Curiosity, Careers & Canary Six
To the Slooh community,
As September begins and our sky turns from summer to fall, everything seems to begin again — classrooms fill back up, the nights stretch longer, and we get a whole new season of observing. It's my favorite kind of month at Slooh: one for looking up, and for looking ahead to a whole new school year!
Our brand-new Canary Six lunar telescope brings the Moon into sharper focus than ever, and on International Observe the Moon Night we'll gather beneath the first-quarter Moon for a community Star Party to experience the new scope together! We are also excited to publish our Career Conduit Map and to host a fireside chat with board member Dr. Moriba Jah that will trace pathways from a classroom telescope to a career among the stars.
To our school partners, thank you for the incredible work of guiding the next generation of curious explorers. And to our community of space hobbyists, enthusiasts, and lifelong learners, thank you for sharing these lengthening nights with us and making the Slooh community as vibrant as ever. As a new school year begins and the season turns, we couldn't be more excited for all that's overhead and lies ahead.
Clear skies! 🔭
Dr. Emma Cain Louden
President, Slooh
A Fireside Chat With Slooh Board Member Dr. Moriba Jah & Dr. Emma Cain Louden
Lone Star Stargazers: Elevating the Space Workforce with Slooh in Texas
Join us for a LIVE fireside chat about the future of the space workforce in Texas, and the classrooms preparing the next generation to lead it. Slooh's president Dr. Emma Cain Louden sits down with Dr. Moriba Jah, Slooh board member, professor at UT Austin, co-founder of Privateer, and one of the world's leading voices on space sustainability, for a wide-ranging conversation about the growing Texas space economy and the workforce it will need.
Whether you lead a district, teach astronomy, or shape science curriculum, you'll leave with a clearer picture of how to connect your students to the opportunities ahead. Space is one of the fastest growing sectors in Texas. Come see how to bring it into your classroom. Reserve your spot.
September's calendar follows the sky with weekly themes. Early evenings go dark when the Last Quarter Moon shifts to the overnight hours. The New Moon falls on September 11th, the week we've set aside for the remembrance of 9/11. Deep Sky Diving Season opens as summer nebulae give way to autumn galaxies in the east. The Equinox tips the balance on the 22nd, the Harvest Moon closes it out on the 26th, and the month ends with a countdown: 100 Hours of Astronomy!
Week 1 · The Night Shift (Sept 1–7)
Sept 2 | Venus Near Spica
Venus (magnitude –4.6) passes close to the star Spica in Virgo, low in the west just after sunset. An easy naked-eye pairing to start the month.
Sept 4 | Last Quarter Moon
The classic night-shift Moon: it doesn't rise until around midnight, leaving early evenings dark for observing.
Week 2 · Remembrance (Sept 8–14)
Sept 10 | Uranus Begins Retrograde
Uranus appears to reverse its path against the background stars — the start of its best months for viewing.
Sept 10–11 | New Moon
The darkest skies of September. Sept 8–14 is the month's prime window for faint targets — globular clusters, the last summer nebulae, and the first autumn galaxies rising in the east.
Week 3 · Deep Sky Diving Season (Sept 15–21)
Sept 18 | First Quarter Moon + Venus at Peak Brightness
The Moon reaches the first quarter, ideal for studying craters along the terminator. The same evening, Venus hits its brightest of the entire 2026 evening apparition (magnitude –4.8), blazing low in the west after sunset.
Sept 19 | International Observe the Moon Night
A worldwide lunar celebration lands right at the first quarter, when sunlight rakes across the terminator and throws craters, mountains, and lava seas into sharp relief — the best night of the month to study the Moon's surface. A perfect classroom and family moment. Slooh will be hosting a Star Party to mark the moment with our new Canary 6 lunar telescope.
Week 4 · Equinox (Sept 22–28)
Sept 22 | September Equinox
Autumn officially begins in the Northern Hemisphere (spring in the South). The Sun crosses the celestial equator, day and night are nearly equal worldwide, and longer nights mean more observing time ahead.
Sept 25 | Mars Joins the Gemini Twins
Mars slides up beside Castor and Pollux, the twin stars of Gemini, in the pre-dawn sky — a third "twin" for a few mornings.
Sept 25–26 | Neptune at Opposition
The most distant planet reaches opposition — its brightest and up all night — sitting just southwest of Saturn in Pisces. A rewarding telescope-and-Slooh challenge target. (Ties into the Capture the Jovian Planets Quest.)
Sept 26 | Full Harvest Moon
September's full Moon (also called the Corn Moon) is the Harvest Moon — the full Moon nearest the equinox. Because the ecliptic meets the horizon at a shallow angle now, the Moon rises only ~25 minutes later each night instead of the usual ~50, appearing to linger near sunset for several evenings running. That's the equinox at work — and it's the centerpiece of the Harvest Moon 2026 Quest.
Week 5 · Higher Ed & the Cosmos (Sept 29–Oct 4)
Oct 1–4 | 100 Hours of Astronomy
The IAU's worldwide, round-the-clock observing marathon — a natural moment for campuses and classrooms everywhere to look up together. Keep an eye out for announcements about how to participate on Slooh!
Oct 4 | Saturn at Opposition
Saturn reaches its best night of the entire year — biggest, brightest, and up all night in Pisces, with its rings tilted ~7.5° and cleanly split in any telescope. The perfect target to carry Members from September straight into October.
September Quest Guide🌌🔭
September marks the transition from summer to fall in the Northern Hemisphere, bringing a new season of celestial sights to explore. From our changing Moon to distant planets and moving asteroids, these Quests give Members plenty of ways to kick off the school year with real astronomical observations.
🌾 Under the Harvest Moon: September’s full moon takes center stage in the Harvest Moon 2026 Quest, where Members discover the traditions behind one of the year’s best-known full moon names and capture it themselves on September 26, 2026.
🌗 A Different Moon Every Night: In the Our Changing Moon Quest, Members capture the Moon on two different nights and discover how its changing phase transforms the lunar landscape. By comparing their images, they’ll investigate craters, dark maria, bright highlands, and the shifting shadows that make different features stand out as the Moon moves through its phases. Perfect for images snapped from Slooh's new lunar telescope!
🌌The Hunter Rises: Orion is climbing higher into the sky each night. That makes September the ideal time to begin The Hunter Quest. Once complete, Members will also have captured the Orion Nebula, one of the four nebulae needed for the Nifty Nebulae Quest. We offer two versions of Nifty Nebulae—an astronomy version and a physics version, the latter providing an in-depth look at light behavior and emission spectra.
☄️ Join the A-Team: The Meet the A-Team: Your First Asteroid Quest introduces Members to the Slooh members who track asteroids and comets and report real measurements to the Minor Planet Center. Members follow in their footsteps by capturing the same asteroid multiple times and blinking their images into an animation that reveals its motion—the first step toward becoming a certified Slooh observer.
🍂 Celestial Gems for a New Season: As fall begins in the Northern Hemisphere and spring arrives in the Southern Hemisphere, the Fall-Spring Celestial Gems Quest invites Members to explore the galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters best observed during the new season. Along the way, they’ll discover how the changing night sky has served as a celestial calendar for thousands of years.
🪐 Meet the Giants of the Solar System: As Jupiter returns to the night sky in mid-September, it’s the perfect opportunity to dive into the Capture the Jovian Planets Quest. Members set out to capture Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune with Slooh’s telescopes. Their images become the starting point for an investigation of these four giant worlds—their atmospheres, moons, rings, and the spacecraft that have explored them—revealing both their remarkable differences and the science that connects them.
These Quests are a great way to welcome a new school year and a new season of observing, giving Members opportunities to explore everything from our nearest celestial neighbor to the giant planets at the edge of the Solar System.
Our September spotlight shines on the incredible high school astronomy students of Plano School District in Plano, TX. Plano School District is the 2nd ever to reach 1 million Gravity Points on Slooh (after the University of Oldenburg). The students of Plano are about to embark on their third year on Slooh, and we can’t wait to see what they accomplish. We want to extend a special shoutout and appreciation to the District Science Coordinator, Dr. Ashley Carter, for her support and to educator Don Walker who has truly gone above and beyond with his students in earning Gravity Points and diving into Slooh. Learn more about Slooh’s partnership with Plano in this case study.
"The Slooh program has proven to be an invaluable resource for engaging my students in authentic astronomy experiences. My kids especially love that they can view and capture images of celestial objects using live telescopes. Not only are they able to explore and interact with the assigned content but they are also able to complete their own quests and schedule their own missions. This has helped bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-world application."
-Don Walker, Astronomy Teacher, Plano East
Our featured object this month is none other than the moon itself! With the launch of Slooh’s new Canary Six Lunar scope, there is no better time to capture the moon in all its glory.
Point the Canary Six at September's Full Harvest Moon on the 26th, snap an image, and complete the Harvest Moon 2026 Quest while you're at it!
There is no end to Slooh’s moon joy!