September 5
The Falling Eagle
Sun Position
The Sun is in Virgo near +5° declination. Northern Hemisphere twilight is shortening noticeably week by week; Southern Hemisphere observers are entering the best stretch of their spring evening sky.
Sky Highlight
Vega and the Summer Triangle are near the zenith for mid-northern observers after dark, making this one of the last great weeks to catch the triangle before it slides toward the northwest through autumn. From the Southern Hemisphere, Vega is low in the northwest and sets well before midnight.
Deep Sky Object
M57, Ring Nebula, Lyra. About 2,600 light-years away, this planetary nebula is the ejected outer shell of a dying sun-like star; the central white dwarf is visible in large amateur telescopes. It is well-placed high overhead for Northern Hemisphere observers; low but accessible from mid-southern latitudes.
Featured Star
Vega (α Lyr) is a brilliant main-sequence A-type star (spectral class A0Va) just 25 light-years away and the fifth-brightest star in the night sky. Due to precession, Vega will serve as Earth's pole star again in roughly 12,000 years, and in 1850 it became the first star other than the Sun to be photographed.
Around This Date
- September 5, 1977Voyager 1 launched from Cape Canaveral on a trajectory that would carry it past Jupiter and Saturn and, decades later, into interstellar space.
- September 8, 1966Star Trek premiered on NBC, introducing audiences to the U.S.S. Enterprise and helping shape public imagination about what interstellar travel and contact with other civilizations might look like.
Vega is bright enough to cast a shadow on a very dark night, a useful reminder that nearby stars are not abstractions.