The action is moving to the evening sky! Woo-hoo! Saturn is rising as darkness falls, and is up all night. Jupiter – 2nd-brightest only to Venus – is rising by late evening. Jupiter will reach opposition on September 26. Mercury, too, will have a great evening apparition in August 2022 … for the Southern Hemisphere. Conversely, for us in the Northern Hemisphere, Mercury will hug the evening twilight horizon throughout August. But, a careful search with binoculars might bring the little planet into view.
Planets in the morning sky
And the mornings? Mars still isn’t up until the wee hours, but the red planet continues to brighten and appear redder as it races toward its December 8 opposition. On August mornings, four bright planets arc across the sky: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and also Venus, brightest planet of them all, continuing its early morning dominance for now. Venus will disappear into the sunrise glare in early September, pass most directly behind the sun on October 22, and emerge again into the evening sky before the year’s end.
Note: Our charts are mostly set for the northern half of Earth. To see a precise view from your location, try Stellarium Web.
In August 2022, use Saturn to see the ‘arrowhead’ in Capricornus
On August evenings in 2022, Saturn is in front of the faint constellation Capricornus the Sea-Goat. At its August 14 opposition, Saturn rises in the east at sunset and is visible all night. But a bright moon is also in the sky then. If you wait until a bit later in the month, you’ll find Saturn rising just after sunset, and in a darker sky. And then if your sky is truly dark, you can use Saturn to guide your eye to the faint “arrowhead” shape of Capricornus in our sky. Chart via John Jardine Goss / EarthSky.
After hovering in the western sky after sunset – hard to see by northern observers, but great from the Southern Hemisphere, Mercury reaches its greatest elongation (greatest apparent distance from the sun) at 16 UTC on August 27. At that point, it is 27 degrees from the sunset. But, from the Northern Hemisphere, the geometry is poor. And, despite its distance from the sunset, Mercury hugs the horizon after sunset … still tough to see. On August 29, though, the thin waxing crescent moon, complete with earthshine, offers a chance! Notice that the lighted portion of the crescent on August 29 points to Mercury. Use binoculars, and scan near the horizon as soon as the sky begins to darken. The bright stars nearby are Spica and the red giant Arcturus, the brightest star in the northern half of the sky. Read more about Mercury and the moon. Chart via John Jardine Goss / EarthSky.
Visible planets and night sky guide September, 2022
September 4, 5 and 6 mornings: Close encounter of Regulus and Venus
Just before sunrise on September 4, 5 and 6, 2022, Venus lies very low in the east near the star Regulus in Leo the Lion. The planet passes the star on September 5, and drops below it by the following morning.
Early September mornings: Venus before sunrise
Shortly before sunrise during the first few days of September 2022, most of us will still see Venus, very low in the east before sunrise. But, as the mornings pass, Venus will be increasingly hard to see in the sun’s glare. Luckily, the ecliptic – or path of the sun, moon and planets – is favorable for the Northern Hemisphere on September mornings. So – if you’ve got a clear sky and an unobstructed view to the east – you might be able to follow Venus for a week or longer into September. If the sky is still somewhat dark when you look, notice the bright stars Castor and Pollux in Gemini and Procyon in Canis Minor higher in the sky. By mid-month, Venus will be only 10 degrees from the sunrise. Then it’ll be gone into the sunrise glare. It’ll be most behind the sun as seen from Earth on October 22. It’ll return to the evening sky before the year ends. Chart via John Jardine Goss / EarthSky.
September mornings: Mars high in the sky at sunrise
In early September 2022, Mars is rising before midnight. So you’ll find the planet high in the sky at sunrise. It’ll be near the easy-to-spot constellation Orion the Hunter. Notice how bright and red Mars is now. We’ll fly between Mars and the sun in December.
Early September evenings: Mercury hugs the horizon
Mercury is above the western horizon as September 2022 begins. And, officially, it’s there until mid-September. But the evening angle of the ecliptic is not favorable for Northern Hemisphere viewers at this time of year. So Mercury will be tough to spot from our part of the globe. If you can spot the nearby bright star Spica, it might help you locate the elusive planet. Mercury will be an easier target from Earth’s Southern Hemisphere, which has a steep ecliptic angle in the evening now. Mercury will reach greatest elongation in the morning sky on October 8, 2022. Chart via John Jardine Goss / EarthSky.
September evenings: Saturn is visible all night
As evening falls in September 2022, watch for bright golden Saturn just above the southeastern horizon. Saturn’s opposition, when we flew between Saturn and the sun, was on August 14. So it’s in a wonderful place to see now, ascending in the east in the evening, as seen from around the globe. If you have a dark sky, you can also see that Saturn shines in the dim, but pretty constellation Capricornus the Sea Goat. Notice that Capricornus has the shape of an arrowhead. You can see them crossing the sky all night, traveling along the ecliptic, the same path the sun travels during the day. Chart via John Jardine Goss / EarthSky.
September 7 and 8 evenings: Gibbous moon by Saturn
On the evenings of September 7 and 8, 2022, Saturn is the bright object near the waxing gibbous moon. They will be in the southeast as night begins and will cross the sky throughout the night, following the same path the sun travels during the day. Chart via John Jardine Goss / EarthSky.
September 9 evening: Full moon between Jupiter and Saturn
The evening of September 9, 2022, finds the full moon, known as the Harvest Moon, lighting the sky midway between Saturn to the west and Jupiter to the east. Chart via John Jardine Goss / EarthSky.
The instant of full moon is 9:59 UTC (4:59 a.m. CDT) on September 10
September 10 and 11 evenings: Moon near Jupiter
The waning gibbous moon – now just past full – appears near the bright planet Jupiter on September 10 and 11, 2022. Earth is about to catch up to Jupiter in orbit, and pass it, bringing the giant planet to opposition on September 26, 2022. A planet at opposition is opposite the sun (rises in the east at sunset). And the full moon is also opposite the sun, so that we see its fully lighted day side. So planets are always near the full moon during the month of their oppositions. Chart via John Jardine Goss / EarthSky.
September 16: Neptune reaches opposition
Neptune reaches opposition at 23 UTC on September 16, 2022. On that date, it lies opposite the sun in the sky. Neptune is also at its nearest point from Earth being nearly 3 billion miles distant. The planet is still so far away, though, that it will be visible only through telescopes. Although you can’t see Neptune with the unaided eye, you can see Jupiter shining brightly east of invisible Neptune.
August-October 2022 heliocentric solar system planets
The sun-centered charts below come from Guy Ottewell. You’ll find charts like these for every month of 2022 here, in his Astronomical Calendar. Guy Ottewell explains:
In these views from ecliptic north, arrows (thinner when south of the ecliptic plane) are the paths of the four inner planets. Dots along the rest of the orbits are five days apart (and are black for the part of its course that a planet has trodden since the beginning of the year). Also, semicircles show the sunlit side of the new and full moon (vastly exaggerated in size and distance). Additionally, pairs of lines point outward to the more remote planets.
Phenomena such as perihelia (represented by ticks) and conjunctions (represented by lines between planets) are at dates that can be found in the Astronomical Calendar. Likewise, Gray covers the half of the universe below the horizon around 10 p.m. at mid-month (as seen from the equator). The zodiacal constellations are in directions from the Earth at mid-month (not from the sun).
View larger. | Heliocentric view of the solar system, August 2022. Chart via Guy Ottewell.View larger. | Heliocentric view of solar system, September 2022. Chart via Guy Ottewell.View larger. | Heliocentric view of solar system, October 2022. Chart via Guy Ottewell.
Guy Ottewell’s Zodiac Wavy Chart is a 2-by-3 foot (0.6 by 0.9 meter) poster displaying the movements of the sun, moon and planets throughout the year. You can purchase it here.
Bottom line: Saturn is visible all night. Jupiter rises late in the evening and Mars continues brightening in the morning sky. Venus shines bright above the horizon before sunrise.
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