On Sunday the 4th, my wife and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary. It was a beautiful day; we walked around the Armada (Mi) Flea Market, drove around looking at houses for sale at several locations, and then took a long drive up Michigan's east cost. We were driving through Lexington, which was having a street art show, so we stopped to have lunch and browse the art. Last week, my daughter Amanda and son-in-law Sam Festian (finally) announced publicly that they were going to have a baby! I've known for weeks, but waited for them to tell everyone first. *MY* first baby picture wasn't a grainy ultrasound showing my wittle footsies...

It's "Conjunction Week" as the Moon goes from waxing crescent, to first quarter, to waxing gibbous all week in the south-southwestern sky. The Moon passes close to Jupiter and Saturn during several evenings; the next several days should be great for sidewalk astronomy!

Conjunctions of Saturn, Jupiter and the Moon in the south-southwestern sky after sunset from Aug. 6-12. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

Mercury is at its highest in the eastern predawn sky on August 10 & 11^th.

Mercury in the eastern predawn sky on Aug. 10, 2019 - Mercury's orbit is shown in red. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

M63 - The Sunflower Galaxy

Sunflower Galaxy (Messier 63). Image: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona

Messier 63 or M63, also known as NGC 5055 or the seldom-used Sunflower Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy in the northern constellation of Canes Venatici. M63 was first discovered by the French astronomer Pierre Méchain then later verified by his colleague Charles Messier on June 14, 1779. The galaxy became listed as object 63 in the Messier Catalogue. In the mid-19th century, Anglo-Irish astronomer Lord Rosse identified spiral structures within the galaxy, making this one of the first galaxies in which such structure was identified.

This galaxy has a morphological classification of SAbc, indicating a spiral shape with no central bar feature and moderate to loosely wound arms. There is a general lack of large scale continuous spiral structure in visible light, a galaxy form known as flocculent. However, when observed in the near infrared a symmetric, two-arm structure becomes apparent. Each arm wraps 150° around the galaxy and extends out to 13 kly (4 kpc) from the nucleus.

M63 is an active galaxy with a LINER nucleus. This displays as an unresolved nuclear source wrapped in a diffuse emission. The latter is extended along a position angle of 110° and soft X-rays and H-alpha emission can be observed coming from along nearly the same direction. The existence of a super massive black hole (SMBH) at the nucleus is uncertain; if it does exist, then the mass is estimated as (8.5±1.9)×10⁸ M_☉. - Wikipedia

Location of M63. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

Hubble Space Telescope close-up of M63: (WOW! I think I need to make a poster of this - it's beautiful!)

Messier 63. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

The Moon is a waxing crescent, visible toward the southwest in early evening.

The first quarter Moon occurs on August 7^th, it will be visible high in the southern sky in early evening.

After August 7^th, the Moon will be a waxing gibbous, visible to the southeast in early evening, up for most of the night.

The Moon from Aug. 6-12, 2019. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.

Moon News

A new analysis of data from our Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and our MESSENGER spacecraft indicate that the Moon & Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, may contain significantly more water ice than previously thought! 🥤https://t.co/cpckVdzUW1 pic.twitter.com/BWTdRL5MnO

— NASA Moon (@NASAMoon) August 2, 2019

48 years ago #OTD, #Apollo15 landed in Hadley Rille on the Moon. At the time, we didn’t know what created the river-like channel. Thanks to collected samples, we learned those features were volcanic🌋https://t.co/53hL5nbrV1

The astronauts' paths are imposed on the image. 👨‍🚀 pic.twitter.com/9slOKgaIcy

— NASA Moon (@NASAMoon) July 30, 2019

SpaceEngine on Steam Update - Includes Hi-Rez Moon Textures and Apollo Landing Sites with Closeup Textures

When I saw this 11 gig monster update on Steam, well you KNOW I had to go play with it! It's pretty cool to be able to land on the rim of Tycho crater, and look across it! The Apollo landing sites are pretty neat too! The update also includes some asteroids named after science fiction authors; I emailed the author and asked about adding asteroids named after Jesuits and my wife.

Announcement on SpaceEngine blog

The Sun has a small spot - you can see AR 2745 develop south of the equator in the videos below. The Sun's northern coronal hole is simply gargantuan, and it has a large friend on the equator. SpaceWeather.com says "Solar wind is currently blowing around Earth faster than 700 km/s (1.6 million mph)--the highest speeds observed so far in 2019. This solar wind storm could spark auroras at high latitudes on the night of August 5th and 6th. Sky watchers in Canada and northern-tier US states should be alert for Northern Lights, especially during the hours around local midnight."

Light prominence activity over the last couple days; there were a couple large prominences, but they were relatively short-lived.

The solar wind speed is 651.1 km/sec (↑), with a density of 0.3 protons/cm³ (↓) at 1005 UT.

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

Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:

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

On Aug. 5, 2019, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 29 fireballs.
(14 sporadics, 12 Perseids, 3 Southern delta Aquariids)

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

Fireball & Meteor News:

We just received this video from Joseph G. from Lakeland, FL.
This event that occurred over Florida on 2019-07-18 (EDT):https://t.co/y47BUgvKpa

Don't forget to watch the sky from time to time if you don't wan't to miss one of these wonders! pic.twitter.com/TndL6w5gzw

— AMSMETEORS (@amsmeteors) August 5, 2019

Perseid Meteor Shower this Weekend!

2017 Geminid meteor. Credit: David Levy

• Best time to observe meteor showers is after midnight when the part of Earth you're standing on has rotated into the meteor stream - the shower "radiant point" will be above your horizon.
• Try to find a location with no light sources.
• Prepare for a cold fall night - bring sweat shirts, coats and blankets. Bring extras too!
• Bring camp chairs, and something to drink.
• Give your eyes about 30 minutes to adjust to the dark.
• NO WHITE FLASHLIGHTS OR CELL PHONE LIGHTS - Red lights ONLY!
• Sit back, relax, and look up! Try to take in as much of the sky as you can in your field of view.

Perseid Observing Guide on Space.com

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

OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission

NASA still needs your help.
73% of Bennu’s boulders have been mapped. Let’s get to 100% 👏

Start mapping here:https://t.co/fWswiQKZkf pic.twitter.com/SZuqTrUpT3

— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) August 2, 2019

Landsat - Earth as Art

Earth Selfie - just one of the many awe inspiring #EarthAsArt images #Landsat has captured over the years. Download them all here: https://t.co/EKesL6cG1P pic.twitter.com/G9ZG13KrF9

— USGS (@USGS) August 5, 2019

Climate

In July 2019, a major melting event spread across the Greenland Ice Sheet. Billions of tons of meltwater streamed into the Atlantic Ocean throughout the month, making a direct and immediate contribution to sea level rise. https://t.co/s5qQn1u01N #Greenland #NASA #Landsat pic.twitter.com/KGhUlHm0YC

— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) August 4, 2019

Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive

Exoplanet Artwork by Bob Trembley

Red Dwarf sunrise on exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 e. Planets orbiting the star TRAPPIST-1 are very likely tidally-locked - if that is the case, the sunrise on the horizon would not change.

Perpetual sunrise on TRAPPIST-1 e. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley

Hubble Pic: NGC 3432

NGC 3432. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Filippenko, R. Jansen

Believe it or not, this long, luminous streak, speckled with bright blisters and pockets of material, is a spiral galaxy like our Milky Way. But how could that be?

It turns out that we see this galaxy, named NGC 3432, oriented directly edge-on to us from our vantage point here on Earth. The galaxy’s spiral arms and bright core are hidden, and we instead see the thin strip of its very outer reaches. Dark bands of cosmic dust, patches of varying brightness and pink regions of star formation help with making out the true shape of NGC 3432 — but it’s still somewhat of a challenge! Because observatories such as the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have seen spiral galaxies at every kind of orientation, astronomers can tell when we happen to have caught one from the side.

The galaxy is located in the constellation of Leo Minor (the Lesser Lion). Other telescopes that have had NGC 3432 in their sights include those of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) and the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS). - ESA (European Space Agency)

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.
SpaceEngine: a free 3D Universe Simulator for Windows. Steam version with VR support available.

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

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