☄️ Another Meteor Shower Is Already Beginning
While the Aurigids dominate the beginning of the week, another small shower begins becoming active around September 2.
September Epsilon Perseids
Do not confuse these with the famous August Perseids.
The September Epsilon Perseids are a separate meteor shower, active through much of September and reaching their peak around September 9.
Rates are modest, generally only a handful of meteors per hour, but the meteors are fast and occasionally bright.
This week marks the beginning of that activity, so if you are outside watching the Aurigids and see a meteor that does not trace back toward Auriga, you may be seeing an early September Epsilon Perseid or simply a sporadic meteor.
The sky does not label them for us.
Very inconsiderate.
🇺🇸 UNITED STATES
For most of the continental United States, the best general stargazing window this week begins once astronomical twilight ends and improves as the Moon rises later.
The Aurigids favour the pre-dawn hours of September 1, particularly from northern latitudes where Auriga climbs higher.
The Moon-Pleiades pairing on September 3 and Moon-Mars pairing on September 6 are both accessible with the naked eye.
Urban observers can enjoy both conjunctions, while meteor and deep-sky observers will benefit enormously from travelling away from city lights.
🇨🇦 CANADA
Canada is especially well positioned for the Aurigids because the radiant climbs high from northern latitudes.
Again, rates are modest, so dark skies matter.
Canadian observers should also have excellent views of the Moon near the Pleiades and Mars, weather permitting.
As nights lengthen, September becomes one of the genuinely lovely observing months across southern Canada because darkness arrives earlier without the brutal winter temperatures that will eventually remind everyone where they live.
Enjoy this window.
🇬🇧 UNITED KINGDOM
British observers benefit enormously from the rapidly lengthening nights.
The Aurigid radiant is favourably placed from the UK, although moonlight interferes during the shower peak.
By the end of the week, darker evening conditions improve significantly as the Moon moves toward the morning sky.
The Pleiades are beginning to return prominently to the late-night sky, which always feels like the first quiet announcement that autumn is coming.
🇮🇸 ICELAND
This is where I become personally excited again because real darkness is returning.
By early September, Reykjavík finally gets useful nighttime darkness again after the bright summer, and the difference is dramatic.
The Moon reaches Last Quarter at approximately 7:51 AM Iceland time on September 4, and by September 6 it is only about 27% illuminated, leaving increasingly dark evening skies.
The Aurigid radiant is also very favourably placed from Iceland’s latitude.
The obvious problem, because we apparently cannot have astronomy here without negotiating with the atmosphere, is weather.
Cloud forecasts matter more than almost anything else.
If the sky clears, however, this is one of the first weeks of the season when I would genuinely consider driving away from Reykjavík’s lights, finding somewhere dark and simply staying outside for a while.
No eclipse crowds.
No frantic planning.
No special glasses.
Just stars.
After August, that sounds almost luxurious.
🇦🇺 AUSTRALIA
The Aurigids are primarily a Northern Hemisphere shower because the radiant lies far north in the sky, making them poorly placed or effectively unavailable from much of Australia.