects surprised us after giving the pictures a closer look! 
These objects were usually difficult to see without the aid of binoculars or telescopes.
- Luna and Antares
- The Crown, the Teapot and the Scorpion’s tail (click to view larger image)
- M6, M7 and M8 near the teapot
- Luna behind the leaves
- Bird’s beak moon?
- Waxing Crescent Moon (enhanced in Registax v.5.1) Notice its craters near the terminator.
I wish the sky would always be like this
Thank you to Andre Obidos, a fellow amateur from the Philippines, who took these photos using Canon PowerShot SX 20.
Clear skies to all!
Pingback: Lunar Libration in September and October 2010 « Michael W. Peterson
Thank you very much, and I will have it up sometime soon!
October 7, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Very nice post. I can’t get over how high in the sky the “Teapot”, etc., are for you close to the equator. I never even saw the Lagoon Nebula until this year, simply because it’s quite low in the south here at 46 degrees north, and I’ve usually had trees in the way.
I was wondering if I could use the nice waxing photo in a post I’m planning about lunar libration. It would work well with several of my photos to illustrate libration during this last month, and I would give appropriate credit and linkage, of course. Do you have the date and time of the shot? Just let me know, thanks!
October 6, 2010 at 8:23 pm
Hi Michael! Thanks!
Sagittarius and Scorpius are now prominent in the early evening sky here in the Philippines. Maybe it’s one of the perks of being near the equator but hey, you got Polaris high up in the sky there so you can make nice star trail shots which apparently are difficult to do here.
Regarding your request, yes you may use it. My friend also gave his permission. We are excited to see your illustration of lunar libration.
Here are its photo details:
Taken Sept. 14, 2010 at 8:34 PM PST (UTC+8)
Canon PowerShot SX20 IS, lens aperture F/8,focal length 100 mm, 1/25 s exposure, ISO 80
Enhanced in Registax v.5.1
Cheers!
October 7, 2010 at 12:50 am