In September, we get a great view of one of our neighbours, a beautiful star cluster, three bright planets and a penumbral eclipse of the Moon rounds off the month.

When European explorers sailed into the southern hemisphere, they laid eyes on a whole set of stars they had never seen before. It was not long before they started mapping and naming these stars, and creating constellations for them — ignoring the names and groupings Indigenous people gave them.

Unlike the northern hemisphere skies, populated by gods and creatures of myth, constellations in southern hemisphere skies were named after scientific and artistic instruments or some of the exotic animals the explorers found.

Tucana, named after the South American toucan, is an unprepossessing constellation formed by a handful of dim stars. While the toucan itself may be not much to look at — or even be able to see under suburban skies — it houses two of the wonders of the southern skies: the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and a cluster of stars called 47 Tucanae, or just 47 Tuc.

Location of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), globular cluster 47 Tucana (47 Tuc) and the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) as seen at 10 pm local time mid-September. ( Supplied: Ian Musgrave/Stellarium )

Named after the explorer Ferdinand Magellan, the Large and Small Magellanic clouds are the biggest and brightest neighbouring galaxies we can see in the sky, outshining the well-known Andromeda galaxy, which is only a dim fuzzy dot.

In September, the SMC is high in the southern sky.

If you face due south, let your eye travel eastwards and up from the Southern Cross towards the only bright star to the south east (Achernar). You'll see a bright patch that looks like a misplaced bit of the Milky Way.

If you have binoculars, you will see traces of the galaxy's nebulosity.

Loading...

On the southern edge of the SMC is a ball-shaped cluster of stars called 47 Tucanae — it is the second brightest globular cluster in the sky. The brightest is also a southern skies denizen, Omega Centauri.

It looks like fuzzy dot to the unaided eye — especially in suburbia — but grab some binoculars and head out bush and you will see a glowing ball, extending out dimly to the size of a full moon.

But to really see the SMC and 47 Tucanae at their best, you need both dark skies and a telescope.

A telescope will reveal a wealth of faint nebula and clusters embedded in the SMC, and 47 Tucanae no longer looks like a glowing ball of cotton wool but is resolved into a compact mass of thousands of stars.

The five bright planets in the evening sky become three

The western horizon on September 3, 40 minutes after sunset. ( Supplied: Ian Musgrave/Stellarium )

At the beginning of September, all five bright planets still grace the evening sky. However, Mercury and Jupiter are soon lost to view.

On September 3, the crescent moon sits inside a twilight triangle made up of Venus, Jupiter and Mercury.

By the end of the first week, Mercury overtakes Jupiter in the race towards the horizon and is lost to view as it disappears into the twilight glow. Jupiter follows Mercury almost a week later.

Venus is very obvious in the dusk as the brightest object above the western horizon.

It continues to climb higher into the sky and as the month draws on, Venus can be seen shining brilliantly in darker skies.

Through a telescope, Venus will be almost painfully bright, and have a distinct gibbous shape.

Mars and Saturn

If you raise your gaze from the brilliance of Venus to look higher in the western sky you will see Mars and Saturn.

The pair is close to the constellation of Scorpius the scorpion and will form a triangle with the red star, Antares.

On September 9, Mars, Saturn and the Moon are close, forming a kite shape with Antares.

As the month goes on, the triangle formed by Saturn, Mars and Antares becomes longer and longer as Mars heads for the cluster-rich area between Scorpius and Sagittarius.

The Triffid Nebula as seen through an amateur telescope ( Wikimedia: Hewholooks CC BY-SA 3.0 )

By the last week of September, Mars will be in the same binocular field as the Triffid and Lagoon Nebulas. In wide field telescope eyepieces, Mars and the Lagoon Nebula and the spray of stars around it will look very nice.

For a finale on September 30, Mars and the dim globular cluster NGC 6553 will appear close together in telescope eyepieces. The brightness of Mars may make it difficult to see the cluster.

Penumbral eclipse of the Moon: September 17

The Moon as seen looking west at eclipse maximum on the morning of September 17. ( Supplied: Ian Musgrave/Stellarium )

If you are up in the early hours of September 17, you may see the northern regions of the moon slightly darken due to a penumbral eclipse.

During total and partial lunar eclipses, the Moon is immersed in the darkest part of Earth's shadow, but in a penumbral eclipse, the Moon is in the penumbra, the fainter outer part of Earth's shadow.

While not as spectacular as a total or partial eclipse, to aficionados the subtle darkening of the Moon's bright light to a pearly glow is quiet beautiful.

You will be able to see this eclipse from start to maximum from anywhere in Australia. However, in the eastern states the Moon sets before the eclipse finishes.

More importantly, in the eastern states astronomical twilight begins just after maximum, so the faint penumbral shadow will be washed out by the twilight glow about an hour before the Moon sets.

Central states have around half an hour more time before the eclipse will be washed out.

See the table below for timings for major cities.