Welcome to the University of Texas Skywatchers Report for Monday March 7th through Sunday March 13th.
The moon is at first quarter on Thursday the 10th so we’ll have a waxing crescent moon for the first half of the week and a waxing gibbous moon for the latter half of the week.
All of the planets visible to the unaided eye are up in the pre-dawn skies now, although Jupiter is just beginning to emerge from conjunction and is still too close to the sun to see.
Venus is rising at 4:15 a.m. at midweek and Mars is just rising about 15 minutes later to Venus’s lower right. Saturn is rising at 5:25 a.m. and Mercury follows at 6:00 a.m.
This weekend marks the beginning of Daylight Saving Time for most, but not all, of the US when we move our clocks forward one hour early on Sunday morning. The 2 to 3 a.m. hour is the one that is officially skipped where the time change is observed.
In space anniversaries this week, Thursday March 10th marks the 45th anniversary of the discovery of the rings of the planet Uranus by observers using a stellar occultation technique. The rings were later observed directly in 1986 during the Voyager 2 flyby, which also discovered additional rings. About 20 years later, the Hubble Space Telescope discovered the outermost rings of Uranus, bringing the total to 13.
Public viewing at the 16-inch reflector on top of the Physics, Math, and Astronomy building (formerly RLM) is on Wednesday nights currently from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. PMA is located on the southeast corner of Dean Keeton and Speedway. Take the elevator to the 17th floor and follow the signs to the telescope. Masks are encouraged while visitors are in the building and in the telescope dome.
Public viewing at the 9-inch refractor at Painter Hall is on Friday and Saturday nights currently from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Painter Hall is located on 24th street about halfway between Speedway and Guadalupe and is northeast of the UT Tower. Reservations will be required on Friday nights at the Painter Hall Telescope this semester. Please see the website outreach.as.utexas.edu and click on “Public Viewing on UT Campus Telescopes” for more information. Saturday nights will be open without reservations.
Note that viewing times and availability change throughout the year so please check the schedule before planning a visit. Observing events are weather permitting. Please call 512-232-4265 for weather cancellation information, which is updated 30 to 45 minutes before the scheduled viewing start time.
There will be no viewing on UT campus telescopes next week over Spring Break.
Thank you for calling the University of Texas Skywatchers Report.
