Welcome to the University of Texas Skywatchers Report for Monday September 16th through Sunday September 22nd.
The moon is at last quarter on Saturday night, so we'll have a waning gibbous moon for most of the week and begin the waning crescent phase as the weekend ends.
Mercury and Venus are slowly pulling away from the sun after their conjunctions, but both are still setting only about half an hour after the sun this week.
Jupiter is up in the south-southwest at nightfall and is setting at 11:45 p.m. at midweek. Jupiter won't reach conjunction until the end of the year, so there is still time to catch it in the evenings before it gets lost in the sun's glare.
Saturn is high in the south at sunset and is setting at 1:45 a.m. at midweek.
Mars is still emerging from conjunction in the morning skies and it lost in the sun's glare.
In space anniversaries this week, 50 years ago on September 17, one of the moon rocks brought to Earth by the Apollo 11 mission went on public display at the Smithsonian. This was the first of many moon rocks to go on public display and you can even see one here in Austin at the LBJ Presidential Library on the UT campus.
This Sunday, September 22, the Texas Memorial Museum will hold an Identification Day from 1 to 5 p.m. Experts will be on hand to identify natural objects such as fossils and rocks. More information is available at tmm.utexas.edu
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. This Saturday's game starts at 6:30 p.m. so there will be no Painter Hall viewing on the 21st.
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.
