Welcome to the University of Texas Skywatchers Report for Monday March 11 through Sunday March 17.
The moon is at first quarter late on the night of Saturday the 16th, so we’ll have a waxing crescent moon visible in the early evening skies for most of this week.
Mercury is visible low in the west after sundown and is setting about an hour after the sun at midweek.
Jupiter is up in the west in the early evening and is setting at 11:25 p.m. at midweek. Look for the crescent moon alongside Jupiter on Wednesday evening.
In the morning skies, Mars is rising at 6:15 a.m., followed by Venus at 6:45 a.m. and Saturn at 7:10 a.m.
In space anniversaries this week, Friday March 15th marks 15 years since the launch of the space shuttle Discovery on mission STS-119, part of the assembly of the International Space Station. The shuttle delivered the fourth and final set of solar arrays and batteries, completing the construction of the Integrated Truss Structure. Discovery landed on March 28 at the Kennedy Space Center after almost 13 days on orbit.
There will be no viewing on UT campus telescopes this week during Spring Break. Viewing nights will resume at new times next week due to the change to Daylight Saving Time when all open house times will move to 8:30 to 10:30 p.m.
Thank you for calling the University of Texas Skywatchers Report.
