Welcome to the University of Texas Skywatchers Report for Monday January 8 through Sunday January 14.
The first new moon of 2024 occurs on Thursday the 11th, so we’ll have a waning crescent moon for the first half of the week and a waxing crescent moon in the west shortly after sunset this weekend.
Saturn is now in the west-southwest at sundown and is setting at 9:10 p.m. at midweek.
Jupiter is high in the south as the sky darkens after sunset and is setting at 1:55 a.m. at midweek.
In the morning skies, Venus is rising at 4:55 a.m. at midweek, now about an hour and a half before sunrise. Look for the thin waning crescent moon alongside Venus on Monday morning.
Mercury is at greatest elongation west on Friday morning, when it will rise at 5:50 a.m. After that, it will start sinking back towards the sun and its next solar conjunction.
Mars is still slowly emerging in the morning skies and is rising an hour before the sun. Look for a very slim crescent moon near Mercury and Mars on Tuesday morning.
In space anniversaries this week, Wednesday January 10th marks 55 years since the launch of the Soviet Venera 6 mission to Venus. The spacecraft reached Venus four months later and descended through the Venusian atmosphere for 51 minutes to sample its chemical composition. Unlike later probes, Venera 6 was not designed to actually land on the planet, so it operated until it was crushed by Venus’s thick atmosphere.
Spring 2024 semester public viewing on UT campus telescopes will resume soon. Please check back for details on starting dates and times.
Thank you for calling the University of Texas Skywatchers Report.
