Welcome to the University of Texas Skywatchers Report for Monday September 10th through Sunday September 16th.
The new moon for the month of September is late on the night of Saturday the 15th so we will have a waning crescent moon the early morning skies this week.
In the early evening skies, Saturn and Mars are low in the west and west-southwest. Saturn is setting at 9:25 p.m. and Mars follows at 10:05 p.m. Over in the east, Neptune rises at 6:35 p.m. so it is up high enough to look for with a telescope by nightfall. Uranus is rising at 8:15 p.m. and will be high in the east by 10:30 p.m.
Jupiter is now rising a little before midnight and is visible for the remainder of the night. Look for the red star Aldebaran in Taurus to Jupiter's right. Venus rises at 3:55 a.m. Look for a thin crescent moon to the right of Venus on Wednesday morning in the pre-dawn sky. Mercury is in superior conjunction with the sun so it will be passing behind the sun from the Earth's point of view. Mercury will be moving from our morning skies into the evening skies.
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. To get to the telescope, take the elevator to the 5th floor and exit to the left. Follow the 5th floor hallway to the end and take the staircase through the double doors on the left. Once you reach the 6th floor, go to your right and follow the signs up to the telescope. Please note that there will be no Painter Telescope viewing on Saturday evenings when the UT football team has a night home game. To check the football schedule, logon to mackbrown-texasfootball.com.
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 the scheduled viewing start time when a viewing is cancelled.
Thank you for calling the University of Texas Skywatchers Report.
