🌠 September ε-Perseid Meteor Shower
📅 Peak Night: 9 September 2025
🕓 Best Viewing: 04:00–05:30 AM IST
📍 Direction: Look East from New Delhi
✨ Get ready for a pre-dawn celestial show as the ε-Perseids light up the night sky! With the radiant in Perseus rising by 20:27 IST, the early morning hours offer the clearest burst of meteors streaking downward from high above.
🔭 Why it’s special:
As Earth rotates, New Delhi turns directly into the meteor stream — meaning short, bright trails near the radiant and long, slow-burning meteors crossing wide arcs earlier in the night.
🌌 Best time to catch the magic? Just before sunrise, around 04:00 IST, when Perseus is highest in the sky.
🛏️ Sleep early, wake early — the sky will reward you!
ime: 01:50 IST
📍 Visible from: New Delhi & across India
Witness a celestial meet-up as the Moon (mag -12.7) passes just 3°59′ north of Saturn (mag 0.6) in the early morning sky — a beautiful conjunction in the constellation Pisces ♓
🔭 Although too wide for a telescope view, the pair will shine close enough to be admired with the naked eye or binoculars under clear skies!
🌌 Viewing Window:
🕗 Visible from: ~20:06 IST (East)
🔭 Highest Point: 01:09 AM — 58° above southern sky
🌅 Fades by: ~05:31 AM (West)
💫 At the same time, they also make a close approach (called an appulse) — a moment of visual closeness that adds to the cosmic charm.
🌑 Total Lunar Eclipse 2025
📅 Date: 7–8 September 2025
🕓 Time: 21:57 IST – 01:26 IST (Next Day)
📍 Visible Across India 🇮🇳
🌕➡️🌑 Watch as the Full Moon transforms — passing through Earth’s shadow and turning a deep reddish hue in a stunning Total Lunar Eclipse!
✨ This celestial event will grace the skies for over 3.5 hours, with totality at its dramatic peak in the late evening hours.
🔭 No equipment needed — just find a dark, open sky and look up to witness nature’s most awe-inspiring lunar show.
🔥 Fun Fact: The eclipse begins just before the Full “Corn Moon” reaches its peak brightness — making this lunar spectacle even more magical.
🌀 Uranus Goes Retrograde!
📅 Date: 6 September 2025
🕙 Time: 10:47 IST
🔭 The ice giant Uranus begins its retrograde motion, appearing to reverse direction across the night sky — drifting westward instead of east through the stars of Aries ♈
✨ This celestial illusion, known since ancient times, puzzled early astronomers who couldn’t explain it within the old geocentric model.
🌍 Why it happens:
As Earth races ahead in its orbit, our shifting vantage point makes distant planets like Uranus appear to backtrack temporarily.
🌌 A cosmic dance of motion and perspective — beautiful, predictable, and profoundly humbling.
🌕🚀 Moon at Aphelion
📅 Date: 5 September 2025
🕒 Time: 15:02 IST
✨ The Moon reaches its furthest point from the Sun — 1.0104 AU away!
That’s ~380,000 km farther out than Earth, placing the Moon slightly behind Earth from the Sun’s point of view — right around Full Moon phase 🌝
🔭 A perfect time to reflect on cosmic distances — the Moon, Earth, and Sun aligning across millions of kilometers in a delicate celestial dance.
🌌 Did You Know?
At this moment:
☀️ Moon–Sun: 1.0104 AU
🌍 Earth–Sun: 1.0082 AU
🌕 Earth–Moon: 0.0025 AU (~3.8 lakh km)
🚀☀️ Aditya-L1 Anniversary
📅 Launched: 2 September 2023
🇮🇳 India’s first solar mission — by ISRO
🔭 Studying the Sun from Lagrange Point 1
🌞 Unraveling mysteries of solar winds, flares & corona
🛰️ Carries 7 powerful scientific instruments
🌌 Advancing space weather forecasting for Earth
🔥 A milestone in India’s journey to the heart of our solar system!
🌠 Aurigid Meteor Shower 2025
📅 Peak Night: 31 Aug – 1 Sep
🕛 Best Time: 03:00 – 05:30 AM IST
📍 Visible from: New Delhi (and across India)
✨ Watch the sky light up as Auriga’s fiery trails streak across the eastern horizon!
The Aurigid Meteor Shower will reach its peak in the early morning hours of 1st September, offering a brief but brilliant celestial show.
🔭 Look east after 11:54 PM and catch the magic building toward dawn, when Earth turns directly into the meteor stream.
Expect short, sharp bursts near the radiant and long graceful streaks gliding across the sky!
🪐 Pro-tip: Head to a dark spot, bring a blanket, and let your eyes adjust to the night — no telescope needed.
🌌 Let the cosmos surprise you!
🌓 MOON AT FIRST QUARTER
🗓 31 August 2025 | 11:55 IST
📍 Visible from New Delhi: 13:02 – 23:00 IST
🌙 The Moon appears half-lit in the evening sky,
rising after midday and setting by midnight —
a perfect sight for early evening stargazing!
🔄 This phase marks a key moment in the Moon’s 29.5-day cycle
— from new to full and back again.
🌇 At first quarter:
🔹 The Moon climbs high at sunset
🔹 Then slowly dips westward as night unfolds
✨ A striking balance of light and shadow —
the Moon in perfect celestial symmetry.
Step out after sunset,
and watch the sky split in two.
🌕📏 THE MOON AT APOGEE
🗓 29 August 2025 | 21:03 IST
Tonight, the Moon reaches its farthest point from Earth —
a distance of 406,700 km 🌌
🌀 Its orbit is elliptical, not a perfect circle,
causing monthly shifts in distance and apparent size.
📏 Appears slightly smaller in the sky
📐 Angular size: down to 29.4 arcminutes
✨ The difference might be subtle to the naked eye,
but it’s a reminder of the Moon’s graceful celestial dance.
From supermoons to micromoons —
the Moon’s orbit shapes our view in quiet ways.
🌙✨ LUNAR OCCULTATION OF SPICA
🗓 27 August 2025 | Starts at 18:09 IST
Tonight, the Moon passes in front of Spica (Alpha Virginis),
creating a stunning lunar occultation —
though only visible from Antarctica ❄️🌌
🔭 From New Delhi, the occultation won’t be visible,
but a close conjunction between the Moon and Spica
can still be enjoyed just after sunset 🌠
💡 Why it matters:
Due to the Moon’s proximity to Earth,
its position varies across the globe —
so the event looks different from different locations.
📍 Keep your eyes on Virgo after dusk —
even without the occultation, the celestial meetup is worth a look!
A beautiful lunar alignment —
reminding us how perspectives shift across Earth’s skies.
