Today:
Tonight’s Full Moon is almost perfectly aligned to pass through the Earth’s shadow, a Lunar Eclipse, though a very small portion of the Moon remains illuminated, giving us a very deep partial Lunar Eclipse, reaching a maximum of 93 percent, at which point the Moon will fade to a dim red. As the sun sets, the Moon will rise in the southeast, set to track across the southern sky. The umbral phase of the eclipse will begin at 10:34 PM, with maximum coverage at 12:13 AM, the umbral phase then ending at 1:52 AM.
Friday:
A nearly Full “Sturgeon” Moon rises in the waning twilight, its light perhaps keeping some of you awake in the wee hours of the night. By 5 o’clock, a coming attraction will rise in the east-southeast, the “winter champion”, Orion. Having dropped below the horizon for much of the summer, he returns, first to the late-night sky, and eventually to the evening sky by late November.
Saturday:
As September nears, the lengthening nights are pushing back the dawn twilight more and more, helping Mars to become more and more visible a little after 5 AM, appearing nearly due east, and nestled snuggly within the constellation Gemini. The Twin stars of Gemini appear vertically aligned, well to the left of the reddish Mars, one third of the way above the horizon.