texas

skywatchers report


Welcome to the University of Texas Skywatchers Report for Monday May 7th through Sunday May 13th.

The moon is at third quarter on Saturday the 12th so we will have a waning gibbous moon for most of the week.

Jupiter is in conjunction with the sun on Sunday the 13th and will move from our evening skies into the morning skies in the next few weeks.

Venus is shining brightly in the west in the evenings and is now starting to sink back towards the sun as it heads towards conjunction on June 5th when it will transit the sun's disk. More information about that in coming weeks. This week Venus is setting at 11:00 p.m. and is visible as a thin crescent in a telescope now.

Mars is still visible high in the south-southeast and is still near the bright star Regulus in the constellation Leo. Mars is setting at 3:20 a.m. at midweek. Over in the east-southeast Saturn is near the bright star Spica in the constellation Virgo. Saturn is setting at 5:35 a.m. at midweek. Mercury is up about 50 minutes before sunrise this week.

Public viewing on UT campus telescopes has finished for the spring semester. Summer viewing will start in early June.

Thank you for calling the University of Texas Skywatchers Report.