Many amateur astronomers regard September as one of ‘the special’ months in which to explore the night sky. Evening conditions remain conducive for prolonged observation, yet skies are fully dark by 22:00h. During September the summer Milky Way is at its most conspicuous to the naked eye, though sadly for many inhabitants of the UK this magical aspect of the night sky is all too often rendered invisible because of light pollution. Fortunately the North Yorkshire moors and coasts still offer up numerous dark oases from which to fully appreciate our galactic heritage. Choose a moonless period, which in September is at the start or end. Allow a good 15 minutes for your eyes to adapt to the conditions before attempting to trace the path of the Milky Way through the brilliant starry canopy above. [Read more about This Island Universe]
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The autumn equinox falls on September 22nd, the date autumn officially commences in the northern hemisphere. For the second time this year the polar axis of our planet is at right angles to the Sun and all locations receive equal hours of daylight and darkness... 
In this month's edition:
No, that didn’t work either... moving Regatta to later in the month, that is. Different dates, same weather. 
We shall be making our pilgrimage over to Westerdale to host this year’s star party on the 2nd. As usual the venue will be the village hall / car park area within the village. Start time is 20:00h for the public... 
Hopefully the weather will improve for one of our observing highlights, our visit to Hook’s House Farm on the 3rd, should it be cloudy however we shall try again on Sept 10th. The Moon will only be a few days old on the 3rd, and given clear skies deep sky observing will be a delight. Mars and Saturn will also be visible over in the South-West. 
