Welcome to the University of Texas Skywatchers Report for Monday October 22nd through Sunday October 28th.
The first quarter moon for October was late Sunday night and the moon will reach full on Monday the 29th, so we will have a waxing gibbous moon in our evening skies for all of this week.
Saturn is in conjunction with the sun on Thursday the 25th and it will move from the evening skies into the morning skies. Mercury is low in the west-southwest this week and is setting about an hour after the sun. Mercury will be at its greatest elongation east on Friday.
Mars is in the southwest and is above the star Antares in the constellation Scorpius this week. Mars is setting at 9:00 p.m. at midweek. Just a few minutes after Mars sets in the west, Jupiter is rising in the east-northeast and is visible for the rest of the night. Venus is rising a little before 5 a.m. and is up in the east in the early morning twilight.
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.
