~ St. Maarten’s Backyard Astronomy for September 12 - 14 ~
Sun rises at 5:59am
Sun sets at 6:15pm
Lunar phase: 1st quarter, waxing half moon
Moon sets at 11:52am, Saturday
Moon rises at 11:04pm, Saturday
This weekend, you might catch a rare glimpse of a NEW meteor shower! This is a meteor shower discovered in 2015 by Dr Peter Jenneskens of NASA Ames Research Center, and it is expected to peak this weekend. The Chi Cygnids are quite different than any other meteor shower that we know. That is because they are slow, rare and mysterious. We just found out about them 10 years ago and we don’t yet know the source of the meteors. These will seem to drift slowly across the sky, with a long tail streaking out behind. And the sighting density is low – in other words, you might see only one per hour, but it’s worth it because they may look quite different than any other meteor streaks you have ever seen before.
Your best bet to see a Chi Cygnus meteor is in the early to late evening, well before midnight. The radiant point is near the head of Cygnus the Swan, and that is high in the sky after sunset, reaching towards the west as the night goes on. The moon will rise around 11:00pm, so after that, the viewing is decreased due to the moonlight washing out all fainter sights in the night sky. The Caribbean Astronomical Society has been posting videos on YouTube of these amazing meteors all week (search Chi Cygnid Meteor Shower 2025), so if the peak is truly this weekend as predicted, we may have a good chance of seeing at least one!
Meanwhile, you can locate several planets among the stars this weekend. Mars is setting in the west less than an hour after sunset – currently Mars sits within the constellation Virgo. As Mars sets in the West, Saturn is rising in the eastern sky. Friday night, the moon is near to the Pleiades star cluster, in the constellation Taurus the Bull. Around 1:45 Saturday morning, Jupiter rises from the eastern horizon, sitting among the stars of the Gemini Constellation. By four in the early morning hours, the planet Venus heralds the new day coming soon.
Thank you for keeping up with the Night Sky articles, backyard (or beach) astronomy designed for St. Maarten sky viewing. FYI: If you are out later on in the week, note that each star rises about four minutes earlier each day than written here, and the moon rises 50 minutes later. Night Sky is researched and compiled by Lisa Davis-Burnett. Earthsky.org is a key resource for information and images. Questions or comments? Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
