Welcome to the University of Texas Skywatchers Report for Monday April 29 through Sunday May 5.
The moon is at third quarter on Wednesday May 1, so we’ll start the week with a waning gibbous moon and finish the week with a waning crescent moon in the early morning skies.
Jupiter is visible low in the west at sunset and is just a few weeks away from conjunction with the sun. Jupiter is setting at 9:00 p.m. at midweek, now less than an hour after sunset.
In the morning skies, Saturn is rising at 4:15 a.m. and Mars follows at 4:55 a.m. Mercury is rising at 5:40 a.m. at midweek and Venus rounds out the bunch, rising at 6:25 a.m., just 20 minutes before the Sun. Look for the waning crescent moon to move through all of the morning planets throughout the second half of the week.
The Eta Aquariid meteor shower peaks on Sunday May 5th, although this shower has good activity for a few days before and after the peak date. These meteors appear to come from a point near the star Eta Aquarii, which rises at about 3:30 a.m. The shooting stars are associated with debris of Halley’s Comet and can produce an average of one meteor an hour at peak.
In space anniversaries this week, Saturday May 4th marks 35 years since the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis carrying the Magellan spacecraft on its mission to study the planet Venus through radar mapping. Magellan was released from the shuttle’s cargo bay a few hours after launch and entered orbit around Venus over a year later in August 1990. The spacecraft orbited Venus for over four years before it was deorbited into the Venusian atmosphere in October 1994.
Public viewing at the 16-inch reflector on top of the Physics, Math, and Astronomy building is on Wednesday nights now from 8:30 to 10:30 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.
This week will be the final week of viewing at the PMA telescope for the Spring 2024 semester.
Public viewing at the Painter Hall telescope has finished for the Spring 2024 semester.
Please stay tuned for information on the summer public viewing schedule.
Thank you for calling the University of Texas Skywatchers Report.
