Astrophotography in September 2023: what to shoot in the night sky this month

September is perfect for capturing the Milky Way. Shot with a Canon EOS 6D with Sigma 14mm f/1.8 Art lens. 15secs at f/2.2, ISO3200. (Image credit: Jamie Carter)

For astrophotographers in the northern hemisphere, September is the best month of the year. Significant darkness has returned at night, it’s still warm in the evening and, as we approach the fall equinox later in the month, that all-important darkness begins to dominate.

It’s a great month for night-scapers to be outside with a wide-angle camera, with the bright core of the Milky Way galaxy hanging around and slowly sinking towards the western horizon after sunset. It’s also a popular time for star parties, which are increasingly frequented not only by amateur astronomers, but also by astrophotographers crowdsourcing a deep-sky target or two.

Tonight sees the moon reach Last (or Third) Quarter, which signals the fading of significant moonlight from the night sky for about 12 nights until the waxing crescent moon gets bright around Wednesday, September 20. As well as reducing in size each evening, after tonight the moon will rise beyond midnight and around 50 minutes later each night for the next week. For astrophotographers, this waning, then waxing crescent moon is the ideal time to get to work on nightscapes and deep sky imagery. It’s also a great time to capture the core of Milky Way for the final time this year from the northern hemisphere.

This month begins an out-of-this-world opportunity to help Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen – freshly launched to the International Space Station as part of SpaceX Crew-7 in late August – with his novel astrophotography project to help climate science. Mogensen’s ‘Earthshine’ project as part of his six-month Huginn mission will investigate how much Earth reflects sunlight onto the lunar surface during the new moon phase. The idea is that he’ll take images from space and we can all take the same images – after sunset or in the morning before sunrise. The reason? Earth appears to have become less reflective in the last 20 years, presumably because the ice caps have melted and there’s less sea ice. Here’s how to do help Mogensen using a DSLR or mirrorless camera:

The fourth and final so-called ‘supermoon’ of 2023, September’s full moon is most notable for being one of the year’s most famous. The old story goes that the full moon at this time of year helps farmers work all night to get their crops in. That’s no longer the case, of course – we’ve long lived in the age of machines and artificial lighting – but its fame as the ‘Harvest Moon’ suggests compositions and makes likely a good reception for lunar photographers’ work on social media. So check your local moonrise time, get outside ahead of time, point your camera (wearing a 70-300mm lens, on a tripod with a remote shutter release to hand) to the east and wait for the orangey full moon to rise over a wheat field, a farm or a rural scene. Besides, #SuperHarvestMoon is a hashtag that’s too good to miss on social. Experiment with short exposures.

Look to the east in the couple of hours before sunrise around the time of the equinox this month (Saturday, September 23) from a (very) dark sky site, and in a cloudless sky you’ll see a definite cone of shimmering faint white light. This so-called zodiacal light – ‘light from the circle of animals’ – is sunlight reflecting off interplanetary dust in the plane of the solar system. That plane is also the path of the sun through the sky, where the constellations of the zodiac are positioned. Since the conditions required to see and photograph it are so exact it’s considered elusive, but if you are doing astrophotography in a Dark Sky Park then it’s not technically difficult to capture. Here’s the basic technique:

Manually set your focus to infinity to make sure the stars and meteors are in focus, but zoom in to make sure stars are sharp before committing to taking multiple shots.
Before astronomical twilight, point your camera east where the sun will rise.
Shoot in RAW to make post-production easier.
Use a tripod to avoid camera shake and blurry images.
Use a wide-angle lens: to capture as much of the night sky as possible
Use a low aperture (f/2.8 or lower), a high ISO setting (ISO 800 or more if you have a full-frame camera) and exposure for 30 seconds to capture as many meteors as possible.

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Jamie has been writing about all aspects of technology for over 14 years, producing content for sites like TechRadar, T3, Forbes, Mashable, MSN, South China Morning Post, and BBC Wildlife, BBC Focus and BBC Sky At Night magazines.

As the editor for www.WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com, he has a wealth of enthusiasm and expertise for all things astrophotography, from capturing the Perseid Meteor Shower, lunar eclipses and ring of fire eclipses, photographing the moon and blood moon and more.

He also brings a great deal of knowledge on action cameras, 360 cameras, AI cameras, camera backpacks, telescopes, gimbals, tripods and all manner of photography equipment.

Astrophotography in September 2023: what to shoot in the night sky this month

September 6: Monthly dark sky window opens

September 13-17: #NewMoonSnap

September 26: Moon and Saturn in conjunction

September 28: a ‘Super Harvest Moon’

Wide-angle shot of the month: Zodiacal light or ‘false dawn’

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