The timing of the event varies with location. The crescent Moon passes in front of Mars during a daylight occultation Sept. Look for Spica, which is brighter, located 12° east of Mars by midmonth. Mars stands 3° high 30 minutes after sunset and drops to half that elevation less than 15 minutes later, so the observing window is very narrow. Shining at magnitude 1.7, it’s a challenging object low in the western sky after sunset. Mars is slowly approaching its November solar conjunction. Venus grows to greatest brilliancy before dawn - you can’t miss it - and Mercury comes up to join it later in September. Uranus hovers between the Pleiades and Jupiter, offering good opportunities to catch this distant giant. Neptune reaches opposition near a 5th-magnitude star - grab binoculars to catch the best view of 2023. Jupiter rises later and dominates the early morning. Saturn is visible all night, at its best in the late evening. Peak viewing season for the giant planets continues. Visible here are Dione (far left), Enceladus (near the rings’ left edge), Mimas (in the shadow of the rings on the planet’s left limb), Rhea (transiting near the north pole), Tethys (right of the rings), and Titan (lower right). Saturn holds court over a plethora of moons.
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