Welcome to the University of Texas Skywatchers Report for Monday June 9th through Sunday June 15th.
The full moon for the month of June is early in the morning of Wednesday the 11th, so we’ll start the week with a waxing gibbous moon and then we’ll have a waning gibbous moon for the remainder of the week. This full moon is known as the Flower Moon, the Strawberry Moon, the Rose Moon, and the Honey Moon.
Jupiter is now very low in the west after sunset as it heads towards solar conjunction in a couple of weeks. Jupiter is setting at 9:10 p.m., just 35 minutes after the sun.
Mercury is a above Jupiter and is setting at 9:45 p.m., over an hour after the sun.
Mars is high in the west-southwest and is setting at 12:40 a.m.
Saturn is rising at 2:15 a.m., over four hours before the sun. Venus is rising at 4:00 a.m., about two and a half hours before sunrise.
In space anniversaries this week, Saturday June 14th marks 50 years since the launch of Venera 10 spacecraft to Venus, consisting of an orbiter and lander. The mission entered orbit around Venus in October 1975 and the lander touched down on the 25th, where it operated for about an hour before succumbing to the heat and pressure of the Venusian atmosphere.
There will be no public viewing this summer on the UT campus telescopes so we can do maintenance and repairs. We expect to resume the regular viewing schedule in the Fall 2025 semester.
While you’re waiting for Austin-area telescope viewing to resume, you can tune in to McDonald Observatory live streams from west Texas. You can view past events on the McDonald Observatory YouTube channel and you can follow the observatory on social media and at McDonaldObservatory.org to be notified of future events.
Thank you for calling the University of Texas Skywatchers Report.
