In the Sky This Week – May 22, 2018
Jupiter has almost left the morning sky; Mars and Saturn are slowly making their way southward. I was a bit surprised to catch a flyover of the International Space Station when I copied this image from Stellarium!
International Space Station in the southern sky at 5:00 AM, May 22, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Jupiter is in the southeastern sky after sunset, and is a great observing target.
Jupiter in the southeastern sky at 10:00 PM, May 22, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon
The Moon from May 22-28, 2018. Visualizations by Ernie Wright
The Moon is at first quarter on the 22nd, and then a waxing gibbous until full on the 29th. This whole week will be great for observing the moon through telescopes. The Moon is in the southwestern sky after sunset for the next few days.
Moon in the southwestern sky at 10:00 PM, May 22, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Sun
We have a spot! Active Region (AR) 2710 is rotating into view on the Sun - it's so small it may be difficult to see through telescopes for a few days.
A small sunspot on the Sun, May 22, 2018. Credit: NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.
AR2710 has a lot of coronal loop activity above it (left side of video), and coronal holes remain at both poles. Surprisingly, there are no Earthward facing coronal holes along the equator this week.
The solar wind speed is 309.5 km/sec, with a density of 13.4 protons/cm3. SpaceWeather.com says: "NOAA forecasters say there is a 40% chance of minor geomagnetic storms on May 23rd when a stream of solar wind grazes Earth's magnetic field. The gaseous material is flowing from a northern hole in the sun's atmosphere. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras. Indeed, in Antarctica the light show has already begun."
Yesterday at my wife's school, I gave my lecture about the Sun, and set up my solar telescope. I was able to show 2 science classes a prominence on the limb Sun. Unfortunately it clouded over, and I was unable to show a 3rd class.... Michigan...
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.
Asteroids
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2018 KS |
2018-May-22
|
2.1 LD
|
7.7
|
9
|
| 2018 JK |
2018-May-22
|
16.3 LD
|
12.5
|
81
|
| 2018 JG2 |
2018-May-25
|
18.5 LD
|
6.9
|
62
|
| 2018 JK3 |
2018-May-27
|
19.6 LD
|
21.7
|
173
|
| 2018 KR |
2018-May-28
|
15.7 LD
|
4
|
18
|
| 68347 |
2018-May-29
|
9.5 LD
|
13.3
|
389
|
| 2013 LE7 |
2018-May-31
|
17.8 LD
|
1.7
|
12
|
| 2018 KE1 |
2018-Jun-01
|
10.8 LD
|
16.2
|
31
|
| 2018 EJ4 |
2018-Jun-10
|
5.6 LD
|
6.2
|
195
|
| 2015 DP155 |
2018-Jun-11
|
9 LD
|
4.4
|
170
|
| 2017 YE5 |
2018-Jun-21
|
15.6 LD
|
15.5
|
513
|
| 467309 |
2018-Jun-23
|
17.9 LD
|
14
|
355
|
| 441987 |
2018-Jun-24
|
7.3 LD
|
12.6
|
178
|
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: 84, this year: 718, all time: 18271.
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1907 (as of May 22, 2018)
Minor Planets discovered: 774,880 (as of May 22, 2018)
Fireballs
On May 21, 2018, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 7 fireballs.
In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point--Earth. Source: Spaceweather.com
The Solar System
This is the position of the planets in the inner solar system:
Position of the planets in the inner solar system, May. 22, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets in the inner solar system - alternate view, May. 22, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Space Missions
InSight and the MarCO A&B CubeSats continue to pull away from Earth on their journey to Mars.
Position of the MarCo A&B CubeSats and Mars InSight, May. 22, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Juno is heading in towards another perijove at Jupiter.
Position of the Juno spacecraft orbiting Jupiter, May. 22, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Juno will pass close to Jupiter (perijove) on May 24th.
Jumo spacecraft at perijove 13, May. 24, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Dawn continues it mission orbiting Ceres in the main asteroid belt.
Position of the Dawn Spacecraft, May 22, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
The trajectory of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) spacecraft was altered by an encounter with the Earth's Moon.
Position of the TESS Spacecraft, May 22, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
The OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission continues to close in on asteroid 101955 Bennu.
OSIRIS REx on the way to asteroid 101955 Bennu, May. 22, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Exoplanets
Confirmed Exoplanets: 3,726 (5/10/2018)
Multi-Planet Systems: 613 (5/10/2018)
Kepler Candidate Exoplanets: 4,496 (8/31/2017)
TESS Candidate Exoplanets: 0
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
Apps used for this post:
Stellarium: a free open source planetarium app for PC/MAC/Linux. It's a great tool for planning observing sessions.
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.