Topic
A daytime occultation of Venus, the planet at peak brightness, the equinox, the Harvest Moon and Neptune's opposition: one month, computed night by night.
On Monday 14 September around midday, a 12 % crescent Moon will pass in front of Venus, magnitude -4.75, under a Sun standing 40 degrees high. From Paris the planet vanishes at 11:26 and re-emerges at 12:34; from London the Moon rises with Venus already hidden. The disappearance itself takes a minute and a half: Venus is a disc, not a point. City-by-city times, and the method for seeing a planet in daylight.
At 2.5 million light-years, M31 is the most distant thing the unaided eye catches without strain. It spans three degrees, six full Moons laid end to end, climbs to 82 degrees above Paris, and the moonless window runs from 5 to 17 September. The exact star-hop, and what your own sky will let through.
Venus peaks at magnitude -4.8, yet its lead over the Sun melts from 61 minutes to 15 in a single month. In between, the Moon will hide it in broad daylight on the 14th, the equinox falls on the 23rd, and the full Moon of the 26th will rise barely later each evening. The month's programme, computed for Western Europe.