September 1-4, 2026: Follow the waning moon through Aries and Taurus before sunrise. Watch it pass Hamal, appear near the Pleiades, and move between Aldebaran and Elnath.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Venus as an Evening Star
Morning Moon With Aries, Taurus
The waning moon steps eastward in the predawn sky, passing bright stars in Aries and Taurus. While on one morning it appears with the Pleiades.
Step outside one hour before sunrise. The waning gibbous moon is high in the southern sky, mimicking the sun’s positions during the spring months. With the moon’s high altitude, angle above the horizon, its direction changes vastly from morning to morning. The azimuth or direction lines converge at the zenith with an altitude of 90°.
Highlights
Take along a binocular to identify the stars partly veiled by the moonlights.
Here’s what to see:
- September 1: The bright gibbous moon, 81% illuminated, is nearly two-thirds of the way from the southwest horizon to overhead. It is 9.0° to the lower right of Hamal, Aries’ brightest star.
- September 2: The moon, 71% illuminated, is nearly 70° above the south-southwest horizon, 8.6° to Hamal’s lower left.
- September 3: The moon, 60% illuminated, is slightly higher in the than yesterday, but above the south-southeast horizon. It is 1.5° to the upper right of Alcyone, the Pleiades’ brightest star. Use the binocular to look at the scene. The lunar orb and the cluster are easily observed. It should be noted that through the binocular, the bright moon may produce an after image in vision, like to temporary spots from a camera flash. From Albuquerque, the moon covers the star 18 Tauri (18 Tau) beginning at 6:03 a.m. Mountain Time, 23 minutes later from Denver.
- September 4: The morning half moon (Last Quarter) occurs at 2:52 a.m. Central Time. During morning twilight the lunar orb, 49% illuminated, is high in the east-southeast, nearly between Aldebaran, Taurus’ brightest star, and Elnath, the northern horn. In the chart, the moon looks higher than it appears that when looking toward the nearest horizon.
Note the moon’s eastward motion compared to Aries and Taurus. Look for it near the Pleiades through a binocular near the moon on the morning of September 3.
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