↓
 

In the Sky This Week – April 30, 2019

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on by
This entry is part 94 of 132 in the series In the Sky This Week

Mercury, Venus appear very low in the eastern sky just before sunrise - if seeing Mercury was a challenge last week, it will be even harder this week. The waning crescent Moon joins the two planets until May 3rd.

Saturn, Jupiter and the star Antares appear southern sky early in the morning. In this image, I have the light pollution set to high - this is typically what I can see from a close suburb to Detroit.

Southern sky

Saturn and Jupiter high in the southern sky on Apr. 30th - with light pollution levels are set high. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

This is the same patch of sky seen from a dark sky site.

The southern sky on Apr. 30th - with light pollution levels are set to none. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

Mars and the star Betelgeuse are low on the horizon after sunset; the winter constellations will soon be gone.

Western sky after sunset

Mars and the star Betelgeuse in the constellations Orion low in the western sky after sunset on May 6th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.


M-109 - "Vacuum Cleaner Galaxy"

M-109

M-109. Credit: Sloan Digital Sky Survey.

Messier 109 (also known as NGC 3992) is a barred spiral galaxy exhibiting a weak inner ring structure around the central bar approximately 83.5 ± 24 million light-years[3]away in the constellation Ursa Major. M109 can be seen southeast of the star Phecda (γ UMa). - Wikipedia

M-109

Amateur Image of Messier 109. Credit: Hewholooks / Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 3.0

Where did the name "Vacuum Cleaner Galaxy" come from? It's not official; Stellarium refers to M-109 with that name, so I searched for it - I found it mentioned in an archived comment section on M-109 on Wikipedia.

M-109

Location of M-109. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.


The Moon is a waning crescent, visible low to the east before sunrise.

The new Moon occurs on May 4th.

After May 4th, the Moon will be a waxing crescent, visible toward the southwest in early evening.

Moon

The Moon from Apr. 30-May 6, 2019. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.

Moon History


The Sun has been spot-free for 9 days; AR2738, if it still exists, it is on the other side of the Sun. Coronal holes are open at both poles, and a rather large coronal hole is in the middle of the Sun - just below the equator. SpaceWeather.com says: "A large hole in the sun's atmosphere is facing Earth and spewing a stream of solar wind in our direction. Estimated time of arrival: May 2nd. Minor geomagnetic storms are possible when the gaseous material arrives."

The eastern limb of the Sun has been hogging most of the prominences for the last few days.

The solar wind speed is 306.6 km/sec (↓), with a density of 5.9 protons/cm3 (↑).

SOHO LASCO C2 Latest Image

Animated LASCO C2 Coronograph showing the solar corona above the Sun's limb (the white circle). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

You can view the Sun in near real-time, in multiple frequencies here: SDO-The Sun Now.
You can create your own time-lapse movies of the Sun here: AIA/HMI Browse Data.
You can browse all the SDO images of the Sun from 2010 to the present here: Browse SDO archive.

Sun News


Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:

2019 HM3
2019-Apr-30
6.3 LD
5.2
15
2019 HO3
2019-May-01
13.8 LD
18.6
69
2019 HK
2019-May-01
12.8 LD
12.9
51
2019 HW3
2019-May-01
16 LD
8.6
37
2019 HP
2019-May-03
9.3 LD
5.7
26
2019 HV3
2019-May-04
12.4 LD
10.9
56
2018 KK1
2019-May-05
13.9 LD
13.9
71
2019 HQ3
2019-May-07
15.7 LD
12.7
28
2017 RC
2019-May-09
14.5 LD
10.6
9
2008 HS3
2019-May-09
14.6 LD
5.3
162
2018 VX8
2019-May-12
6.2 LD
15.5
118
2019 GT1
2019-May-17
6.1 LD
3.9
36
2012 KT12
2019-May-18
3.3 LD
3.9
20
2015 KQ18
2019-May-25
10.7 LD
13.1
30
66391
2019-May-25
13.5 LD
21.5
1780
2003 LH
2019-May-28
15.6 LD
7.4
32
2011 HP
2019-May-30
12.3 LD
8.4
135
2014 MF18
2019-Jun-06
8.8 LD
3
22
441987
2019-Jun-24
7.7 LD
12.6
178
2008 KV2
2019-Jun-27
17.8 LD
11.4
195

Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. Table from SpaceWeather.com

Near-Earth objects (NEOs) discovered this month: 148 (-1), this year: 692 (-1), all time: 20101 (+24)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1967 (last updated  Feb. 26, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 794,810  (+117)

Asteroid News



On Apr. 29, 2019, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 21 fireballs.
(19 sporadics, 2 eta Aquariids)

Fireball Orbits

In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point--Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue). From: Spaceweather.com

The Eta-Aquariid Meteor Shower is active

This is the position of the planets and a couple bodies in the solar system:

Read more on: 2018_VG18


Juno - Collaboration

OSIRIS-REx - Detailed Survey: Equatorial Stations Phase

Mars InSight - Winner of the Webby People's Voice Award

Climate - NASA Earth Observatory, 20 Years

Exoplanet

All Exoplanets 3946  (+2)
Confirmed Planets with Kepler Light Curves for Stellar Host 2350  (+1)
Confirmed Planets Discovered by Kepler 2342
Kepler Project Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed 2421
Confirmed Planets with K2 Light Curves for Stellar Host 393
Confirmed Planets Discovered by K2 360 
K2 Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed 535 
Confirmed Planets Discovered by TESS 11 (+1)
TESS Project Candidates 564  (+16)
TESS Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed 349  (+6)

Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive

Exoplanet News

Exoplanet Artwork by Bob Trembley

 

Apps used for this post:

NASA Eyes on the Solar System: an immersive 3D solar system and space mission simulator - free for the PC /MAC.
I maintain the unofficial NASA Eyes Facebook page.
Stellarium: a free open source planetarium app for PC/MAC/Linux. It's a great tool for planning observing sessions.
Universe Sandbox: a space simulator that merges real-time gravity, climate, collision, and material interactions to reveal the beauty of our universe and the fragility of our planet. Includes VR support.
Space Engine: a free 3D Universe Simulator for the PC. VR support coming soon!

Section header image credits:
The Sky - Stellarium/ Bob Trembley
Observing Target - Turn Left at Orion / M. Skirvin
The Moon - NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Sun - NASA/JPL-Caltech
Asteroids - NASA/JPL-Caltech
Fireballs - Credited to YouTube
Comets - Comet P/Halley, March 8, 1986, W. Liller
The Solar System - NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley
Spacecraft News - NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley
Exoplanets - Space Engine / Bob Trembley
The Universe - Universe Today

2018 is NASA's 60th Anniversary!

APOLLO 50th Anniversary

July 20, 2019 is the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon.

Series Navigation<< In the Sky This Week – April 23, 2019In the Sky This Week – May 8, 2019 – MARCON 54 Edition >>

Become a Member!

Like what you see here? Become a member to join in the conversation and read even more! The Sacred Space Astronomy site is made possible by contributions from patrons like yourself. Memberships help support this site and our public outreach efforts. Become a Member!

Subscribe to Sacred Space Astronomy via email - free!

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

 
Visit our Faith and Science Archive - a selection of hundreds of articles, videos, and audio files on the topic of Faith and Science, for the use of Catholic educators and Catholics seeking education, produced by members of the Vatican Observatory with the support of the Vatican Observatory Foundation.

Comments

In the Sky This Week – April 30, 2019 — No Comments

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

↑
Skip to toolbar