In the Sky This Week – June 11, 2019
A dimming Mars, and a bright Mercury appear low in the west-northwestern sky at dusk.
A dim Mars and a bright Mercury in the west-northwestern sky just before sunset on June 11th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon appears near the star Spica on June 15th and 16th.
The Moon appears near Jupiter and the star Antares on June 15th and 16th.
Saturn, Jupiter and the star Antares appear in the southern sky before dawn. Jupiter, currently at opposition, rises in the southeast with the sunset. Saturn rises in the southeast around 11:20 PM.
Saturn, Jupiter and the star Antares in the southern predawn sky on June 11th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Venus is very low on the horizon just before sunrise all week.
Venus low in the east-northeastern sky just before sunrise on June 11th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Summer Triangle
The Summer Triangle is an astronomical asterism in the northern celestial hemisphere. The defining vertices of this imaginary triangle are at Altair, Deneb, and Vega, each of which is the brightest star of its constellation (Aquila, Cygnus, and Lyra, respectively).
The term was popularized by American author H. A. Rey and British astronomer Patrick Moore in the 1950s. The name can be found in constellation guidebooks as far back as 1913.
Summer Triangle over the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope - see if you can spot it through all the stars! Credit: Jim Scotti.
There is a very detailed article about the Summer Triangle at Sky and Telescope.
The Moon is a waxing gibbous, just past first quarter - it will be visible to the southeast in early evening, and up for most of the night.
The full Moon occurs on June 17th, rising with the sunset, visible high in the sky around midnight, and visible all night.
The Moon from June 11-17, 2019. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.
Moon News
I will not be posting ANY Moon news this week...
The Sun has been spot-free for 23 days. The "something with a lot of coronal loop activity" that rotated into view last week is still there, and will soon be rotating out of view. Coronal holes remain open at both poles - a long tendril stretching from north polar region towards the equator:
SpaceWeather.com says: "A stealthy CME might hit Earth's magnetic field on June 12th. Four days ago a magnetic filament on the sun exploded. No CME was observed leaving the blast site, but NOAA forecasters think it might exist anyway--a faint storm cloud moving slowly across the sun-Earth divide. If the CME does exist, its impact could spark minor geomagnetic storms and high-latitude auroras on Wednesday"
The solar wind speed is 315.2 km/sec (↓), with a density of 4.7 protons/cm3 (↓).
Animated LASCO C2 Coronograph showing the solar corona above the Sun's limb (the white circle). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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.
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2019 KG3 |
2019-Jun-11
|
16.3 LD
|
6.8
|
26
|
| 2019 LB |
2019-Jun-12
|
9.1 LD
|
6.1
|
32
|
| 2013 YA14 |
2019-Jun-14
|
14.7 LD
|
11.1
|
65
|
| 2019 KJ |
2019-Jun-14
|
12.6 LD
|
8.1
|
68
|
| 2019 LU |
2019-Jun-16
|
4.1 LD
|
8
|
35
|
| 2019 LR |
2019-Jun-16
|
18.3 LD
|
15
|
34
|
| 441987 |
2019-Jun-24
|
7.7 LD
|
12.6
|
178
|
| 2008 KV2 |
2019-Jun-27
|
17.8 LD
|
11.4
|
195
|
| 2016 NN15 |
2019-Jun-28
|
9.6 LD
|
8.4
|
16
|
| 2015 XC352 |
2019-Jul-01
|
11.9 LD
|
4.1
|
26
|
| 2016 OF |
2019-Jul-07
|
12.8 LD
|
8.5
|
85
|
| 2016 NO56 |
2019-Jul-07
|
3.4 LD
|
12.2
|
26
|
| 2019 KD3 |
2019-Jul-12
|
15.5 LD
|
8
|
89
|
| 2016 NJ33 |
2019-Jul-12
|
15 LD
|
4.5
|
32
|
| 2015 HM10 |
2019-Jul-24
|
12.2 LD
|
9.5
|
68
|
| 2010 PK9 |
2019-Jul-26
|
8.2 LD
|
16.5
|
155
|
Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. Table from SpaceWeather.com
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1983 (last updated May 8, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 795,893 (+83)
Asteroid News
Asteroid 2006 QV89 will fly-by Earth on Sept. 8-9, 2019 with a 1/7000 chance of an impact - from The Evening Standard.
Asteroid 2006 QV89 - Sept. 8, 2019. Credit: JPL Small Body Database Browser.
On June 10, 2019, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 2 fireballs.
(2 sporadics)
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:
Bright fireball spotted over Brazil on June 7, 2019 https://t.co/xQUyeBu3sy pic.twitter.com/U9Rxykfrxs
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) June 8, 2019
Biggest Meteorite Impact in the UK Found Buried in Water and Rock https://t.co/pAqg87nvSG pic.twitter.com/VP0zf0ggia
— SPACE.com (@SPACEdotcom) June 10, 2019
This is the position of the planets and a couple bodies in the solar system:
Solar System News: Large Organic Molecules Found in Enceladus' Plumes!
A new analysis of data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft indicates the presence of large organic molecules on Enceladus, something not found on the moon before. https://t.co/w1rG35fKi9
— Astronomy Magazine (@AstronomyMag) June 7, 2019
Would You Like to Visit the ISS?
NASA will open up their part of the ISS to private astronauts - up to $22,500 a day, but you have to get there first - https://t.co/PoiqLLFyhg pic.twitter.com/5Ea13KXB6v
— Fraser Cain (@fcain) June 10, 2019
OSIRIS-REx
Sometimes the image speaks for itself ... pic.twitter.com/m3ZIUNcy8P
— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) June 6, 2019
Whether you're a crater fan or a boulder fan -- I got you. Sometimes you really can have your cake and eat it too.
We've seen this crater before, but not from this angle and not with the view of those stairstepping boulders behind it.https://t.co/ytBJ8xZror pic.twitter.com/rnGf1sbxeF
— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) June 5, 2019
Juno Looks into the Abyss!
Beautiful abyss: I captured this view of a dark-centered vortex on May 29, as I performed my 20th science flyby of #Jupiter. See details at https://t.co/FlnWfX0nXe pic.twitter.com/x2Kw8o7gKb
— NASA's Juno Mission (@NASAJuno) June 6, 2019
Looks like a 5-micron hot spot; a long-known Jupiter phenomenon which is a temporary hole in the cloud cover. Dark at visible wavelengths (a hole in upper clouds) but clear so warmth escapes from deeper layers (hence bright at infrared, which is 5 microns and beyond)
— Dr Heidi B. Hammel (@hbhammel) June 11, 2019
Landsat
Great idea, @CPOM_news & @UniversityLeeds polar scientist Dr Anna Hogg had the idea to name 7 areas of fast-flowing ice after the eyes in the sky that allow us to study them https://t.co/tutX6oX6V0 @esa_cryosat @CopernicusEU @NASAEarth @NASA_Landsat pic.twitter.com/KDNUOd7j2d
— Jim McQuaid (@jimmcquaid) June 8, 2019
Observing the oceans for 47 years #Landsat #EarthasArt #WorldOceansDay @USGS_EROS @NASA_Landsat https://t.co/ezPJgs31Pg pic.twitter.com/6Y0FxciMe9
— USGS Landsat Program (@USGSLandsat) June 8, 2019
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
Exoplanet News
A young, hot exoplanet observed for the first time using optical interferometry https://t.co/mRWpYhghlk by @BadAstronomer pic.twitter.com/r6iD1hJf5o
— Universe Today (@universetoday) June 7, 2019
Exoplanet Artwork by Bob Trembley
Hypothetical Exoplanet with a tidally-locked exomoon orbiting a red giant star in the Halo of M51. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
A Beautiful Pinwheel
The stunning NGC 2903 spiral galaxy, imaged by the NASA/ESA @HUBBLE_space Telescope. It shows off whirling, pinwheeling arms with scatterings of sparkling stars, glowing bursts of gas, and dark, weaving lanes of cosmic dust.
Read more: https://t.co/TdZsQQieA2 pic.twitter.com/svcZuk1yZO— ESA (@esa) June 10, 2019
Coronal Mass Ejection Detected on Another Star!
For the 1st time, we've detected a coronal mass ejection from a star other than our own! This event, located 450 light years from Earth, was marked by an intense flash of X-rays followed by the emission of a big bubble of plasma. 💥More on these phenomena: https://t.co/L1kULwOdVq pic.twitter.com/ft6S012aAa
— NASA (@NASA) June 9, 2019
SpaceEngine Has Been Released on Steam - TODAY!
We are ready for release! https://t.co/KEnY8PwdfG
— Vladimir Romanyuk (@SpaceEngineSim) June 10, 2019
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 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!
July 20, 2019 is the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon.
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