Welcome to the University of Texas Skywatchers' Report for September 5th through the 10th.
The full moon for the month of September is on Thursday the 7th. The full moon for the month of September is called the Fruit Moon. Observers in Asia will get to see all of a partial lunar eclipse that night, and observers in Africa, Australia and Europe will see part of the eclipse. Unfortunately North and South America will not see any of the eclipse.
Jupiter is still visible in the southwest at sunset and is setting at about 10:35 p.m. this week. Mercury and Mars are very low in the west when the sun sets. Saturn is rising in the morning at 5 a.m. Venus is rising just after 6 a.m. and will soon be totally lost in the glare of the sun. It will eventually re-emerge in the evening skies near the end of the year.
The space shuttle Atlantis is due to launch this week on a mission to the International Space Station. Stay tuned to www.nasa.gov for more information on the mission and launch schedule.
Public viewing at the 16 inch reflector on top of Robert Lee Moore hall resumes this Wednesday at 8 p.m. RLM is located on the southeast corner of Dean Keeton and Speedway. Take the elevator to the 17th floor and follow the signs to the telescope.
The schedule for the Painter Hall weekend viewing is still under development. Please check the main Department of Astronomy website for links to the current information. The address is www.as.utexas.edu
Please note that there will be no public viewing at the Painter Hall telescope on Saturday nights when the UT football team has a home game starting after 5 p.m. The game on Saturday September 9th is scheduled to start at 7 p.m., so the telescope will not be open that night.
All events are free and open to all ages and no reservations are required. Note that viewing times and availability change throughout the year. Observing events are weather permitting. Please call 232-4265 for weather cancellation information, which is updated 30 to 60 minutes before viewing start time on nights when public viewing is cancelled.
Thank you for calling the University of Texas Skywatchers' Report.
