Welcome to the University of Texas Skywatchers Report for Monday December 1st through Sunday December 7th.

The moon is full on the evening of Thursday December 4th, so we’ll have a waxing gibbous moon for the first part of the week and a waning gibbous moon for the weekend. This full moon is known as the Long Night Moon and the Moon Before Yule.

Mars continues to slowly move towards the sun and its next solar conjunction early in January 2026. Mars is setting just 35 minutes after the sun this week.

Saturn is high in the south as the sky darkens after sunset and is setting at 1:15 a.m., so it is still visible for about half of the night.

Jupiter is rising at 8:25 p.m., about three hours after sunset. Look for Jupiter near the moon on Saturday and Sunday nights.

Mercury is at greatest elongation on Sunday morning when it will be rising at 5:35 a.m., over an hour and a half before the sun, so you might be able to catch it in the pre-dawn sky if you have a good view low to the east.

Venus is rising at 6:35 a.m., about 40 minutes before the sun.

In space anniversaries this week, Tuesday December 2nd marks 30 years since the launch of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, nicknamed SOHO, a European Space Agency spacecraft designed to study the sun at multiple wavelengths. SOHO continues to operate at the L1 Sun-Earth Lagrange point and in the course of doing its primary mission of solar observations it has also discovered over 5000 comets.

Public viewing at the Physics, Math, and Astronomy building is on Wednesday nights from 7 to 9 p.m. PMA 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 7 to 9 p.m. Painter Hall is located on 24th street about halfway between Speedway and Guadalupe and is northeast of the UT Tower. Take the elevator to the 5th floor then take the stairs up to the 6th floor and follow the signs up to the telescope.

This week will be the final week of public viewing on UT campus telescopes for 2025. Spring semester viewing will start in the second half of January 2026.

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 star party status information, which is updated 30 to 45 minutes before the scheduled viewing start times.

Thank you for calling the University of Texas Skywatchers Report.