Autumn equinox 2020. We say goodbye to summer, welcome to autumn

Today at 3:31 PM astronomical autumn will begin. Its beginning is assumed to be the moment when the Sun reaches the so-called Libra point, also known as the Fall Equinox. In the fall, you will be able to admire several bright planets in the sky, especially Mars.

The autumn equinox – in a given earth hemisphere – northern or southern – it is an equinox, after which the sun will illuminate this hemisphere shorter and longer the other hemisphere for half a year.

There is a special line in the sky along which the Sun seemingly traverses all the zodiacal constellations during the year. This line is called the ecliptic. In two places, the equator and the ecliptic intersect in the sky, which means that twice a year the sun is at this intersection. Once it is the beginning of an astronomical spring, and on September 22 at 3:31 pm the Sun will be at the point of Libra, in the so-called descending node, it will pass to the southern hemisphere and at this moment the astronomical autumn begins – explains doctor Leszek Błaszkiewicz from the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn in an interview with RMF FM.

This calendar autumn will come to us tomorrow.

We would like to remind you that at the end of October we will still have to move the clock – we will switch to winter time.

In the fall, you will be able to admire several bright planets in the sky, especially Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Especially Mars it will improve its visibility with the following days, because on the night of October 13-14 it will be in opposition to the Sun (i.e. on the opposite side than the Sun, when viewed from the Earth). Around this period it will surpass in clarity Jupiter. Opposition is the best time a planet is visible, it is closest to Earth then and is brightest in the sky.

It is not without reason that in July there were as many as three launches of space probes towards Mars (American, Arab and Chinese) – space agencies wanted to use the convenient configuration of Earth and Mars, which is repeated approximately every two years.

He will also have his opposition in the fall Uranus (October 31), while Neptune he had it on September 11, so there are still good conditions for his observation. In the case of these two planets, however, you must use a telescope to see them.

The bright planets mentioned earlier can be seen in the sky with the naked eye, but if the use of a telescope makes it possible to see their discs and some details. Through amateur telescopes you can see, among others Saturn’s rings, the belts on Jupiter, some of its largest moons, and the polar caps on Mars.

Saturn and Jupiter will be seen in the evenings quite low over the southern horizon in the coming months. Mars rises in the evening and is visible all night long, traveling high in the sky. Venus, on the other hand, is visible in the morning.

The moon moves fairly quickly across the sky relative to planets and stars. Already between two consecutive nights it is clearly visible that he has changed position compared to other objects. On its way, it will approach the planets several times. This situation is called a conjunction and creates a picturesque sight (not only on the day of the conjunction itself, but also the day before or after). For such a view, it is worth looking at the sky, for example, on September 25 (the Moon conjunction with Jupiter and Saturn), October 3 (approaching Mars), October 14 (the Moon close to Venus), October 22 and 23 (again with Jupiter and Saturn). The conjunctions will also repeat in November and December.

Full Moon they will fall on October 1, October 31, November 30, and the new moon will take place on October 16, November 15, and December 14.

On December 14, that is, in autumn, there will be a total solar eclipsewhich will be seen in Chile and Argentina, and the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. In Poland, the phenomenon will not be noticeable.

Autumn will last until December 21 at 11:02 when it gives way to winter.

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