              APOD: 2017 September 21 - A September Morning Sky

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                              2017 September 21
                                      [2]
                           A September Morning Sky
         Image Credit & Copyright [3] : Tamas Ladanyi [4] (TWAN [5] )

Explanation: The Moon, three planets, and a bright star gathered near the
ecliptic plane [6] in the September 18 morning sky over Veszprem [7]  Castle,
Hungary. In this twilight skyscape, Mercury and Mars [8]  still shine close to
the eastern horizon, soon to disappear in the glare of the Sun. Regulus, alpha
star of the constellation Leo, is the bright point next to a waning crescent
Moon, with brilliant Venus near the top of the frame. The beautiful morning
conjunction of Moon, planets, and bright star could generally be followed by
early morning risers all around planet Earth [9] . But remarkably, the Moon
also occulted [10] , or passed directly in front of, Regulus and each of the
three planets within 24 hours, all on September 18 UT. Visible from [11]
different locations, timing and watching the lunar occultations was much more
difficult though, and mostly required viewing in daytime skies.

                    Tomorrow's picture: equinox friday [12]

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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1709/conjunction_170918_ladanyi_web.jpg
  [3] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [4] http://www.astrophoto.hu/
  [5] http://www.twanight.org/
  [6] ap151126.html
  [7] ap140823.html
  [8] image/1709/conjunction_170918_ladanyi_en.jpg
  [9] https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/
  [10] http://asa.usno.navy.mil/SecA/olist17.html
  [11] http://earthsky.org/tonight/ occultations-galore-on-september-18
  [12] ap170922.html
  [13] ap170920.html
  [14] archivepix.html
  [15] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [16] lib/aptree.html
  [17] http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [18] calendar/allyears.html
  [19] /apod.rss
  [20] lib/edlinks.html
  [21] lib/about_apod.html
  [22] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=170921
  [23] ap170922.html
  [24] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [25] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [26] http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [27] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [28] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [29] http://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  [30] http://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [31] http://www.nasa.gov/
  [32] http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [33] http://www.mtu.edu/
