Welcome to the University of Texas Skywatchers Report for Monday July 20th through Sunday July 26th.
The moon is at first quarter on Tuesday the 21st and then we’ll have a waxing gibbous moon for the remainder of the week.
Jupiter is setting just 15 minutes after the sun as it heads towards solar conjunction next week.
Venus continues to shine in the west after sunset and is setting at 10:50 p.m. this week. A look at Venus in a telescope or good binoculars will show that it is now only 60% illuminated.
Saturn is rising at 12:15 a.m., so it is now visible for more than half the night.
Mars is rising at 3:30 a.m. and Mercury rounds out the early morning planets, rising at 5:45 a.m., about an hour before the sun.
In space anniversaries this week, Monday July 20th marks 50 years since the Viking 1 lander touched down on Mars, becoming the first successful mission to land on the Red Planet. The following day, the lander transmitted the first color image from the surface of another planet. Among the experiments conducted by the lander was a soil sample test to look for evidence of life, which at the time returned negative results and what was thought to be one false positive result. Some of these experiments have been reevaluated in light of results of subsequent missions and may be more inconclusive than originally thought. The Viking 1 lander operated on the surface of Mars for over six years until contact was lost in November 1982.
There will be no public viewing this summer on UT campus telescopes so we can do maintenance and repairs. We expect to resume the regular viewing schedule in the Fall 2026 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.
