Sun south of equator; Venus still transiting high

Event Date: October 1st
Time: 12:58(.10) PM/10:27(.08) AM


Brief

   As we enter the final quarter of the calendar year, fall is quickly becoming more obvious, with the Sun rapidly sinking south of the celestial equator.  Between now and the last day of the month, our star will move about 11º more degrees south, after moving about that number already during September.  Before jumping ahead of ourselves that much, let's look at where the Sun is now relative to the celestial equator, at 3º south, and where the ecliptic is in relation to the celestial equator east and west of it.  The Sun is shown at transit below:

Detailed

  The Sun is still transiting above the sky's mid-latitude mark of 45º, by a few degrees at 48º, as seen from our 38º latitude.  Therefore, it is still over 11 1/2 hours of daylight, leading to mild-to-warm weather in most parts if the world at mid-northern latitudes.  The good news of course, is that the night duration is growing fast; not only because of the Sun spending more time below the horizon than above, but twilight time also a little shorter in the morning and evening.  Take advantage of this between now mid-winter, when it becomes more obvious that the days are growing longer again and we have less minutes--eventually hours--of nighttime for viewing.
   Finally, while enjoying the Sun in the daytime sky this month, we still have Venus separated from the Sun enough to view easily.  Our "twin" planet is still slightly dimming each day as it shrinks in angular size faster than waxing.  However, that is not too noticeable to us with the eyes and in the daytime, worth tracking down.  Try finding it during mid-morning hours when it is still high enough above the horizon.  The following image shows the Sun moved lower in the eastern sky a couple of hours before the first showing, and this time, Venus is shown at transit.  Tomorrow, I will elaborate more on Venus' phase and position relative to the celestial equator.

click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.