Each Monday I pick out the northern hemisphere’s celestial highlights (mid-northern latitudes) for the week ahead, but be sure to check my main feed for more in-depth articles on stargazing, astronomy, eclipses and more.

What To See In The Night Sky This Week: September 12-18, 2022

You can have a few nights off. With a full Moon last week, our natural satellite hangs around for a few nights before rising past midnight. And so opens another 10 nights or so of moonless night skies perfect for stargazing, However, this week sees a few nice conjunctions involving that waxing gibbous Moon, with both Mars and the beautiful Pleiades open star cluster both involved.

Here’s what’s going on in the night sky this week:

Thursday, September 15, 2022: The Moon, Mars and the ‘Seven Sisters’

If you’ve got experience of watching the stars then you’ll already know all about the Pleiades—but here’s a beautiful sight you don’t want to miss.

Turn your eyes to the east after dark today and you’ll see a beautiful twilight tableau in the constellation of Taurus. As well as red star Aldebaran you’ll see, to its left, the brightening planet Mars, and above, a 66% waning gibbous Moon just below the sparkling Pleiades open cluster—also called the “Seven Sisters.”

Mars is getting brighter as Earth and Mars get closest together on December 7, 2022.

Friday, September 16, 2022: Moon and Mars, Neptune at ‘opposition’

For the same, but different sight tonight look northeast after sunset to see a 57%-lit waning gibbous Moon now very close to Mars. with Aldebaran slightly farther towards the east.

Tonight also sees the eighth planet, Neptune, reach its annual “opposition.” It’s when Earth is between the Sun and Neptune, so the planet is fully illuminated by the Sun from our point of view. It’s consequently at its brightest of the year, so the best time to look at it. However, Neptune is always a tricky object to find because of its distance and resulting tiny apparent size.

Open cluster of the week: the Pleiades

The closest and most spectacular open cluster of stars in the entire night sky will this week become an easy target for anyone on the planet to spot with their naked eyes.

A cluster of stars 440 light-years distant that’s also called M45 and the “Seven Sisters,” the Pleiades (pronounced either “player-deez” or “plee-er-deez”) is one of the most entrancing sights in the winter night sky. To get the best view of its brightness use the averted vision technique and look slightly to the side of the Pleiades rather than straight at it.

Object of the week: Light pollution

Can you see some bright stars from where you live? Yes, you can everyone can—so you’re all set. Light pollution is a huge problem for stargazers and it needs to be stopped from getting any worse, but don’t ever let it put you off even beginning to stargaze.

Here’s a few things to remember about light pollution:

• It has zero affect on visibility of planets and the Moon.
• Everyone can see the brightest stars even from big light-polluted cities. If you think you can’t then just look harder! The fewer the stars, the easier it is to navigate because only the big, bright famous stars are visible.
• From your backyard or from the sidewalk you can learn some of the brighter constellations, get your bearings and begin to navigate the night sky perfectly well without worrying about light pollution.

If you stargaze frequently you’ll soon enough learn to hate light pollution. But for now just embrace what you can see and don’t worry about what you can’t.

Times and dates given apply to mid-northern latitudes. For the most accurate location-specific information consult online planetariums like Stellarium and The Sky Live. Check planet-rise/planet-set, sunrise/sunset and moonrise/moonset times for where you are.

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.