The Sky Today on Wednesday, September 9: Visualize the ecliptic

The Moon is now in Leo; together with the bright star Regulus, our satellite lines up with Mars and Jupiter to show off the ecliptic plane. | Published: September 9, 2026 The Moon is closing in on Regulus, the heart of Leo the Lion, early on September 9. You can follow the line of the ecliptic on the sky by connecting the dots: Regulus, the Moon, Jupiter, and Mars. Credit: Stellarium/USGS/Celestia/Clementine Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column. September 8: The Moon joins Jupiter The waning Moon has moved from Cancer to Leo and is nearing the bright star Regulus, which marks the Lion’s heart. Our satellite will pass 0.6° south of Regulus at 4 P.M. EDT this afternoon. An hour before sunrise this morning, Regulus is just 4° above the eastern horizon, with the Moon —just 4% lit as sunset quickly sweeps across the lunar nearside — still 4.5° to its west (upper right). In fact, this morning offers an excellent opportunity to trace out the line of the ecliptic in the sky. The ecliptic is defined as the plane of Earth’s orbit around the Sun. But because all the major planets in our solar system orbit close to the same plane, they appear to sit along a line in our sky: the ecliptic. The Moon’s orbit, while tilted some 5° to this plane, still largely carries our satellite mostly along this line, and several stars in the sky also happen to sit along the ecliptic as well. This morning, you can visualize the ecliptic by starting at Regulus, low in the eastern sky, and moving your gaze to the upper right. Along the way, you’ll encounter the Moon, Jupiter, and then Mars, all of which lie along the ecliptic and show off its orientation in the morning sky. Sunrise: 6:35 A.M.Sunset: 7:19 P.M.Moonrise: 4:45 A.M.Moonset: 6:35 P.M.Moon Phase: Waning crescent (1%)*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. The Moon’s illumination is given at 10 P.M. local time from the same location. Uranus reaches a stationary point at 2 P.M. EDT on September 10, coming to a halt amid the stars of Taurus the Bull. The best time to view the ice giant is in the early morning, in the hour or so before dawn, when the sky is dark enough that the 5th-magnitude world can be picked up at nearly its highest point in the sky. Uranus (marked by the red crosshairs) lies roughly midway between the bright star Aldebaran and the Pleiades star cluster. It is highest in the early-morning, and best visible an hour or so before dawn, while the sky is still dark. Credit: Stellarium In the hour before dawn, Uranus stands 70° high in the south, near the small V of stars that makes up the face of Taurus. If you’re facing south, that V will appear tilted on its side, opening toward the left, with the bright star Aldebaran along the left side. Look to the V’s upper right to find the Pleiades, an open cluster of stars also cataloged as M45. They are easy to see with the naked eye. Uranus is about halfway along a line drawn between Aldebaran and the Pleiades, just 1° to the upper right (west-northwest) of magnitude 4.9 Omega (ω) Tauri. If you center that star in binoculars or a telescope, the planet should be within view as well. Its tiny disk spans 4” and may appear grayish in color, like a “flat” star. Alison Klesman is senior editor of Astronomy magazine. She holds a Ph.D. in astronomy and has studied a variety of topics, from minor planets to supermassive black holes.