With the days lengthening and the cold nights of winter nearly behind us we celebrate the beginning of spring.
On September 22 we cross the equinox and we welcome the sun into the southern skies for the next six months.
Planet watchers are in for a treat. On September 1 there is a conjunction of Saturn, Mars and the moon high in the western sky. The triangle of celestial spheres remaining in the evening sky until well after sunset.
Mercury makes an appearance, setting one hour after sunset at the beginning of the month. Watch out for a series of conjunctions from the 21st through to the 28th between the star Spica, Saturn and the moon.
On the 21st there is a very close - probably less then one degree of separation - conjunction between Mercury and the star Spica.