Saturn and Jupiter continue to be excellent observing targets in the southern sky after sunset; this last weekend. The Warren Astronomical Society hosted a boatload of girl and boy scouts at their Stargate Observatory this last weekend - I was with the girl scouts before dusk showing them a virtual reality fly-over of Saturn, another member was talking to the girls about meteorites.

Saturn and Jupiter in the southwestern sky after sunset on Oct. 22, 2019 - the teapot asterism in the constellation Sagittarius is highlighted. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley

Mars appears low in the eastern sky just before sunrise.

The planet Mars low on the eastern horizon before dawn. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley

The Moon passes through the constellations Cancer and Leo in the mornings of Oct. 22-24^th.

The Moon passing through the constellations Cancer and Leo from Oct. 22-24, 2019. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley

A very VERY thin waning crescent Moon appears near to Mars above the eastern horizon before dawn on Oct. 26^th.

A very thin waning crescent Moon near(ish) Mars above the eastern horizon before dawn on Oct. 26th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley

Venus and Mercury appear very close to each other in the southwestern sky at dusk on Oct. 22^nd - if you use binoculars, and get Venus in your right field-of-view, Mercury will be in your left. Observing this may be a challenge if you have anything obscuring your view of the horizon.

Venus and Mercury appear very near each other before sunset on Oct. 22nd. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley

The constellations Cygnus and Lyra are directly overhead after sunset this week.

Constellation lines for Cygnus and Lyra. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley

Cygnus (the swan) is occasionally referred to as the "northern cross," and Lyra (the lyre) is host to M57 - the Ring Nebula, this weeks observing target.

Western artwork for the constellations Cygnus and Lyra. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley

M57 - The Ring Nebula

The Ring Nebula (also catalogued as Messier 57, M57 or NGC 6720) is a planetary nebula in the northern constellation of Lyra. Such objects are formed when a shell of ionized gas is expelled into the surrounding interstellar medium by a star at in the last stages of its evolution before becoming a white dwarf.

M57 is an example of the class of planetary nebulae known as bipolar nebulae, whose thick equatorial rings visibly extend the structure through its main axis of symmetry. It appears to be a prolate spheroid with strong concentrations of material along its equator. From Earth, the symmetrical axis is viewed at about 30°. Overall, the observed nebulosity has been currently estimated to be expanding for approximately 1,610 ± 240 years.- Wikipedia

M57, The Ring Nebula in Lyra. Image Credit: NASA/Hubble Heritage

Here's the location of the Ring Nebula in Lyra - I've found it fairly easily with my 8" Dobsonian telescope by just scanning around the middle area between the two stars in Lyra.

Constellation Lyra with the location of M57 highlighted. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley

Here's the Ring Nebula seen in multiple frequencies:

In this composite image, visible-light observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope are combined with infrared data from the ground-based Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona to assemble a dramatic view of the well-known Ring Nebula. Credit: NASA, ESA, C.R. O'Dell (Vanderbilt University), and D. Thompson (Large Binocular Telescope Observatory)

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

The new Moon occurs on Oct. 28^th.

The Moon from Oct. 22-28, 2019. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.

The sun has not had a spot for 19 days; the northern coronal hole remains huge, the southern hole has diminished and appears almost closed. There is a large and almost cross-shaped coronal hole in the middle of the Sun's face.

Sun in 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) Oct. 22, 2019. Image courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.

Again there have been some impressive prominences on the Sun's limb over the last couple days.

The solar wind speed is 357.4 km/sec (↓), with a density of 3.1 protons/cm³ (↑) at 1539 UT.

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

Sun News

Today marks 11 years in space for our IBEX mission, which maps our solar system’s boundary to interstellar space! 🎉 A new mission IMAP will launch in 2024 to continue the work IBEX began years ago: understanding this boundary that shields and protects us https://t.co/b3VgGyDvUG

— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) October 19, 2019

Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:

Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. Red highlighted entries are asteroids that either pass very close, or very large with high relative velocities to the Earth. Table from SpaceWeather.com

Asteroid News

One step closer to launch 🚀Our upcoming Lucy mission has passed a major milestone, and the team is now ready to begin building hardware. Lucy will be the first space mission to study the Trojan asteroids, which orbit the Sun at the distance of Jupiter: https://t.co/R0w5joddoW pic.twitter.com/Gr7igbOHvF

— NASA Solar System (@NASASolarSystem) October 21, 2019

On Oct. 21, 2019, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 44 fireballs.
(21 sporadics, 19 Orionids, 2 epsilon Geminids, 1 southern Taurid, 1 Leonis Minorid)

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 News - Orinid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight

The Orionid Meteor Shower peaks tonight. We will be LIVE streaming the shower from 3 of our All Sky stations starting at sun set local time.

Hawley TX :https://t.co/BCmsHYr4CL

Prescott AZ:https://t.co/4QD1YKEXrr

El Cajon, CAhttps://t.co/INDxtpsOfO

— AMSMETEORS (@amsmeteors) October 21, 2019

Comet C/2019 Q4

#2IBorisov is a severely C2-depleted interstellar comet, from WHT & INT spectra Sep 30 & Oct 13. CN production and dust coma colours are consistent through time. Starting to limit how far from its origin star 2I formed...
Opitom et al, A&A Letters sub'd https://t.co/RsnkKtqAcO pic.twitter.com/eTLhfCuN6H

— Michele Bannister (@astrokiwi) October 22, 2019

Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system:

Position of the planets and some spacecraft in the inner solar system, Oct. 22 2019 - the orbit of asteroid 101955 Bennu is highlighted. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.

Position of the planets and a couple bodies in the middle solar system:

Position of the planets in the middle solar system, Oct. 22, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley

Position of the planets and a several bodies in the outer solar system:

Position of the planets in the outer solar system, Oct. 22, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley

Orbit of asteroid (and possible dwarf planet) 28978 Ixion:

Orbit of 28978 Ixion (red). Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley

28978 Ixion (/ɪkˈsaɪ.ən/ ik-SY-ən), provisional designation 2001 KX₇₆, is a plutino (an object that has a 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune). Brown and Tancredi calculate that it is very likely to be a dwarf planet, although the IAU has not officially classified it as such. It was discovered on May 22, 2001 by the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. It is named after Ixion, a figure from Greek mythology.

Analysis of the lightcurve's brightness variation shows only small deviations, which suggests that Ixion is a spheroid with small albedo spots and hence a dwarf planet. It has a diameter of approximately 650 km, making it about the fifth-largest plutino. It is moderately red in visible light and has a surface made of a mixture of tholin and water ice.  -Wikipedia

NASA's Interactive Real-Time Web-based Orrery:

Solar System News

HiRISE Views NASA’s InSight and Curiosity on Mars https://t.co/3OeZXhaOVU

— ✨The Solar System✨ (@The_SolarSystem) October 19, 2019

OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission

This image shows a variety of rocks with different textures and sizes located near Bennu’s equator. It was taken on August 5, from 0.4 miles (0.6 km) away. The longest axis of the bright boulder in the upper right is 11 ft (3.3 m), about the size of a patio umbrella.

holy rock-a-mole.

image details: https://t.co/ciRmzQmd3T pic.twitter.com/X3kUudrReQ

— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) October 21, 2019

NASA InSight Mars Lander

The mole is digging deeper into #Mars thanks to the tremendous efforts by my team. Unofficial depth is ~38 cm down in the ground, almost the length of the mole (40 cm). This may be the last time we see the mole, more drilling later this week. #SaveTheMole #DiggingMars pic.twitter.com/c1sZsGSLxj

— NASA InSight (@NASAInSight) October 21, 2019

Landsat

The Dewey Soper Bird Sanctuary in #Canada is marked by its diverse terrain and the large number of snow #geese that gather there. https://t.co/rT6TvmlfAG #NASA #Landsat pic.twitter.com/pDT4tkNnzZ

— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) October 12, 2019

Climate

Learn about the causes and effects of extreme weather – hurricanes, wildfires, drought, snowstorms and more – plus how @NASA studies them and students can, too, in our latest #TeachableMoment! https://t.co/BclLOl5Vr9@NASAClimate

— NASAJPL Edu (@NASAJPL_Edu) October 21, 2019

While a growing Greenland glacier may seem like good news, there’s no evidence it means global warming is slowing down. https://t.co/trfkp6AmLx

— NASA Climate (@NASAClimate) October 21, 2019

Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
* Confirmed Planets Discovered by TESS refers to the number planets that have been published in the refereed astronomical literature.
* TESS Project Candidates refers to the total number of transit-like events that appear to be astrophysical in origin, including false positives as identified by the TESS Project.
* TESS Project Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed refers to the number of TESS Project Candidates that have not yet been dispositioned as a Confirmed Planet or False Positive.

Exoplanet Artwork by Bob Trembley: TRAPPIST-1 f

You may remember the multiple-exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 system discovered a few years ago:

Artist's concept shows what the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system may look like, based on available data about the planets' diameters, masses and distances from the host star. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

I visited TRAPPIST-1 in SpaceEngine and flew-around it looking for a photogenic planet. After finding one, I time-accelerated until the inner planets appeared on the same side of the star.

NGC 4380: A Grand Spiral

The galaxy NGC 4380 looks like a special effect straight out of a science fiction or fantasy film in this Hubble Picture of the Week, swirling like a gaping portal to another dimension. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, P. Erwin

I found this image from this tweet:

This NASA/ESA @HUBBLE_space Telescope image of galaxy NGC 4380 looks like it's straight out of a #SciFi film. But, in the grand scheme of things, it's actually quite ordinary. Spiral galaxies are the most common type of #galaxy in the #Universe 👉 https://t.co/ChJZl79Vdi pic.twitter.com/gaqVswlkzi

— ESA (@esa) October 14, 2019

Kerbal Space Program v1.8 Released

Kerbal Space Program 1.8: "Moar Boosters!!!" is here! A few features included in this update are improvements to game performance, celestial body revamps and of course new solid rocket boosters to the VAB!
🚀Read more details here: https://t.co/W0oiW1EYj0 pic.twitter.com/h14jOaMcAY

— Kerbal Space Program (@KerbalSpaceP) October 16, 2019

I've been waiting for weeks for this update to be released - the upgrade to the underlying graphics engine has made KSP a LOT faster! As with all major KSP updates, most mods were broken, and a new career-mode game needed to be started - here's my first (manually-landed) crewed Moon (Mun) lander:

First manual Mun landing in a new @KerbalSpaceP v1.8 career-mode game.

Streaming on: https://t.co/AWLEN3TVqk pic.twitter.com/Tf6rAxzJ0y

— AstroBalrog (@AstroBalrog) October 20, 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. A web-based version of Stellarium is also available.
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

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