Welcome to the University of Texas Skywatchers Report for Monday August 22 through Sunday August 28.
The new moon for the month of August is on Friday night into Saturday morning so we’ll have a waning crescent moon in our early morning skies for most of the week and then begin the waxing crescent phase in our early evening skies at the very end of the week.
Mercury is at greatest eastern elongation on Saturday and will be setting just a few minutes after 9:00 p.m. that evening, about an hour after the Sun. After elongation, Mercury will start moving back towards the sun and its next conjunction.
Saturn is rising at 7:25 p.m. at midweek and is moving into a favorable position for early evening viewing as we head towards fall.
Jupiter rises at 9:35 p.m. and is now about a month from opposition and its best viewing of the year.
Mars rises at 12:30 a.m. and continues to slowly grow in size and brightness as our two planets move towards one another and their closest approach in December.
Venus is rising a little over an hour before the sun this week. Look for the very thin crescent moon above Venus on Thursday morning.
In space anniversaries this week, Saturday August 27 marks 60 years since the launch of the Mariner 2 spacecraft on a mission to study the planet Venus. In December 1962, Mariner 2 became the first spacecraft to conduct a successful planetary flyby when it came within about 35,000 kilometers of Venus. The last transmission from the spacecraft was in January of the following year and the spacecraft, although no longer functional, remains in orbit around the Sun.
Public viewing on UT campus telescopes for the fall semester will resume soon. Please check back next week for information on starting dates and times.
Thank you for calling the University of Texas Skywatchers Report.
