Supermoon, Mars and Saturn to Brighten September Sky

This September will be a skywatcher's delight as the third supermoon of this year, along with Mars, Saturn, and some of the evening's brightest stars, will be visible in the sky throughout the month.

Sept. 1 kicked off the month's celestial events with a display of Saturn and the crescent Moon alongside the Red Planet, which sat five degrees to the lower left of Saturn in the evening sky, according to The Space Reporter. If you had a telescope on hand, you could see a yellow-tinted Saturn with its rings slanted on a 22 degree angle.

The ringed planet, with a magnitude of 0.6, will set earlier each evening as the month progresses.

The three brightest stars Arcturus, Vega and Altair - the first two both with magnitudes of 0.0, and the latter with a magnitude of 0.8 - also added to the planetary spectacle shimmering in the night sky.

Mars shone 18 degrees to the right of the red star Antares, located in the constellation Scorpius, at the start of September. Antares means "opposite of Aries," with Aries being the Greek name for Mars, meaning two rivals will be shining side by side this month.

On Sept. 5 and 6, viewers will see three stars positioned vertically between Mars and Antares in the "head" of the constellation Scorpius.

In April, Space.com reported, Mars was 57.6 million miles (92.7 million kilometers) away from Earth - the Red Planet's closest pass with Earth this year. At that time, Mars' brightness rivaled that of the star Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. And even though Mars is now not quite so close to Earth and shining only about one-seventh as bright, it's still ranked among the top 10 brightest stars.

And possibly the most anticipated event is September's full moon, which will be the third consecutive "supermoon" of 2014 - the first appeared July 12 and the other Aug. 10, the largest of the trio.

On Sept. 9, stargazers will see the supermoon, or "perigee moon," at its closest approach to Earth, making it appear 16 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than other full moons.