Solent Amateur Astronomers are a local society whose observatory is located on the Southern Water reservoir site at Upper Toothill Road, between North Baddesley and Rownhams. The observatory opens (subject to the weather) on the first Friday and Saturday of each month, 8:30 in September then 7:30 through the autumn and winter. Recently, a number of members went to Selsey to visit Sir Patrick Moore. They had a tour of his observatory and spent some time in his study where a lot of questions were answered. All had a very enjoyable day. Why not keep up to date with our programme by checking out the websites at the bottom of the page.

MERCURY is visible for much of October and the early part of November if you have a clear horizon to the east before sunrise. You will see it as a star like point in the morning twilight. VENUS is now an evening object but I have yet to see it. During the period of this magazine, it will become more visible as it moves away from the Sun over the course of the next few weeks. MARS is pretty much out of view as it approaches conjunction later in the year. JUPITER is bright, low in the southwest. A small telescope will show its four Galilean moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede and Calisto. SATURN is in conjunction with the Sun on September 4th, so will start off out of view. Towards the end of September, Saturn will become a morning object once again. URANUS and NEPTUNE are still well placed in Aquarius and Capricornus with Uranus at opposition on September 16th when it will be visible all night.

During this period, the Moon will be Full on September 15th, October 14th and November 13th, then New on September 29th, October 28th and November 27th. There are no eclipses during this period. The Autumnal Equinox is on September 22nd at 16:44 and marks the beginning of autumn. All times in this article are GMT.