texas

Skywatchers Report


Welcome to the University of Texas Skywatchers Report for Monday August 27th through Monday September 3rd.

The moon was full on the morning of Sunday the 26th and will be at third quarter late on Sunday the 2nd into the morning of Monday the 3rd (depending on your time zone) so we'll have a waning gibbous moon all of this week.

Venus is in the west-southwest at sunset and will be moving close to the bright star Spica in the constellation Virgo over the course of the week. Venus is setting at 9:45 p.m. at midweek.

Jupiter is up in the southwest in the early evening and is setting at 11:15 p.m. at midweek.

Saturn is high in the south at sundown and is setting at 2:15 a.m. this week.

Mars rounds out the early evening planets up in the in south-southeast at nightfall and is setting at 4 a.m.

Over in the morning skies, Mercury is up about an hour and 20 minutes before the sun, so you still have an opportunity to catch it if you have a good view of the eastern horizon.

In space anniversaries, 35 years ago on August 30th the Space Shuttle Challenger launched on a 6-day mission and with that launch crewmember Guion Bluford became the first African-American in space. Bluford flew on four space shuttle missions and retired from NASA in 1993.

Public viewing on UT campus telescopes has finished for the summer. Fall semester viewing on both telescopes will start in early September. Please check back next week for details on starting dates and times.

Thank you for calling the University of Texas Skywatchers Report and have a happy and safe Labor Day Weekend.