September 2024: Equinox, Eclipse and Five Sundays
September 2024 began on a Sunday and kept the habit: five Sundays and five Mondays in 30 days. It ran from Sunday, September 1 to Monday, September 30. The moon filled out on Wednesday, September 18, the same night a partial lunar eclipse slid across it. Four days later, on Sunday, September 22, the equinox turned the season over. A short month, six week numbers and two sky events in four days: September did not idle.
How the 30 days fell
Straight counts first: 30 days, 21 business days, nine weekend days. Five Sundays and five Mondays, four of every other weekday. The month began and ended on its two five-time days, a symmetry the printed grid makes plain.
The moon turned new on September 3, first quarter September 11, full September 18, last quarter September 24. One phase a week, in good order.
Eclipse, equinox and a rate cut
The full moon of Wednesday, September 18 was a supermoon. A partial lunar eclipse dimmed it for watchers across the Americas and Europe. That same day, the US Federal Reserve cut its benchmark rate by half a point, its first cut since 2020. The sky and the central bank rarely move on the same date; September 18, 2024 was an exception.
On Sunday, September 22, the sun crossed the equator. Autumn opened in the northern hemisphere, spring in the southern, and day and night split close to even everywhere. Eight mornings later, the month was finished.
A first in orbit, and on screens
Tuesday, September 10 lifted off with Polaris Dawn, a privately funded SpaceX flight. On Thursday, September 12, Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis stepped outside the capsule, the first spacewalk by commercial astronauts. Their orbit reached farther from Earth than any crew had flown since the Apollo era.
Down on the ground, Apple unveiled the iPhone 16 line on Monday, September 9. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice opened the month on Friday, September 6 with about 110 million dollars in North America. On Sunday, September 15, the series Shogun won a record 18 Emmys for a single season.
Water, too much of it
September's storms were merciless. Storm Boris stalled over central Europe from Thursday, September 12. It flooded Poland, Czechia, Austria and Romania, and killed more than 20 people.
Hurricane Helene struck Florida on Thursday, September 26 as a Category 4 storm. It parked catastrophic rain over the southern Appalachians. More than 230 people died across six states, the deadliest mainland US hurricane since Katrina.
Between Boris and Helene, the month's two storms killed more than 250 people across Europe and North America.
Thirty days, five Sundays, five Mondays and one evenly lit planet: September 2024 balanced its books.