texas

skywatchers report


Welcome to the University of Texas Skywatchers' Report for October 14th through the 20th.

The moon will be expanding towards full this week, although it will not actually reach the full phase until Monday the 21st.

On Tuesday the 15th, the moon will be 4 degrees below the planet Uranus, which will give you a good signpost to finding the 7th planet. Even a fairly large amateur telescope won't reveal much more than a small bluish-green disk. Uranus is currently about 1.8 billion miles away from the Earth.

Last week NASA added over 18,000 images to the online Mars Global Surveyor gallery bringing the total of Global Surveyor archived images to over 100,000. The images can be found though the Malin Space Science Systems homepage at www.msss.com

The telescope at Robert Lee Moore hall is open to the public on Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. The building 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 telescope at Painter hall is open on Fridays for UT students, faculty and staff from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. and Saturdays are open to the general public from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. Painter Hall is located on 24th street about half way between Speedway and Guadalupe.

All events are free and open to all ages and no reservations are required. Observing events are weather permitting.

Please note that star party times change throughout the year. Please call this recording to check times before planning a visit to the telescope