Welcome to the University of Texas Skywatchers Report for Monday May 13 through Monday May 27.
The moon is at first quarter on Wednesday the 15th and then we’ll have a waxing gibbous moon until we reach full moon on Thursday the 23rd. The full moon for the month of May is known as the Milk Moon, the Flower Moon, and the Corn Moon.
Jupiter is in conjunction with the Sun on Saturday May 18 when it will pass behind the Sun from the Earth’s point of view and move from our evening skies into our morning skies. After conjunction, Jupiter will slowly make its way back to our evening skies and will reach opposition on December 7, when its directly opposite the Sun from the Earth’s perspective.
In the morning skies, Venus is also heading towards solar conjunction early in June and is now too close to the sun to see.
Saturn is rising at 3:35 a.m. on May 13 and will be rising at 2:40 a.m. by May 27th. Mars is rising at 4:35 a.m. at midmonth and will be up at 4:05 a.m. by the end of the month.
Mercury is sinking back towards the Sun after its last greatest elongation and will be rising around 5:30 a.m. for most of the second half of May.
In space anniversaries this week, Tuesday May 14 marks 15 years since the launch of the European Space Agency’s Planck spacecraft and the Herschel Space Telescope on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana. The Planck mission made detailed observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background and Herschel was an infrared space telescope that was the largest of its kind until the James Webb Space Telescope launched in 2021. Both spacecraft operated at the L2 Lagrange point for four years before they were put into heliocentric orbits and decommissioned when their onboard liquid helium coolants were exhausted.
Public viewing on UT campus telescopes has finished for the spring semester. Stay tuned for information on the summer viewing schedule.
Thank you for calling the University of Texas Skywatchers Report.
