I've created a September astronomical calendar that can be downloaded as your computer's desktop background wallpaper or printed to paper. It includes information on the naked-eye planets, Moon and eclipses. A new feature is the posting of planetary events and meteor showers on specific dates. 
To see the calendar, click:
http://www.curtrenz.com/astronomical.html
For those interested in details, read on:
The lunar images and planetary visibility tables are topocentric and assume the observer is located at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. Although, the calendar should well serve those in most northern hemisphere locations.
Each daily lunar image is depicted as it would appear on the night of the two dates it straddles. That includes the orientation of the Moon’s illuminated portion and its relative apparent size. A waxing Moon is shown as it would appear midway between sunset and moonset. A waning Moon is shown as it would appear midway between moonrise and sunrise. The effects of earthshine and the oppositional flash are also demonstrated.
The phases described at the bottom of the page are calculated for more classical and intuitive definitions, rather than the simplistic ones necessarily employed in more recent times but before the advent of computers. Dark Moon is the moment during the monthly cycle in which the apparent lunar disk is least illuminated. Full Moon is when the disk is most illuminated. Half Moon comes when the disk is 50% illuminated. The fraction illuminated is printed under each image.
The apogee and perigee data are geocentric: kilometers from center of Earth to center of Moon. Otherwise, this information might seem somewhat chaotic as the Earth's rotation causes a daily oscillation of the distance between a surface based observer and the Moon.
To see the calendar, click:
http://www.curtrenz.com/astronomical.html
For those interested in details, read on:
The lunar images and planetary visibility tables are topocentric and assume the observer is located at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. Although, the calendar should well serve those in most northern hemisphere locations.
Each daily lunar image is depicted as it would appear on the night of the two dates it straddles. That includes the orientation of the Moon’s illuminated portion and its relative apparent size. A waxing Moon is shown as it would appear midway between sunset and moonset. A waning Moon is shown as it would appear midway between moonrise and sunrise. The effects of earthshine and the oppositional flash are also demonstrated.
The phases described at the bottom of the page are calculated for more classical and intuitive definitions, rather than the simplistic ones necessarily employed in more recent times but before the advent of computers. Dark Moon is the moment during the monthly cycle in which the apparent lunar disk is least illuminated. Full Moon is when the disk is most illuminated. Half Moon comes when the disk is 50% illuminated. The fraction illuminated is printed under each image.
The apogee and perigee data are geocentric: kilometers from center of Earth to center of Moon. Otherwise, this information might seem somewhat chaotic as the Earth's rotation causes a daily oscillation of the distance between a surface based observer and the Moon.
For astronomical graphics, including
monthly wallpaper calendar, visit:
CurtRenz.com/astronomical
Curt Renz
