Welcome to the University of Texas Skywatchers Report for Monday August 19 through Sunday August 25.
The full moon for the month of August is on Monday the 19th and then we’ll have a waning gibbous moon for the rest of the week. The full moon of August is known as the Grain Moon and the Green Corn Moon.
Venus is now visible low in the west shortly after sunset and is setting at 9:10 p.m., a little over an hour after sunset.
Saturn is rising at 8:50 p.m. at midweek, now about 40 minutes after sunset. Look for Saturn just off the top limb of the moon on Tuesday night.
Jupiter is rising at 1:35 a.m. at midweek and Mars follows at 1:50 a.m., now that the two planets are moving apart after last week’s conjunction.
Mercury was in inferior solar conjunction early on Monday when it passed between the Earth and the Sun from the Earth’s perspective. Throughout the rest of the week, Mercury will slowly emerge from the morning twilight as it moves farther from the Sun.
In space anniversaries this week, Sunday August 25th marks 35 years since the Voyager 2 spacecraft became the first and, so far, only mission to fly past the planet Neptune. Voyager 2 launched in 1977 and flew past Jupiter two years later, then Saturn in 1981, and then continued on the Grand Tour to fly past Uranus in 1986, and Neptune in 1989. Voyager 2 continues to operate after 47 years and at a distance of 13 billion miles from the Sun.
Public viewing on UT campus telescopes has finished for the summer session. Fall semester viewing will resume in the next few weeks. Please check back for details on starting dates and times.
Thank you for calling the University of Texas Skywatchers Report.
