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Received this info from the Johannesburg Planetarium

September New Moon
This month the new crescent will be welcomed by the Islamic community, as it marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. The Islamic calendar starts a new month with the sighting of the crescent Moon. New Moon is 12:30pm on Sept 8th; the young crescent should be (easily) first sighted early evening of Thursday 9th. Look for the very thin crescent low in the west as soon as it gets dark.

Saturday 11th: Moon just above Venus
By Saturday, the Moon will have moved on another two days (25 degrees) in its orbit, and will be just above Venus, the extremely bright "evening star". Go have a look as soon as it gets dark on Saturday - this will be a lovely sight!

Occultation of Venus on Saturday afternoon 11th September
The orbit of the Moon this month takes it directly in front of Venus, as viewed from southern Africa. We thus get to see an "occultation" of Venus by the Moon. The occultation takes place during the day . . . but Venus is at its brightest now, and it is possible to see it during the day . . . if you can find it in the huge vastness of blue sky!

At http://www.planetarium.co.za" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; you can find:
* tips for locating the Moon and Venus during the day on Saturday - even if there wasn't an occultation, this is a rare chance to use the Moon to locate and see Venus during the day - look for it before the occultation, while it's still on the dark side of the Moon;
* safety tips - searching the sky with binoculars during the day is not a good idea - if you accidentally point them at the Sun, you will blind yourself;
* times of the occultation for different locations in S Africa - these vary across the country; the occultation is in the afternoon and can last up to 1.5hr.

Next good Venus-Moon occultation for us is March 2023.

Hope this topic is okay to post here?

Thanks for the info, Jungle Junkie!

This little family will be on the lookout for these occurences...

It would be great to see a monthly 'Planetary' posting! It would certainly help us learn something about the planets as well!!!

Thanks for fascinating info.
Will keep an eye on Planetarium site as well.
Lets hope for clear weather on Saturday.

You can register with the Planetarium and they will e-mail you when something is on the go

Have you seen the stunning sight of the moon & Venus so close! It is so beautiful!

Here's a pic of the venus-moon alignment on saturday - I'm still learning how to use my new camera so they aren't the best, BUT WOW, IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!!

Very nice BushFairy!

It was a beautiful sight!

A solar coronal mass ejection (CME) is travelling from the sun at 1000km per /sec and will give the Earth a glancing blow. The sun goes through a solar cycle every 11 years and there is an increased activity on the surface.

The CME might have a impact on S.A. because of the South Atlantic Anomaly, where the Earth's magnetic field is weakest.

At 4.00 pm this afternoon a solar flare will brush the Earth. No major disturbances but satellites might be slightly disrupted.

You have probably heard about it already, but we are in for a bit of fun...
A titanic collision of our Milky Way galaxy with the neighboring Andromeda galaxy, which you can actually see if you are in the Southern half of the Earth.

Have a read and view here:
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archiv ... s/2012/20/