The Moon Coming Close to Jupiter and Saturn (September, 2017)
Enjoy the Changing Position and Shape of the Moon
Just after sunset, Jupiter shines low in the sky near the horizon slightly southward from due west. The thin Moon, having just passed new phase, approaches Jupiter. Jupiter shines at a brightness of minus 1.7 magnitude or so. Therefore, it might be easy to find it even in the bright sky during the twilight. As it is located very low in the sky, please find a place where you can see a wide area of the lower western sky.
After that, the Moon waxes day by day and moves to the east with respect to the background stars, reaching first quarter on the 28th. From the 26th to the 27th, the Moon passes close to Saturn in the southwest sky in the evening. Let's observe the Moon changing its shape and position, using Saturn as a guide.
Reference: Ephemeris Computation Office
With the “Sky Viewer” you can easily explore the appearance of a typical urban night sky (planets and constellations are visible). The Celestial Phenomena section of the glossary explains the planetary phenomena terms: greatest elongation, opposition, conjunction, stationary, etc.