The September night sky is packed with astronomy highlights, including multiple lunar occultations, bright planetary conjunctions, active meteor showers, and a beautifully shifting Moon moving through every major phase — perfect for night‑sky viewing and astrophotography across Australia. This AEST‑based sky guide gives you a night‑by‑night breakdown of September 2026 astronomy events, complete with timings and links so you can easily explore each celestial moment and plan your observing sessions.
Events calendar
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
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4
Close approach of the Moon and M45 (Pleiades). Look northeast from 00:30 AM AEST. Best viewed with binoculars.
The moon in its last quarter phase. That means the Moon is about 50% illuminated. |
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8
Lunar occultation of Jupiter starts 17:03 UTC (Wednesday, 9 September 3:03 AM AEST).
Learn more.
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9
Wednesday, 9 September 2026: Conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter.
Wednesday, 9 September 2026: ε‑Perseids Peaks. Learn more. Wednesday, 9 September 2026: Conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter. Look northeast from 4:40 AM AEST. The moon is 27 days old, thin waning crescent. |
10 |
11
🌑 New Moon. Tonights the night to get out under the stars.
This is the point in the lunar cycle when the Moon sits between Earth and the Sun, so its sunlit side faces away from us and the Moon becomes essentially invisible in the sky. With no moonlight at all, the sky is at its darkest, making this the best time of the month for deep‑sky observing and astrophotography. Galaxies, nebulae and faint clusters stand out more clearly, and long‑exposure imaging is much easier without the Moon washing everything out. |
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14
Lunar occultation of Venus starts 09:26 UTC (7:26 PM AEST).
Learn more.
A conjunction of the Moon, Venus and Spica is visible after sunset and before moonset. Look west, at around 6:30 PM AEST. |
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16 |
17
Lunar occultation of Antares starts 10:52 UTC (8:52 PM AEST).
Learn more.
Conjunction of the Moon and the Crab Globular Cluster (NGC6121). Close approach Mars and the Twinkling Comet Cluster. Look northeast in the early morning from around 3:00 AM AEST. |
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23
September Equinox. The September equinox happens at 00:06 UTC, which is 10:05 AM AEST. At this moment, the Sun is directly over the equator, and day and night are almost the same length everywhere on Earth. This marks the start of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and the beginning of spring in the Southern Hemisphere.
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26
🌕 Full Moon: The Full Moon occurs at 10:50 AM AEST, making it bright and visible through the entire night. The Moon rises around 6:00 PM and sets close to 6:30 AM the next morning, sitting in Pisces near the border with Cetus. This Full Moon is also known as the Corn Moon, as it’s the first Full Moon after the September equinox, which falls on 23 September in 2026. It’s ideal for wide‑field lunar photography, though its brightness will wash out faint deep‑sky objects.
Neptune reaches opposition on 26 September 2026 at 01:28 UTC (11:28 AM AEST), which is when it’s closest to Earth and fully lit by the Sun. This makes it the brightest we’ll see it all year, and it stays visible all night. It’s the ideal time to try observing or photographing it. Even so, Neptune is extremely far away, so through a telescope it still only shows up as a small blue dot. |
27
Close approach of Saturn and the Moon. Look east as the pair rises from around 6:30 PM.
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28 |
29 |
30
Conjunction of the Moon and M45. Look towards the northeast from about 10:00 PM AEST. The moon is in its wanning phase, this means it will fairly bright at about 80% illumination.
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Major Lunar Phases
🌗 4 September: Last Quarter
🌑11 September: New Moon
🌓 19 September: First Quarter
🌕 26 September: Full Moon (Corn Moon)
Learn more about lunar phases.
Lunar Occultations
Lunar occultation of Jupiter
On Tuesday, 8 September 2026 the moon will pass in front of Jupiter. This occultation is visible to people in Canada, Greenland, east Russia and the United States. The occultation will start at 17:03 UTC. For those living outside of these regions, a conjunction between the pair will be more widely visible. For exact times, visit Lunar occultation of Jupiter.
Lunar occultation of Venus
On Monday, 14 September the Moon will pass in front of Venus. This occultation is visible to people in parts of Asia, Africa, Europe and Russia. The occultation will start at 09:26 UTC. For those living outside of these regions, a conjunction between the pair will be more widely visible. For exact times, visit Lunar Occultation of Venus.
Lunar occultation of Antares
On Thursday, 17 September the Moon will pass in front of the star Antares. This occultation is visible to people in parts of Australia, Tasmania, Antartica, Heard Island and McDonald Island. The occultation will start at 10:52 UTC (8:52 PM AEST). For those living outside of these regions, a conjunction between the pair will be more widely visible. For exact times, visit Lunar occultation of Antares.
Planetary Events
Mercury
Mercury is in the western evening sky but is difficult to see early in September. It sets only slightly after the Sun at the start of the month. On 4 September, Mercury rises at 6:34 AM and sets at 6:10 PM AEST. It moves from Leo into Virgo on 7 September. On 26 September, Mercury passes less than one degree north of Spica. The thin crescent Moon appears about three degrees south of Mercury on 12 September, but both may be hard to see in twilight.
Venus
Venus is high in the western evening sky. On 4 September, Venus rises at 7:54 AM and sets at 9:15 PM AEST. It remains bright all month and stays in Virgo. It reaches maximum brightness, around magnitude –4.8, on 23 September. The crescent Moon appears a few degrees west of Venus on 14 September.
Mars
Mars starts the month in Gemini. On 4 September, Mars rises at 3:13 AM and sets at 1:05 PM AEST. It moves into Cancer on 26 September. Mars passes close to Delta Geminorum on 10 September and near the open cluster NGC 2420 on 17 September. The waning crescent Moon appears near Mars on 7 September.
Jupiter
Jupiter rises shortly before sunrise early in the month. On 4 September, Jupiter rises at 4:55 AM and sets at 3:25 PM AEST. It stays in Cancer until moving into Leo on 28 September. The waning crescent Moon sits a few degrees below Jupiter on 9 September.
Saturn
Saturn is well placed for viewing throughout September. On 4 September, Saturn rises at 8:03 PM and sets at 7:51 AM AEST. It crosses from Pisces into Cetus on 15 September. The full Moon appears near Saturn on 27 and 28 September.
Meteor Showers
ε-Perseids
The September Epsilon Perseids run each year from 5 to 21 September, with the peak on the 9th. These meteors hit Earth’s atmosphere fast, at about 64 km/s. The shower comes from the constellation Perseus, with the radiant sitting close to the star Algol. The source of the shower isn’t known. Based on the path of the meteors, scientists think the debris was left behind by a long‑period comet that hasn’t been discovered yet and likely takes hundreds or even thousands of years to orbit the Sun. At the peak, you can expect up to around five meteors per hour.
Southern Hemisphere Comets
Evening
- 10P/Tempel 2, magnitude 8, altitude 55°
- 161P/Hartley–IRAS, magnitude 10, altitude 29°
- C/2024 J3 (ATLAS), magnitude 13, altitude 12°
Midnight
- 10P/Tempel 2, magnitude 8, altitude 90°
- 220P/McNaught, magnitude 9, altitude 29°
- 161P/Hartley–IRAS, magnitude 10, altitude 70°
- C/2024 T5 (ATLAS), magnitude 12, altitude 16°
- 88P/Howell, magnitude 12, altitude 26°
Morning
- 10P/Tempel 2, magnitude 8, altitude 27°
- 220P/McNaught, magnitude 9, altitude 49°
- 169P/NEAT, magnitude 10, altitude 8°
- 161P/Hartley–IRAS, magnitude 10, altitude 73°
- C/2024 T5 (ATLAS), magnitude 12, altitude 64°
- 88P/Howell, magnitude 12, altitude 40°
- 260P/McNaught, magnitude 13, altitude 19°
- 78P/Gehrels 2, magnitude 13, altitude 26°
For more information, refer to Visual comets in the Future (Southern hemisphere). View comets for the Northern Hemisphere.
Show your support
If you enjoy guides like this and want to help me keep creating them, you can show your support by donating. Every contribution genuinely helps me spend more time under the night sky and bring these resources to life. You can also follow me on Instagram and Facebook, where I post reminders closer to each event so you never miss a moment happening overhead.
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