Sadly, summer comes to an end this month on Sept. 22. But the great news for stargazing in September is that there are still plenty of great summer constellations to see such as Sagittarius, Cygnus and many more. Also, with the earlier sunsets you can get an earlier stargazing start.

We’re doubling our planet pleasure this month with the arrival of Jupiter, joining Saturn in our Butler early evening skies. You can’t miss Jupiter. It’s absolutely the brightest starlike object in the evening sky this month.

Early in September, the largest planet of our solar system rises around 9 p.m. above the eastern horizon, but by the end of the month, both planets are up and ready for your viewing pleasure in the evening twilight. On Sept. 26, Jupiter reaches what astronomers call opposition when Jupiter and the Earth are at the minimum separation for 2022, less than 368 million miles apart. That makes Jupiter extra brilliant!

Jupiter is a great telescope target, even for smaller telescopes. It’s best to wait a few hours after sunset to view Jupiter or any other planet, however. Let it get higher in the sky, farther away from the blurring effects of the thicker layer of Earth’s atmosphere from your perspective near the horizon. In the case of Jupiter this month, that’ll be around 10:30 or 11 p.m.

With even a small- to moderate-sized telescope, you should be able to see up to four of Jupiter’s brighter moons dancing around the 88,000-mile-wide planet in orbital periods of roughly two to 17 days. You might also be able to see some of Jupiter’s cloud bands, which will be orientated diagonally as Jupiter rises above the horizon.

The next brightest starlike object you see to the upper right of Jupiter is the glorious planet Saturn.

Saturn isn’t nearly as bright as Jupiter, mainly because it’s so far away — over 825 million miles from us in early September. Despite that, you should see Saturn’s ring system and at least some of its moons.

Saturn will also be keeping close company with the nearly full harvest moon this coming week. The moon will be perched just to the lower right of Saturn on Wednesday and then to the lower left on Thursday.

The very best time for serious stargazing this September will be the last two weeks of the month. That’s when the moon and its whitewashing light will be out of the early evening sky.

Look for the Big Dipper proudly hanging by its handle in the northwest. The Big Dipper itself isn’t an official constellation, but it does outline the rear end and tail of the great constellation Ursa Major, the Big Bear.

The fainter Little Dipper, otherwise known as Ursa Minor, the Little Bear, is standing on its handle to the right of the Big Dipper with Polaris, the North Star, at the end of its handle.

In the northeast, look for the sideways “W” that outlines the throne of Cassiopeia the Queen. Just to the upper left of the queen will be a faint upside-down house with a steep roof. That constellation is Cepheus the King.

The great autumn constellation Pegasus the winged horse is rising in the eastern sky after sunset. Look for the big diamond of stars that outlines the torso of Pegasus. This is called the “Square of Pegasus.”

Attached to the left side of the big diamond is the constellation Andromeda the Princess, and within that is the Andromeda Galaxy.

Next-door neighbor of our Milky Way Galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy is more than 2 million light-years away! You should be able to spot it with binoculars or a small telescope, appearing as a faint patch of light.

Speaking of our Milky Way, if you’re stargazing in the dark countryside, you’ll see a milky ribbon of light reaching across the entire sky from the southwest horizon all the way to Cassiopeia in the northeast, nearly bisecting the celestial dome. That’s the Milky Way band, the combined light of billions and billions of stars that make up the plane of our own Milky Way Galaxy.

Enjoy the longer nights of September!

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and retired broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul. He is the author of "Stars: a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations," published by Adventure Publications and available at bookstores and adventurepublications.net. Contact him at mikewlynch@comcast.net.