Welcome to the University of Texas Skywatchers Report for Monday September 9th through Sunday September 15th.
The full moon for the month of September occurs late on Friday night into Saturday morning, so we'll have a waxing gibbous moon for the workweek and a waning gibbous moon this weekend. This full moon is known as the Fruit Moon and the Corn Moon, and since it is the full moon closest to the northern hemisphere Autumnal Equinox, this full moon is also known as the Harvest Moon.
Three of the five planets usually visible to the unaided eye are clustered around the sun and are lost in the sun's glare. If you want to see Mercury, Venus, and Mars, you'll have to go to the website for the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory and look at the wide coronagraph images which look for coronal mass ejections and see other objects within a few degrees of the sun.
Jupiter is up in the south-southwest at nightfall and is setting at 12:15 a.m. at midweek. Further to the east, Saturn is up in the south as the sky darkens after sunset and is setting at 2:15 a.m.
As we head into the fall, this is a good time to try to spot Uranus and Neptune if you have binoculars or a small telescope. Neptune is at opposition on Tuesday the 10th so it will rise at sunset and will be visible all night. At magnitude 7.8 you'll need a small telescope and a finder chart to spot the small blue dot. Uranus is a little bigger and brighter, so you might be able to find it with binoculars. Uranus is rising at 9:45 p.m. this week and will be at opposition in late October.
Public viewing at the 16-inch reflector on top of Robert Lee Moore Hall is on Wednesday nights currently from 8 to 10 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.
Public viewing at the 9-inch refractor at Painter Hall is on Friday and Saturday nights from currently 8 to 10 p.m. Painter Hall is located on 24th street about halfway between Speedway and Guadalupe and is northeast of the UT Tower. Please note that there will be no Painter Telescope viewing on Saturday evenings when the UT football team has a night home game. Logon to TexasSports.com to check the football schedule.
All events are free and open to all ages and no reservations are required. Note that viewing times and availability change throughout the year so please check the schedule before planning a visit. Observing events are weather permitting. Please call 512-232-4265 for weather cancellation information, which is updated 30 to 45 minutes before the scheduled viewing start time.
Thank you for calling the University of Texas Skywatchers Report.
