Backyard Universe: Daylight dwindles, bright planets and a harvest moon

We all are suddenly made aware of the loss of daylight in early November when daylight saving time ends. That sudden, one-hour time change for sunset is profound and a shock to our systems in some ways.

But we also have a more gradual loss of daylight this time of year before the switch back to standard time.

Over the past month, we have lost about an hour of actual daylight, not just on the clock. It’s been a gradual whittling away of our daylight hours due to the changing season and our days gradually shortening. The same thing happens in September. The length of our local daylight period on Sept. 1 is 12 hours 55 minutes but by Sept. 30 it's 11 hours 52 minutes.

Bright planets in the evening

On the plus side of dwindling daylight, our nights are getting longer. That gives us more time to gaze skyward at some neat lunar and planetary attractions in our fall skies.

Planets Jupiter and Saturn are now well up in the southeast as darkness falls. Jupiter is the brightest of the two and is a great target for small telescopes with its banded appearance and four moons that shift position night to night. Higher and dimmer than Jupiter is ringed Saturn. There’s no more memorable look to be had in any telescope than a view of the yellowish planet surrounded by its large, flat ring.

The moon will hang close to the lower right of Saturn and Sept. 16 and to the lower right of Jupiter on the following evening, Sept. 17.

Brilliant Venus hangs low in the west after sunset with a crescent moon appearing close to the second planet from the sun on the evening of Sept. 9. In a telescope during September, Venus shows a gibbous phase like the moon does between its quarter and full phases.

Shooting the harvest moon

If Facebook posts are any indication, lots of folks are photographing the moon, especially when it’s full.

In September, the full moon is dubbed the harvest moon because it’s the full moon happening closest to the autumnal equinox which comes two days later. The 2021 harvest moon will rise locally at 7:31 p.m. on Sept. 20, and its rise point will be just slightly to the right of due east.

Photo tips

When the moon is full in a clear sky it requires about the same manual camera exposure as any earthly scene on a sunny day. That’s because the moon is just a distant object in sunlight just like a tree or building or our kids playing outside. The correct exposure will make sure you record detail on the moon and that it won’t appear as an overexposed featureless white ball. Sometimes clouds, haze or smoke can dim the moon and require more exposure in the camera.

In addition to good camera exposure, the sharpest moon pictures are made by switching off your DSLR camera’s autofocus and focusing manually in live view on your camera’s viewing screen. Zoom in tight on the moon on your camera’s live view screen so the moon fills the screen. Then carefully turn the lens focus ring until the view is tack sharp. Then make sure you don’t disturb that focus setting afterwards, maybe taping down the focus ring so it doesn’t move.

Sharper images will also be more likely if your camera is mounted on a sturdy tripod and your exposures are triggered by a remote shutter release. This is even more important when using telephoto lenses. Even the latest smart phone cameras are generally poor performers when photographing the moon close-up compared to modern digital cameras with interchangeable lenses.

If you have a question about astronomy, send it to Backyard Universe P.O. Box 297, Stedman, NC 28391 or email johnnyhorne937@gmail.com