Welcome to the University of Texas Skywatchers Report for Monday March 16th through Sunday March 22nd.
The new moon for the month of March is on Thursday the 19th, so we’ll start the week with a waning crescent moon in the predawn skies and then we’ll have a waxing crescent moon in the west at sunset for the weekend.
Saturn is setting just 20 minutes after the sun as it heads towards conjunction next week.
Venus continues to emerge from the evening twilight and is setting at 9 p.m., now almost an hour and a half after the sun. The very thin crescent moon will be a few degrees above Venus on Friday evening.
Jupiter is high overhead as the sky darkens after sunset and is setting at 3:50 a.m. at midweek.
In the morning skies, Mercury is rising at 6:35 a.m. at midweek, about an hour before sunrise. Mars is rising at 7:00 a.m., about half an hour before sunrise, so you’ll have a hard time picking it out of the dawn twilight.
The vernal equinox for the northern hemisphere occurs at 9:46 a.m. on March 20th for the US central time zone marking the start of spring. This is the point where the sun crosses the celestial equator, and the sun will rise due east and set due west. On that day, the amount of daylight and night are approximately equal, although for Austin, we will be closest to 12 hours of daylight and night on March 16th.
In space anniversaries this week, March 16th marks 100 years since Robert Goddard launched the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket from a farm in central Massachusetts. Although the rocket only went 41 feet into the air, it was an important test of the concept.
And 15 years ago on March 17th, the MESSENGER spacecraft became the first mission to enter orbit around the planet Mercury. MESSENGER orbited the planet for over four years and ended its mission when it used the last of its propellant to deorbit into Mercury’s surface.
There will be no public viewing nights on UT campus telescopes this week during Spring Break. The regular schedule on Wednesdays at the Physics, Math, and Astronomy building and Fridays and Saturdays at Painter Hall will resume the week of March 23rd.
Thank you for calling the University of Texas Skywatchers Report.
