Welcome to the University of Texas Skywatchers Report for Monday October 20th through Sunday October 26th.

The new moon for the month of October is on Tuesday the 21st and then we’ll have a waxing crescent moon in the early evening skies for the remainder of the week.

Mercury and Mars are a couple of degrees apart low in the west-southwest shortly after sunset and will be joined by a very thin crescent moon on Thursday evening. The pair of planets will set at 7:55 p.m. at midweek.

Saturn is up in the southeast as the sky darkens after sunset and is setting at 5:05 a.m.

Jupiter is rising at 12:15 a.m. and is visible for the remainder of the night.

Venus is rising at 6:15 a.m., about an hour and 20 minutes before the Sun.

Observers may have a chance to see two comets in the west soon after sunset this week, although keep in mind that the brightness of comets is notoriously hard to predict, so you will likely need binoculars to see one or both of them. Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) will be in the constellation Boötes and Comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN) will be between the constellations Capricornus and Aquila. Finder charts can be found at timeanddate.com

In space anniversaries this week, the Soviet Venera 9 mission entered orbit around Venus 50 years ago on Monday and its lander touched down two days later, returning the first pictures from the surface of another planet. Venera 10 entered orbit a few days after its twin Venera 9 and its lander touched down on October 25. Both landers only operated for a couple of days because of the extreme conditions on the Venusian surface and contact was lost with both orbiters in 1976.

Public viewing at the Physics, Math, and Astronomy building is on Wednesday nights currently from 8 to 10 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 currently from 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. Take the elevator to the 5th floor then take the stairs up to the 6th floor and follow the signs up to the telescope.

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.