In the Sky This Week – June 25, 2019
The Moon appears in the eastern early morning sky all week.
Animation of the Moon in the eastern predawn sky from June 26-30, 2019. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Venus appears very low in the east-northeastern sky just before sunrise all week; a very thin waning crescent Moon joins Venus on the morning of July 1st.
Venus appears very low near the east-northeastern sky just before sunrise; on July 1st, the Moon appears near Venus. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Saturn rises shortly after sunset; Jupiter, high in the southern sky, made an exceptional observing target this last weekend at the Warren Astronomical Society's Star Party and Open House - free to the public every 4th Saturday of the month!
Saturn just rising, and Jupiter high in the southeastern sky at 11:05 PM on June 25th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Early in the morning, Saturn and Jupiter are both high in the southern sky - perfect observing targets!
Saturn and Jupiter high in the southern sky at 1:00 AM on June 26th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Mercury and Mars might be a wee bit of a challenge to see low in the west-northwestern sky at dusk all week.
Mercury and Mars might be hard targets to see in the west-northwestern sky just before sunset all week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Jupiter's Moons
After clearly seeing Jupiter's cloud bands and moons in a very small telescope - and through the very large telescope in the Warren Astronomical Society's Stargate Observatory this last weekend, I just could not choose a different target! Go see Jupiter! Show your neighbors!
Jupiter at 11:00 PM on June 25, 2019. Moons: G=Ganymede, I=Io, e=Europa, C=Callisto. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Here's a pic I took of Jupiter in 2012:
Jupiter in a small telescope. Credit: Bob Trembley, Jan. 10, 2012 - 8" Dobsonian
The Moon is at last quarter on June 25th - rising around midnight, visible to the south after sunrise.
After June 25th, the Moon will be a waning crescent - visible low to the east before sunrise.
The new Moon occurs on July 2nd.
The Moon from June 25-July 1, 2019. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.
Moon News - #Apollo50th Anniversary Approaches!
We’re 26 days away from our #Apollo50th anniversary, when humans walked on another world for the first time in history! As we move forward to send the first woman and the next man to the Moon in five years, take a look back at our historic legacy: https://t.co/0FisxPhb50 pic.twitter.com/XuaFBz3sUH
— NASA (@NASA) June 24, 2019
This following video is a recreation of the flight of Apollo 11 using Kerbal Space Program - with some actual command module audio, and music from the soundtrack of the Apollo 13 movie - pretty cool! What I find impressive is the author's use of RCS thrusters and ullage motors; the author also includes a few moments of video showing how the spacecraft's orbit changes while under thrust.
XKCD's Orbital Mechanics Comic
Speaking of orbital mechanics, XKCD created this comic about KSP. *I* didn't study anything even remotely like orbital mechanics in high school or college... I also didn't have the luxury of having a job at NASA, but I sure remember the first time I saw my trajectory change from sub-orbital to orbital in KSP and saying "Oh! THAT's how that works!" Then saying that again when I preformed a Hohmann transfer to the Mun, and watching my perspective change as I entered into the Mun's Sphere of Influence (SOI). Then again when performing an interplanetary transfer, and entering into the SOI of the Sun.
Young students, even kids are playing this "game" and learning orbital mechanics! I'm... currently, *ahem* at 3386 hours in KSP...
And then there's the whole "Kerbal Space Program has RUINED several Science Fiction movies for me" - but that's a tale for another time!
There are 2 small spots on the Sun - they are members of old solar cycle 24 - I can barely make out AR2742, but they are both visible in the videos below by their coronal activity.
AR2742 and AR2743 on June 25, 2019. Images Courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams. Editing: Bob Trembley
Coronal holes continue to pepper the Sun's southern hemisphere; both poles have large coronal holes.
SpaceWeather.com says: "Earth's mesosphere is still unusually wet. The proof was in the skies of the USA on June 24th when noctilucent clouds appeared at record-low latitudes for the second time this month. Electric-blue waves rippled over Las Vegas, NV; Joshua Tree and Pollock Pines, CA; Salt Lake City, UT; and Albuquerque NM. The American display followed an equally extreme outburst over Europe on the night of the summer solstice. Noctilucent clouds aren't restricted to the Arctic anymore; everyone everywhere should be alert for the next display."
Light prominence on the Sun; if you look closely, you can spot some short-lived pillar prominences popping up and disappearing quickly.
The solar wind speed is 322.0 km/sec (↓), with a density of 4.3 protons/cm3 (↓).
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.
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 LC1 |
2019-Jun-19
|
19.2 LD
|
9.9
|
26
|
| 2019 LB2 |
2019-Jun-20
|
6.5 LD
|
3.4
|
15
|
| 2019 LM1 |
2019-Jun-23
|
9.8 LD
|
8.7
|
25
|
| 2019 LC5 |
2019-Jun-23
|
13.6 LD
|
11.1
|
42
|
| 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
|
| 2019 LR4 |
2019-Jun-29
|
11.3 LD
|
8.3
|
31
|
| 2019 LV1 |
2019-Jun-29
|
5.2 LD
|
6.2
|
27
|
| 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
|
| 2006 QQ23 |
2019-Aug-10
|
19.4 LD
|
4.7
|
339
|
| 454094 |
2019-Aug-12
|
17 LD
|
8.2
|
148
|
| 2018 PN22 |
2019-Aug-17
|
17.1 LD
|
2.3
|
11
|
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: 176 (-12?), this year: 1147 (-84?), all time: 20404 (+35)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1983 (last updated May 8, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 796,033 (+48)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1983 (last updated May 8, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 796,033 (+48)
5th Annual International Asteroid Day - June 30th
Watch the "Asteroids" trailer here! A short film created by the @UW that is part of #asteroidday We are just days away from our live broadcast! https://t.co/wwbGiy8nAr
— Asteroid Day ☄ (@AsteroidDay) June 25, 2019
I will be lecturing at the Cranbrook Institute of Science on June 29th as part of their AsteroidDay event.
On June 24, 2019, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 24 fireballs.
(23 sporadics, 1 Northern June Aquilid)
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:
Geostationary Lightning Mapper Satellite (GOES-16) sees 3-5 kT bolide explode near Puerto Rico!
This is the position of the planets and a couple bodies in the solar system:
-
- Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, June 25, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
-
- Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the middle solar system, June 25, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
-
- Position of the planets, dwarf planets and a couple spacecraft in the outer solar system seen from Voyager 1 -, June 25, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Solar System News
Study shows how icy outer #solarsystem satellites may have formed @tokodai_news @NatureAstronomy https://t.co/0ZRxdMgDq3
— Phys.org (@physorg_com) June 25, 2019
OSIRIS-REx
When looking at Bennu, I’m struck by the fact that the rocks in some parts are positioned so chaotically, while in others — like here — the rocks are arranged by size. Bennu’s formative processes are so intriguing... and we still have so much to learn about rubble pile asteroids. pic.twitter.com/8F1guj4f8S
— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) June 24, 2019
NASA / SpaceX
Congratulations to @SpaceX on another successful Falcon Heavy launch! I’m excited for the four @NASA_Technology missions that will help us explore the Moon, Mars and beyond! More: https://t.co/hTU1Cnstax pic.twitter.com/rR01vavYis
— Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) June 25, 2019
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Celebrates 10 Years!
Omg look how cute I was on my first day at the Moon 10 years ago #OTD! I’ve learned SO much since then. Here are 10 highlights I’ve learned about @NASAMoon in my 10 years (and counting) here. #LRO10th https://t.co/6HcrAPJMDD pic.twitter.com/8a9HUhZNTr
— NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (@LRO_NASA) June 24, 2019
Climate - Lightening Lightening Everywhere!
Yesterday's #GOES16 #GLM CONUS Retrospective pic.twitter.com/A96G8lcekh
— Michael J. Peterson (@WeatherArchive) June 23, 2019
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
Exoplanet Discovery Video
This is REALLY cool, and you should watch and share it!!
Exoplanet Artwork by Bob Trembley
"Syzygy." An eclipse seen from a hypothetical exomoon of a gas giant exoplanet orbiting the star Wolf 359. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley
You can explore exoplanets on your own with NASA's Eyes on Exoplanets (beta) interactive website!
This Hubble Picture of the Week shows the spiral galaxy Messier 98, estimated to contain about a trillion of stars, and full of cosmic dust and hydrogen gas. Credit: @ESA / @Hubble_Space / @NASA , V. Rubin et al. https://t.co/driWVrMiMl pic.twitter.com/r9S8xGiIsH
— HUBBLE (@HUBBLE_space) June 24, 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. Version 0.19.1 was released on June 22nd!
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.
Symposium to Honor the Legacy of Astrophysicist Dr. Vera Rubin
Dr. Vera Rubin. Credit: Public Domain
A symposium in honor of Dr. Vera Rubin is being held at Georgetown University, June 24-26, 2019.
Dr. Rubin (1928-2016) was one of the most important astrophysicists of the 20th and 21st centuries. She received her Ph.D. from Georgetown University in 1954, and pioneered the study of galaxy rotation rates that provided definitive evidence for the existence of Dark Matter. Dr. Rubin was also a fierce and effective advocate for women in science. This symposium honors her legacy by bringing together astrophysicists whose research was made possible by Dr. Rubin’s discoveries; they will discuss the latest developments in the field, and the connections with Dr. Rubin’s discoveries.
Symposium organizers expect some sessions will be particularly interesting to those involved in educating the next generation of scientists and scientifically engaged citizens.
Some of the lectures/discussions include:
Keynote lecture by Dr. Abigail Fraeman from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory - she will discuss the exploration that she leads of the Vera Rubin Ridge on Mars with the Curiosity Rover.
A panel discussion including Dr. Fraemen and Prof. Pearl Sandick, Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Utah. The panel will be followed by round-table discussions and work sessions to develop individual action plans to address critical issues facing educators, researchers, and industry leaders.
Dark Stars by Prof. Pearl Sandick
The Dark Side of the Universe by Dr. Neta A. Bahcall, Professor of Astrophysics, Princeton University.
The Broad Implications of Dr. Rubin’s Science by Dr. France Córdova, Director of the National Science Foundation.
Also presenting will be Prof. Katherine Freese, the Chair of the Symposium Organizing Committee and recipient of the Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize “for ground-breaking research at the interface of cosmology and particle physics, and her tireless efforts to communicate the excitement of physics to the general public.”
These remarkable women will talk about their science, their personal journeys, and the challenges of increasing the representation of women in Physics and Astronomy.
A full agenda is available at the Vera Rubin Symposium website. The symposium is being recorded - videos will be available on the website in a couple weeks. We'll follow-up with another post about the symposium, and include links to those videos.
Posts about Vera Rubin on the VOF Sacred Space Astronomy blog.
Posts about Vera Rubin on the VOF Faith and Science Archive website.
Inspiring a New Generation of Scientists and Space Explorers
PC Lab at Starbase One H.Q. Credit: Bob Trembley
I was at STARBASE One at Selfridge Air National Guard Base on June 11 & 12, 2019 as part of their Summer Academy - I taught the students how to fly rockets in Kerbal Space Program. I created several different rockets for them to launch: a small and large sounding rocket, and a crewed sub-orbital and orbital vessel; I related the sub-orbital and orbital flights to those of Alan Shepard and John Glenn.
Rockets created in Kerbal Space Program for Starbase One. Credit: Bob Trembley
Their first rocket was aimed down at the launchpad, so they got to see something explode! For some reason, the students seem to get a kick out of this... but it does show that rockets in KSP can crash.
-
- “Wrong Way Rocket” on the launchpad. Credit: Bob Trembley
-
- “Sudden Rapid Disassembly” at the launchpad. Credit: Bob Trembley
When the students launched sounding rockets, I mentioned the Keweenaw Rocket Range; Michigan launched its first sounding rocket into space on Jan. 29, 1971! My wife and I visited the launchpad in 2016.
Bob & Connie Trembley at the Keweenaw Rocket Range in 2016. Credit: Bob Trembley
When I showed the students how orbits are raised, a common comment was "that's weird!" Yup! Orbital mechanics sure is!
Raising your Orbit in Kerbal Space Program. Credit: Kerbal Space Program / Bob Trembley.
A couple students were able to execute a Hohmann transfer and travel to the Mun (that's what it's called in KSP) and crash into it!
Hohmann Transfer in Kerbal Space Program. Credit: Bob Trembley
The students participated in several other activities during the morning too:
Launching Air Rockets at the Starbase One 2019 Summer Academy. Credit: Mark Muzzin.
A student from the 2019 Starbase One Summer Academy. Credit: Mark Muzzin
• Launching air-rockets and trying to land them in small plastic wading pools across the parking lot. The rockets had different sets of fins that were 3D printed on-site.
• Discussing personal hygiene on the International Space Station - let's just say I'm a fan of gravity, and leave it at that...
• Mission patch design.
• Soldering a custom-built LED-blinkie in the shape of the Detroit "D." The circuitry kits were designed by 2DKits.com - who are friends of mine; Starbase has commissioned a couple custom kits from them.
We were all provided with pizza for lunch - ahhhhh, nature's perfect food! 🙂
Students also got to see the Apollo 11 VR Experience; one chapter has you standing in the Lunar Module as it is descending the surface of the Moon! It was so amazing, I wanted to cry...
The students also experienced Apollo 11's reentry into Earth's atmosphere in VR - which was a perfect tie-in with KSP, because I had them do a reentry with KSP too!
The students all got a signed photo of astronaut Leland Melvin, and took home a handout I created with a bunch of NASA and non-NASA space resources.
At the end of my last session, a young girl said to me: "I want to be an astronomer when I grow up!" I beamed and gave her a Warren Astronomical Society business card, and told her to come one of our meetings - I'll consider that a win!
Explorer 1 Replica Outside Starbase One HQ. Credit: Bob Trembley (Feb. 2016)
I wrote about Kerbal Space Program previously on the Sacred Space Astronomy blog here and here. My wife and I have used KSP as part of an after-school club for two years. I was a guest on “Astronomy for Everyone” where I was videoed talking about KSP. As of this writing, I have logged 3380 hours in KSP on Steam.
Here are some of the things that can be done in Kerbal Space Program:
- Build rockets, jets, space-planes, rovers and landers – LEGO-style
- Launch and fly them, get them into space and into orbit – visually, with ZERO math required
- Scan planetary surfaces for resources and other science
- Perform orbital maneuvers:
- Raise/lower orbit
- Plane changes
- Hohmann transfers
- Rendezvous and docking
- Construct space stations (takes multiple launches)
- Orbit and land probes and crew on planets and moons
- Reentry and parachute/powered landings
- Collect science from space-around and surfaces-of celestial bodies
- The latest update include robotic parts!
If you have a spare hour and a half, this video recreation of the Apollo 8 mission is simply amazing! It uses actual NASA footage and command module audio, and Kerbal Space Program for visuals!
In the Sky This Week – June 18, 2019
Mercury and Mars almost appear to be almost touching low in the west-northwestern sky at dusk on June 18th - don't miss this conjunction! By next week the two planets will have drifted apart.
-
- Mercury and Mars very near each other in the west-northwestern sky just before sunset on June 18th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
-
- Mercury and Mars pulling away from each other in the west-northwestern sky just before sunset on June 24th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Venus appears very low in the east-northeastern sky just before sunrise all week.
Venus low in the east-northeastern sky just before sunrise on June 18th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon appears between Saturn and Jupiter in the southern sky on June 18th; on June 19th, the Moon appears very near Saturn.
Conjunction of Mercury and Mars
As I was writing this, I posted my Mercury-Mars conjunction image from above on Twitter; I noticed a couple different versions of the same image - that kinda settled it as the observing target of the week!
Mercury passes 12' from Mars today at 18UT/2 PM EDT in the closest naked eye planet vs. planet conjunction for 2019 - the view tonight at dusk looking west: pic.twitter.com/CabfT1u3n3
— Dave Dickinson (@Astroguyz) June 18, 2019
The Moon is a waning gibbous, just past full - rising after sunset, visible high in the sky after midnight, and visible to the southwest after sunrise.
The third quarter Moon occurs on June 25th, rising around midnight, and visible to the south after sunrise.
The Moon from June 18-24, 2019. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.
Moon News
How do you stock up an outpost that's 250,000 miles away?@NASA is working with American companies to supply the lunar Gateway that will help astronauts land on the Moon by 2024. Learn more! https://t.co/120PJgwIW8 pic.twitter.com/0hVfKbkFvD
— NASA Marshall (@NASA_Marshall) June 17, 2019
Large Mass Detected Under Moon's South Pole-Aitken Basin
Phys.org reported this story on June 10th - almost immediately memes of 2001: A Space Odyssey started circulating on social media...
#LargeMassAnomaly #DiscoveredOn #PlanetLuna #GPD
"A mysterious large mass of material has been discovered beneath the largest crater in our solar system—the Moon's South Pole-Aitken basin—and ..."https://t.co/oxg0IetKjv pic.twitter.com/9Egvg7ePYK— RyuZoku (@Ryu_Zoku) June 10, 2019
Did Monks Witness a Massive Lunar Impact in 1178?
June 18, 1178: 841 years ago #Today, five monks from Canterbury observed the Moon 'splitting in two'. Was this a huge meteor impact? https://t.co/jt6uREcuKV pic.twitter.com/qXT2vF9gga
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) June 18, 2019
The Sun has been spot-free for 30 days. Coronal holes pepper the Sun's southern hemisphere, and although both poles have coronal holes, the south pole hole appears to have grown.
SpaceWeather.com says: "Images of the sun look like a big orange billiard ball--utterly blank. This is a sign of Solar Minimum, a phase of the solar cycle that brings extra cosmic rays, long-lasting holes in the sun's atmosphere, and a possible surplus of noctilucent clouds"
WOW! Look at that monster prominence on the Sun's limb evolve over several hours !
The solar wind speed is 324.2 km/sec (↑), with a density of 8.1 protons/cm3 (↑).
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.
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 LU4 |
2019-Jun-18
|
2 LD
|
8.1
|
18
|
| 2019 LA5 |
2019-Jun-18
|
18.3 LD
|
7.7
|
29
|
| 2019 LC1 |
2019-Jun-19
|
19.2 LD
|
9.9
|
26
|
| 2019 LB2 |
2019-Jun-20
|
6.5 LD
|
3.4
|
15
|
| 2019 LM1 |
2019-Jun-23
|
9.8 LD
|
8.7
|
26
|
| 2019 LC5 |
2019-Jun-23
|
13.6 LD
|
11.1
|
42
|
| 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
|
| 2019 LR4 |
2019-Jun-29
|
11.3 LD
|
8.3
|
31
|
| 2019 LV1 |
2019-Jun-29
|
5.2 LD
|
6.2
|
26
|
| 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
|
| 2006 QQ23 |
2019-Aug-10
|
19.4 LD
|
4.7
|
339
|
| 454094 |
2019-Aug-12
|
17 LD
|
8.2
|
148
|
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: 188 (+172), this year: 1231 (-122?), all time: 20369 (+45)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1983 (last updated May 8, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 795,985 (+92)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1983 (last updated May 8, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 795,985 (+92)
5th Annual International Asteroid Day - June 30th
#AsteroidDay is for people of all ages! From scientists, technologists, community leaders, and students - anyone interested in learning about asteroids and helping to raise #asteroid awareness! @asteroidday #AsteroidDay2019 pic.twitter.com/lyGI4PzL9H
— Asteroid Day ☄ (@AsteroidDay) June 17, 2019
I will be lecturing at the Cranbrook Institute of Science on June 29th as part of their AsteroidDay event.
On June 17, 2019, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 1 fireball.
(1 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:
Michigan astronomer John Jack McGill captures a meteor in northern Michigan.
This is the position of the planets and a couple bodies in the solar system:
-
- Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, June 18, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
-
- Position of the planets in the middle solar system, June 18, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
-
- Position of the planets and some trans-Neptunian objects in the outer solar system, June 18, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Solar System News: Fresh Impact Crater Spotted on Mars!
A new crater on Mars, which appeared sometime between September 2016 and February 2019, shows up as a dark smudge on the landscape in this high-resolution photo. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Mars Impact Crater article at Space.com.
OSIRIS-REx
For more technical details on the new orbit, check out this week's Mission Status Update: https://t.co/eqqOpM0YM6 pic.twitter.com/XefXS694ap
— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) June 17, 2019
International Space Station
Three Exp 59 crewmembers begin their final week aboard the station during human research activities and CubeSat deployments today. https://t.co/8zePyZeCNu pic.twitter.com/5HnEs8lgUb
— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) June 17, 2019
Climate
As I often say... NASA is the best brand the United States has. https://t.co/BLewLehnFv
— Bill Nye (@BillNye) June 15, 2019
Pope Francis has declared a global climate emergency.#ClimateEmergency #ClimateBreakdown #EcologicalBreakdown #LaudatoSìhttps://t.co/KqjGkhSYGV
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) June 15, 2019
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
Exoplanet News - 4000 Known Exoplanets Threshold Crossed!
#Exoplanet4k was trending on Twitter on June 13 &14th.
WE DID IT! 🥳🍾@NASAExoArchive just passed 4000 confirmed exoplanets. There are *4,003* worlds we know about orbiting other stars in our Galaxy. That's 4,003 chances for cyanide skies, lava oceans, magenta sunsets, supersonic cloud streams...
Here's to 4000 more!#exoplanet4K pic.twitter.com/NFYpCkw19a
— Dr. Jessie Christiansen (@aussiastronomer) June 13, 2019
Migrating Baby Exoplanet Sculpts Disk Around Newborn Star (Photos) https://t.co/MsgPjd5BKj pic.twitter.com/XLRUrUUWk6
— SPACE.com (@SPACEdotcom) June 17, 2019
Exoplanet Artwork by Bob Trembley
Kepler-1047 c is transiting now in Cygnus. It's 1.0x the size of Earth and transits again in 3.2 days.
— Transiting Now (@transitingnow) June 18, 2019
Artistic representation of exoplanet Kepler-1047 c; exoplanet KOI-2004.03 with a cometary tail appears in the background. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley
ESA/Hubble #Flashback: In 2013, astronomers highlighted NGC 6753, imaged here, as one of only two known spiral galaxies that were both massive enough and close enough to permit detailed observations of their coronas. https://t.co/dLFiGMKg3K pic.twitter.com/ij8vfCvwCM
— HUBBLE (@HUBBLE_space) June 17, 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.
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 near the star Spica in the southern sky before midnight on June 11th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
-
- The Moon near the star Spica in the southern sky before midnight on June 12th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon appears near Jupiter and the star Antares on June 15th and 16th.
-
- The Moon near Jupiter and the star Antares in the southeastern sky before midnight on June 15th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
-
- The Moon near Jupiter and the star Antares in the southeastern sky before midnight on June 16th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
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 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.
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
Near-Earth objects (NEOs) discovered this month: 16, this year: 1353 (+2), all time: 20324 (+2)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1983 (last updated May 8, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 795,893 (+83)
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:
-
- Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, June 11, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
-
- Position of the planets in the middle solar system, June 11, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
-
- Position of the planets, dwarf planets (orbits shown), asteroids and comets (shown as dots) in the outer solar system, June 11, 2019. Credit: Space Engine / Bob Trembley.
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.
In the Sky This Week – June 4, 2019
Mars continues to dim in the west-northwestern sky after sunset, and Mercury appears low near the horizon all week. A thin crescent Moon appears near Mars on June 5th, and moves towards the south each day.
The Moon appears by the star Regulus on June 7th and 8th.
Saturn, Jupiter and the star Antares have been slowly crawling across the southern sky for several weeks; Antares sets a bit earlier each morning.
Saturn and Jupiter in the southern predawn on June 5th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Venus appears very low on the horizon just before sunrise all week.
Venus in the east-northeastern sky just before sunrise on June 5th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Earthshine
Earthshine is visible earthlight reflected from the Moon's night side. It is also known as the Moon's ashen glow or as "the new Moon with the old Moon in her arm."
Earthshine is most readily visible from a few nights before until a few nights after a new moon, during the (waxing or waning) crescent phase. - Wikipedia
The next few days will be the ideal time to try and catch a glimpse of Earthshine!
Earthshine, Jan. 31, 2015. Credit: DYLAN O'DONNELL / Public Domain
The Moon is a waxing crescent,visible toward the southwest in early evening.
The first quarter Moon occurs on June 10th, it will be visible high in the southern sky in early evening.
The Moon from June 4-10, 2019. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.
Moon News
50 years ago, NASA was preparing to land humans on the Moon. Now, we’re getting ready to return by 2024. In honor of the #Apollo50th anniversary, we’re making a playlist fit for a lunar journey with @ThirdRockRadio. Til June 28, share a song you’d include with #NASAMoonTunes! pic.twitter.com/FXxHsz5Hjj
— Johnson Space Center (@NASA_Johnson) June 3, 2019
We’re 46 days away from our #Apollo50th anniversary, when humans walked on another world for the first time in history! As we continue our plans to send the first woman and next man to the Moon in five years, take a look back at our @NASAMoon missions: https://t.co/zbc7e81zq9 pic.twitter.com/NjKWMahD1z
— NASA (@NASA) June 4, 2019
The Sun has been spot-free for 16 days... but something with a lot of coronal loop activity is rotating into view; there's no sunspot under all that activity, yet, but there is a faint plage. Coronal holes continue to remain open at both poles; you can watch one open up near the equator in the video below:
SpaceWeather.com says: "SOLAR MINIMUM CONDITIONS ARE IN EFFECT: The sun has been without spots for 16 consecutive days--a sign that Solar Minimum is underway. Many people think Solar Minimum is uninteresting. Not so. This phase of the solar cycle brings extra cosmic rays, long-lasting holes in the sun's atmosphere, and a possible surplus of noctilucent clouds."
That region of coronal activity in the video above almost looks like a bullseye in the video below!
The solar wind speed is 328.5 km/sec (↓), with a density of 9.3 protons/cm3 (↑).
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.
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 KE2 |
2019-Jun-04
|
19.9 LD
|
9.3
|
48
|
| 2019 KY |
2019-Jun-04
|
5.5 LD
|
6.2
|
19
|
| 2019 KS |
2019-Jun-04
|
12.3 LD
|
17.6
|
42
|
| 2019 KA4 |
2019-Jun-05
|
8.4 LD
|
7.2
|
22
|
| 2019 KA3 |
2019-Jun-06
|
4 LD
|
3.9
|
9
|
| 2019 JX2 |
2019-Jun-06
|
13.8 LD
|
7
|
41
|
| 2014 MF18 |
2019-Jun-06
|
8.8 LD
|
3
|
22
|
| 2019 LA |
2019-Jun-07
|
13.9 LD
|
22.3
|
67
|
| 2019 KZ3 |
2019-Jun-07
|
5.7 LD
|
10
|
52
|
| 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
Near-Earth objects (NEOs) discovered this month: 14, this year: 1351 (+82), all time: 20322 (+82)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1983 (last updated May 8, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 795,810 (+671)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1983 (last updated May 8, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 795,810 (+671)
Asteroid News: Help
Get involved in space science—help @OSIRISREx choose a sample site at asteroid Bennu!
Find the best place on asteroid Bennu to collect a sample for return to Earth for study by going to https://t.co/IJngymw7FY pic.twitter.com/QL7gldXBHQ
— Planetary Society (@exploreplanets) June 3, 2019
On June 3, 2019, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 19 fireballs.
(19 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 News:
Fireball tonight as spotted through clouds from East Barnet station pic.twitter.com/FHs9duBUqJ
— UK Meteor Network (@UKMeteorNetwork) June 1, 2019
This is the position of the planets and a couple bodies in the solar system:
-
- Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, June 4, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
-
- Position of the planets in the middle solar system, June 4, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
-
- Position of the planets in the outer solar system, June 4, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Solar System News: New Moon for Neptune!
Not sure how I missed this, but....
Hubble discovers a new moon around Neptune named Hippocamp which astronomers think broke off Neptune's second-largest moon, Proteus, some 4 billion years ago following an asteroid impact. https://t.co/csu7R03MEi
— Astronomy Magazine (@AstronomyMag) June 4, 2019
Imagine how many more moons we'd discover if we had orbiters for Uranus and Neptune!
Artist Concept Uranus Orbiter. Credit: Space Engine / Kerbal Space Program / Bob Trembley
Jupiter at opposition: the Earth will be between Jupiter and the Sun on June 10th.
Jupiter at opposition - June 10, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
OSIRIS-REx
This is the edge of a large crater in Bennu's southern hemisphere that holds several spots which may work for sample collection. The image was taken on April 11 during Flyby 6A. The square rock on the edge is 20 ft (6.0 m) long ... about the length of a 15 passenger van.
— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) June 3, 2019
Parker Solar Probe
The Parker Solar Probe will reach aphelion #2 on June 18th.
Parker Solar Probe Aphelion #2 - June 18, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Landsat
The Southern and Central United States have been drenched by rainstorms in the spring of 2019, leading to widespread flooding. https://t.co/YlPawYc0Nt #NASA #Landsat #MODIS pic.twitter.com/0EwwTOKFPg
— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) May 31, 2019
Climate
More than a trillion new measurements of Earth’s height – blanketing everything from glaciers in Greenland, to mangrove forests in Florida, to sea ice surrounding Antarctica – are now available to the public. https://t.co/P9uYVdax9i
— NASA Climate (@NASAClimate) May 29, 2019
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
Exoplanet Highlight: NGTS-4b
Astronomers have found an exoplanet so rare that they have deemed it "The Forbidden Planet," according to a new study. https://t.co/D90683V6Sm
— CNN (@CNN) May 30, 2019
I created the star NGTS-4 and exoplanet NGTS-4b in Universe Sandbox, and let the simulation run - this is what I got:
Star NGTS-4 and exoplanet NGTS-4b in Universe Sandbox. Credit: Bob Trembley
Universe Sandbox: New Physics Engine
A Big Day for Physics | Update 22.3 of Universe Sandbox is now available! This officially switches to our faster, more stable, & more accurate physics system. + a sim celebrating the 100-year anniversary of the eclipse that validated Einstein’s GR theory https://t.co/7RscKG5DLR pic.twitter.com/XhjWx9qDoe
— Universe Sandbox (@UniverseSandbox) May 30, 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.
In the Sky This Week – May 28, 2019
Starlink Satellites Cause a Stir
SpaceX has launched the first 60 of a planned 12,000 Starlink satellites, intended to provide global broadband internet service. Despite assurances to the contrary, a train of bright lights has been seen crossing the night sky, along with some reports of Iridium-like flares. Astronomers and observatories are understandably concerned, with some expressing concern that this could "ruin the night sky."
I'm more concerned about any effect this might have on asteroid discovery and planetary defense; needless to say, I'll be following this developing story closely.
Mars will soon be lost on the glare of the sunset in the west-northwestern sky.
Mars may be behind trees and buildings in the west-northwestern sky at sunset. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Saturn and Jupiter continue to be visible in the southern predawn sky all week; Jupiter rises in the southeast around 10:00 PM.
Saturn and Jupiter are high in the southern predawn sky all week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
A thin waning crescent Moon appears low in the eastern predawn sky for the next few days; I saw this out my kitchen window while making coffee this morning.
A waning crescent Moon appears in the eastern predawn sky on May 29th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Video: Asteroid Discovery
I first became aware of Scott Manley when I ran across his Asteroid Discovery video on YouTube in 2012; it completely blew me away; I show this every time I give my asteroids lecture - near the end, someone in the audience always says "Wooh!"
Scott has updated his Asteroid Discovery video several times, but I prefer his narrated version; the latest version with music is here:
The Moon is a waning crescent, visible low to the east before sunrise.
The new Moon occurs on June 3rd.
The Moon from May 28-June 3, 2019. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.
Moon News
#Moon2024 News: While at @FloridaTech today, I will announce the commercial partner we selected to develop and build the first segment of @NASA’s Gateway outpost – the power and propulsion element. Here’s how you can watch starting at 1pm ET: https://t.co/YVCNIeUfDs pic.twitter.com/IVhCvFOiqf
— Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) May 23, 2019
#NASA #NAC #HEO Some of the science that can be collected by going to the Moon, just because we have been there before does not mean we know everything about it. Its the closest place to visit to understand what the Solar System was like billions of yrs ago. pic.twitter.com/UR8fGvbR3g
— Gene J. Mikulka, CC (@genejm29) May 28, 2019
The Sun is once again spot-free, and has been for 9 days. Coronal holes remain open at both poles, and disperse holes stretch from the south pole up past the equator.
SpaceWeather.com says: "A minor interplanetary shock wave hit Earth on May 26th at approximately 22:00 UT. The CME-like disturbance was unexpected. It caused the density of the solar wind around Earth to abruptly quadruple, while the interplanetary magnetic field doubled in strength. Earth's magnetosphere was rattled by the impact, but it did not spark a geomagnetic storm."
A couple long-lived prominences appeared on the Sun's northern hemisphere, and a fountain-like prominence appeared on the southern hemisphere yesterday!
The solar wind speed is 375.7 km/sec (↓), with a density of 9.1 protons/cm3 (↑).
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.
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
Eclipses let us study the Sun & Earth — and the fundamental physics of the universe! 100 years ago tomorrow, scientists made measurements that supported Einstein's theory of general relativity, providing evidence that light is bent by very massive objects. https://t.co/iRLLldulL3 pic.twitter.com/PZj3ZuBpLA
— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) May 28, 2019
How do you trace the solar wind back to its source on the Sun? ☀️💨 You need a magnetic map 🗺 of the Sun's surface, a computer model 💻 of the magnetic field in the corona, and spacecraft measurements 🛰 of the solar wind as it speeds towards Earth. https://t.co/E7r0pexGzY pic.twitter.com/cXklZMh4x7
— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) May 24, 2019
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2019 KT |
2019-May-28
|
0.8 LD
|
11.6
|
17
|
| 2003 LH |
2019-May-28
|
15.6 LD
|
7.4
|
32
|
| 2019 JH8 |
2019-May-28
|
9.1 LD
|
6.9
|
18
|
| 2019 KV |
2019-May-29
|
7.1 LD
|
5.6
|
20
|
| 2019 KH |
2019-May-29
|
15.4 LD
|
9.8
|
53
|
| 2011 HP |
2019-May-30
|
12.3 LD
|
8.4
|
135
|
| 2019 KU |
2019-Jun-01
|
16.1 LD
|
6.1
|
16
|
| 2019 KY |
2019-Jun-04
|
5.5 LD
|
6.2
|
20
|
| 2019 KS |
2019-Jun-04
|
12.3 LD
|
17.6
|
30
|
| 2019 JX2 |
2019-Jun-06
|
13.8 LD
|
7
|
43
|
| 2014 MF18 |
2019-Jun-06
|
8.8 LD
|
3
|
22
|
| 2019 KJ |
2019-Jun-14
|
12.6 LD
|
8.1
|
68
|
| 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
|
| 2016 NJ33 |
2019-Jul-12
|
15 LD
|
4.5
|
32
|
| 2015 HM10 |
2019-Jul-24
|
12.2 LD
|
9.5
|
68
|
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: 117 (+17), this year: 1269 (+10), all time: 20240 (-1)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1983 (last updated May 8, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 795,139 (+68)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1983 (last updated May 8, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 795,139 (+68)
Asteroid News
Congratulations to Scott Manley for having an asteroid named after him!
Asteroid (33434) Scottmanley = 1999 FU
Discovered 1999 Mar. 17 by ODAS at Caussols.
Scott Manley (b. 1972) is a popular science communicator, best known for his videos on youtube combining science and games. Formerly an astrophysicist, he studied asteroid collisions at Armagh Observatory and created visualizations of the main belt and near earth asteroids.
Here's a recent example of Scott's video work:
Look at this fantastic recreation of @virgingalactic's SpaceShipTwo built by @DJSnM using the new robotics features from Breaking Ground DLC. 🤖 pic.twitter.com/ICpT3OtWOG
— Kerbal Space Program (@KerbalSpaceP) May 28, 2019
Scott's video tutorials have taught countless numbers of Kerbal Space Program players how to build and fly rockets - myself included!
On May 27, 2019, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 12 fireballs.
(11 sporadics, 1 eta Aquariid)
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: WOW! Indeed!
WOW!!! Impressive view of the very bright #fireball over Southern Australia last week 21st of May....Have you ever seen anything like it??? Video 📸by Rodolfo Martin Vrenes Salvatierra #severeweather #ExtremeWeather pic.twitter.com/jUSvHX9WJV
— WEATHER/ METEO WORLD (@StormchaserUKEU) May 27, 2019
This is the position of the planets and a couple bodies in the solar system:
-
- Position of the planets in the inner solar system, May 28, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
-
- Position of the planets in the middle solar system, May 28, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
-
- Position of the planets in the outer solar system, May 28, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Solar System News: 10+ Things: Tour of Storms Across the Solar System
Magnetic tornadoes on Mercury. Dust storms on Mars. Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. Earth is not the only planet that has extreme weather. 🌩️Take a tour of storms across the solar system & prepare your #askNASA questions for #NASAScience Live at 3pm ET: https://t.co/z02apivnNR pic.twitter.com/0ktf4H4uPI
— NASA (@NASA) May 22, 2019
OSIRIS-REx: Rocks along Bennu's Spine
This image shows the end of the boulder spine that runs from Bennu's equator down to the south pole.
Mostly, though, I just wanted to point out that lil white spot in the middle of the rock at the bottom. That rock's feeling cute.
More details: https://t.co/doB4L5vjOn pic.twitter.com/zYtefRV4nW
— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) May 24, 2019
Mars 2020 Rover: Send Your Name to Mars!
Want to join us on an interplanetary adventure? 🚀
Our #Mars2020 Rover is gearing up for its seven-month journey to the Red Planet and you can send your name along for the ride. Get your boarding pass: https://t.co/mX7bZ5Ev6g pic.twitter.com/FkUTR7tGqf
— NASA (@NASA) May 27, 2019
Landsat: Utah as Art
@AmericaView state member @UTView, has developed an "Utah as Art" exhibit that will travel around the state of #Utah to teach students about the diverse Utah landscape and #RemoteSensing. The project is funded by @USGS and uses @USGSLandsat data. pic.twitter.com/1hEnBImBBA
— AmericaView (@AmericaView) May 22, 2019
I haven't posted a "Something as Art" post in a while... I need to fix that!
Climate
Study: NASA’s estimate of Earth's long-term temperature rise in recent decades is accurate to within less than a tenth of a degree Fahrenheit, providing confidence that past and future research is correctly capturing rising surface temperatures. https://t.co/4FrQ20LNuY pic.twitter.com/8OWAGZbK0M
— NASA Climate (@NASAClimate) May 23, 2019
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
Exoplanet Highlight: Kepler-11 g
SpaceEngine on Steam - Soon!
SpaceEngine Steam store page is live now! Follow the news, release is very soon! https://t.co/1xuLdwp51y
— Vladimir Romanyuk (@SpaceEngineSim) May 27, 2019
Calling SpaceEngine "a game" does it no justice! I've created stunning imagery with SpaceEngine - which I've recently started including in this post every week. I've shown SpaceEngine to astronomy clubs, and at science fiction conventions; I showed SpaceEngine during a lecture to the Warren Astronomical Society, and (completely unintentionally) showed Mercury's double-sunrise! I recently gave a presentation at a Science Fiction Convention - using SpaceEngine I gave a tour of the Solar System, and a few well-known locations within the Milky Way galaxy.
Kerbal Space Program - New DLC with Robotics and Deployable Science!
Check out the official gameplay trailer for #KSP #BreakingGroundExpansion, launching 30th May on PC! 🚀🤖🧪 pic.twitter.com/pXb2vYDhMQ
— Kerbal Space Program (@KerbalSpaceP) May 24, 2019
I'm excited beyond reason about this expansion for KSP! Robotics has been available in KSP as a community MOD for a while, but this DLC will be supported by the developers; I could see a "virtual" robotics for beginners class being taught using this.
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.
In the Sky This Week – May 21, 2019
Jupiter's Great Red Spot is Unraveling!
As I was writing this post, I came upon this story on SpaceWeather.com:
Around the world, amateur astronomers are monitoring a strange phenomenon on the verge of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot (GRS). The giant storm appears to be unraveling. “I haven’t seen this before in my 17-or-so years of imaging Jupiter,” reports veteran observer Anthony Wesley of Australia, who photographed a streamer of gas detaching itself from the GRS on May 19th -SpaceWeather.com
Jupiter, May 19, 2019. Credit: Anthony Wesley.
I realized I should probably headline this topic when I immediately stopped what I was doing, and went upstairs to tell my wife about it!
Jupiter returns the the evening sky, rising in the southeastern sky around 10:30 PM.
Jupiter rises in the southeastern sky around 10:30 PM this week; the location of dwarf planet Ceres is in the red cross hairs. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon dances with Saturn and Jupiter for the next several days in the predawn sky:
Mars will soon be lost on the glare of the sunset in the west-northwestern sky.
Mars in the west-northwestern sky at dusk, May 21, 2019. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley
Globular cluster Messier 68
"A ten billion year stellar dance." Messier 68. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope offers this delightful view of the crowded stellar encampment called Messier 68, a spherical, star-filled region of space known as a globular cluster. Mutual gravitational attraction amongst a cluster’s hundreds of thousands or even millions of stars keeps stellar members in check, allowing globular clusters to hang together for many billions of years.
Astronomers can measure the ages of globular clusters by looking at the light of their constituent stars. The chemical elements leave signatures in this light, and the starlight reveals that globular clusters' stars typically contain fewer heavy elements, such as carbon, oxygen and iron, than stars like the Sun. Since successive generations of stars gradually create these elements through nuclear fusion, stars having fewer of them are relics of earlier epochs in the Universe. Indeed, the stars in globular clusters rank among the oldest on record, dating back more than 10 billion years.
More than 150 of these objects surround our Milky Way galaxy. On a galactic scale, globular clusters are indeed not all that big. In Messier 68's case, its constituent stars span a volume of space with a diameter of little more than a hundred light-years. The disc of the Milky Way, on the other hand, extends over some 100 000 light-years or more.
Messier 68 is located about 33 000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Hydra (The Female Water Snake). French astronomer Charles Messier notched the object as the sixty-eighth entry in his famous catalogue in 1780.
Hubble added Messier 68 to its own impressive list of cosmic targets in this image using the Wide Field Camera of Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. The image, which combines visible and infrared light, has a field of view of approximately 3.4 by 3.4 arcminutes. - ESA/Hubble & NASA
Location of M68 May 21, 2019. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley
I wondered what our Sun would look like as seen from Messier 68, so I went there in SpaceEngine and found out!
Artist view: near Messier 68 looking in the direction of the Sun (cross hairs). Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
The Moon is a waning gibbous, rising after sunset, visible high in the sky after midnight, and visible to the southwest after sunrise.
The third quarter Moon occurs on Sunday May 26th; the Moon will rise around midnight, and visible to the south after sunrise.
The Moon from May 21-27, 2019. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.
Moon News
You've heard of earthquakes. But what about moonquakes? Like a wrinkled grape drying out to a raisin, the Moon is shrinking as its interior cools causing wrinkles or faults to form on its brittle surface. When enough stress builds, it releases the quakes: https://t.co/H3ixgywT1p pic.twitter.com/OxNrVveAQk
— NASA (@NASA) May 13, 2019
Shackleton crater lies at the Moon’s south pole and is a permanently shadowed region, a crater that never receives direct sunlight and likely contains water ice! We're eager to learn more about the south pole when we land there in #2024. Image by @LRO_NASA https://t.co/QtSEYdSdYa pic.twitter.com/6LHmtbAMVG
— NASA Moon (@NASAMoon) May 20, 2019
The exciting sunspots from last week have rotated out of view, and the Sun has been spot-free for 2 days. Coronal holes appear at both poles, and a small hole appears between the south pole and the equator. SpaceWeather.com says: "Solar wind flowing from a weakly-organized hole in the sun's atmosphere is expected to buffet Earth's magnetic field this week. This will cause geomagnetic unrest, but probably not geomagnetic storms, on May 21st through 23rd. Photographic auroras mixed with moonlight are possible at high latitudes."
Some exciting prominences on the limb of the Sun over the last few days!
The solar wind speed is 387.7 km/sec (↓), with a density of 3.3 protons/cm3 (↓).
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.
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
A @NASA #SpaceWeather expert has won a patent for an idea that, if fully implemented, would create the world’s largest scientific instrument for mapping large-scale geomagnetically induced currents, which have caused power outages in the past. https://t.co/bCWW7Npan6 pic.twitter.com/pwC1n0AY9P
— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) May 20, 2019
It's #SunDay! ☀️ Space isn't empty — it's filled with particles flowing out from the Sun, called the solar wind. 💨 Scientists use a combination of satellite observations and computer models to trace the solar wind back to its source on the Sun: https://t.co/E7r0pePhrw pic.twitter.com/KdxlA6IOSn
— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) May 19, 2019
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2019 JF7 |
2019-May-24
|
14.7 LD
|
10.9
|
37
|
| 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
|
| 2019 JX2 |
2019-Jun-06
|
13.8 LD
|
7
|
44
|
| 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
|
| 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
|
| 2016 NJ33 |
2019-Jul-12
|
15 LD
|
4.5
|
32
|
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: 100 (+10), this year: 1259 (+427), all time: 20241 (+10)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1983 (+16) (last updated May 8, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 795,071 (+20)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1983 (+16) (last updated May 8, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 795,071 (+20)
On May 20, 2019, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 3 fireballs.
(3 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 News
Meteor spotted streaking across Australian sky 👀😯 🎥 Northern Territory Emergency Services📍Tennant Creek, Northern Territory#meteor #meteorite #northernterritory #australia #caughtoncamera #brightlight #natureiscool #nightsky #fireball #tennantcreek #unexpected pic.twitter.com/K67bgXkLhS
— Life With Weather (@LifeWithWeather) May 20, 2019
This is the position of the planets and a couple bodies in the solar system:
-
- Position of the planets in the inner solar system, May 21, 2019. Note: the Parker Solar Probe has past the orbit of Venus, and is heading toward perihelion. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
-
- Position of the planets in the middle solar system, May 21, 2019 – the orbit of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is highlighted. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
-
- Position of the planets in the middle solar system, May 21, 2019 – the orbit of comet Hale Bopp is highlighted. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
-
- Oblique view of the planets in the middle solar system, May 21, 2019 – the orbit of comet Hale Bopp is highlighted. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
-
- Oblique view of the outer solar system, May 21, 2019 – the orbit of comet Hale Bopp is highlighted. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
-
- Artist view of comet Hale Bopp – May 21, 2019. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Solar System News - Jupiter's Great Red Spot
Is Jupiter's Great Red Spot unraveling? Could it disappear within our lifetime? Learn more from Spaceweather: https://t.co/ghy6QsrOhy pic.twitter.com/RhZJPuFpE8
— Kalamazoo Astronomical Society (@kzooastro) May 21, 2019
OSIRIS-REx - Possible Sample Site in a Crater (left)
It's Friday, so let's change it up. First, how about 2 images? These were taken 8 minutes apart and you can see the same dark boulder in both.
Secondly, these aren't oriented north-up. I couldn't do that to you people.https://t.co/fL0lAn2SSFhttps://t.co/o2kwGp8KcR pic.twitter.com/t6kucsLTjD
— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) May 17, 2019
Juno - Exploring Jupiter's Magnetic Field
The winds of change: I’ve made the first definitive detection beyond Earth of an internal magnetic field that changes over time. Atmospheric winds deep inside #Jupiter are likely responsible for variations in the planet's powerful magnetic field. Details: https://t.co/qMrpjCV3Mw pic.twitter.com/cMqcIas9tG
— NASA's Juno Mission (@NASAJuno) May 20, 2019
Climate
In a few days, the Austrian World Summit @R20_AWS kicks off in Vienna on May 28. UNOOSA director @SDiPippo_OOSA will be on stage with former @NASA astronaut @StationCDRKelly , the @UN Champion for Space, to talk about the importance of #space #tech 4 combating climate change. pic.twitter.com/gpUIkSn8sS
— UNOOSA (@UNOOSA) May 21, 2019
You should have heard of this young woman by now:
TIME's new cover: ‘Now I am speaking to the whole world.’ How teen climate activist Greta Thunberg got everyone to listen https://t.co/cnQsN5gElW pic.twitter.com/0eeDfhjMG2
— TIME (@TIME) May 16, 2019
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
Exoplanet Artwork by Bob Trembley
Artist view of sunrise over super-hot, super-Jupiter exoplanet HD 220074 b. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
-
- Artist view of super-hot super-Jupiter exoplanet HD 220074 b with info panel. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
-
- Artist view of red giant star HIP 115218 with info panel. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
LIGO Detects a Multiple Black Hole Mergers
A bumper morning for @LIGO and @ego_virgo as we announce another candidate event - that's 2 in 5 hours! If #S190521r is confirmed then it's almost certainly a binary #BlackHoles merger, with a false alarm rate of about once per century. It's raining #GravitationalWaves! 1/3 pic.twitter.com/K0Zvf4YY4Z
— LIGO (@LIGO) May 21, 2019
Inexplicably, gravitational lensing has been on my mind for the last couple days; when the Muse strikes, go with it!
A gravitational lens is a distribution of matter (such as a cluster of galaxies) between a distant light source and an observer, that is capable of bending the light from the source as the light travels towards the observer. This effect is known as gravitational lensing, and the amount of bending is one of the predictions of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity. (Classical physics also predicts the bending of light, but only half that predicted by general relativity.) - Wikipedia
-
- Example of gravitational lensing known as an Einstein Ring. Credit: NASA & ESA. Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt (geckzilla.org)
-
- A Horseshoe Einstein Ring. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
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!
July 20, 2019 is the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon.
In the Sky This Week – May 14, 2019
The weekend is over, and I'm still having trouble believing my wife and I were Science Co-Guests of Honor at MARCON 54 - a science fiction convention in Ohio. I told the head of programming that I felt like I'd violated some sort of protocol by not having been a "Fan GoH" first.
On Saturday morning, my wife and I, and a couple other convention attendees helped judge participants of the Ohio State Science Fair for awards from the SOLAE Foundation. Some of these middle school and high school students were simply amazing! I was completely stunned at some of the concepts and technologies these students were working with; I seriously felt like a mental midget compared to some of these teens!
Br. Guy Skyped-in to MARCON for a discussion Saturday evening; with a frog in his throat from a cold, he related a hilarious story about his travels and a visa SNAFU, and made us all long to witness the majesty of southern hemisphere skies. Afterwards, a convention attendee told me "that was the COOLEST thing he had ever seen at a science fiction convention!" That was pretty much my impression the first time I heard Br. Guy talk <mumble> years ago! I'm glad we were able to provide that experience for others.
I set up my virtual reality gear several times over the weekend, and showed a VR fly-over of Saturn's rings to at least 3 dozen people - David Gerrold was one of them! Everyone was blown away by it! A comment I got on Facebook was "Your knowledge, enthusiasm, and sheer love for astronomy was palpable." That just makes me want to cry with joy!
Mars appears a bit higher each day in the western sky at dusk; dusk is occurring a bit later each day... I can tell, because my parrot refuses to "go to bed" until it's dark out...
Mars and the stars Betelgeuse and Procyon in the western sky at dusk on May 14th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Venus appears very low in the eastern sky just before sunrise; sunrise occurring a bit earlier each day... I can tell, because my parrot is "up at the crack of dawn," screaming for me to come get her...
Venus very low in the eastern key before sunrise on May 15th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Saturn and Jupiter continue to be great observing targets in the early morning sky.
Saturn and Jupiter high in the southern sky before sunrise on May 15th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The waxing gibbous Moon is high in the south-southeastern sky at 10:00 PM on May 14th, and will rise a bit later each evening as it heads towards the full Moon.
Waxing gibbous Moon high in the south-southeastern sky at 10:00 PM on May 14th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Iris Nebula
The Iris Nebula, and star cluster NGC 7023. Credit: Wiki Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
The Iris Nebula, also known as NGC 7023 and Caldwell 4, is a bright reflection nebula and Caldwell object in the constellation Cepheus. NGC 7023 is actually the cluster within the nebula, LBN 487, and the nebula is lit by a magnitude +7 star, SAO 19158. It shines at magnitude +6.8. It is located near the Mira-type variable star T Cephei, and near the bright magnitude +3.23 variable star Beta Cephei (Alphirk). It lies 1,300 light-years away and is six light-years across. - Wikipedia
Location of Iris Nebula at 11:00 PM on May 14, 2019. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon is a waxing gibbous, visible to the southeast in early evening, and up for most of the night.
The full Moon occurs on Saturday May 18th, rising at sunset, visible high in the sky around midnight, and visible all night.
After May 18th, the Moon will be a waning gibbous, rising after sunset, visible high in the sky after midnight, and visible to the southwest after sunrise.
The Moon from May 14-20, 2019. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.
Moon News
ARTEMIS: Twin sister of Apollo and goddess of the Moon. Now, the name for our #Moon2024 mission to return @NASA_Astronauts to the surface of the Moon by 2024, including the first woman and next man. pic.twitter.com/1K9qIloZwp
— NASA (@NASA) May 13, 2019
Those two sunspots from last week are still there - AR2740 has diminished, but AR2741 is going strong!
In the videos below you can see flares crackling and wild coronal loops above AR2741. SpaceWeather.com says: "MULTIPLE CMEs ARE COMING: Three and possibly four CMEs are en route to Earth following a series of explosions near sunspot AR2741. The most potent so far occurred on May 12th when a filament of magnetism surrounding the sunspot became unstable and erupted. The blast zone was more than 200,000 km in diameter" & "A surprise geomagnetic storm is underway on May 14th. Storm levels are currently at G2 (moderately strong), which means auroras may be visible in northern-tier US states such as Minnesota, Michigan, and upstate New York. The reason for the storm: A crack has opened in Earth's magnetic field, allowing solar wind to enter the magnetosphere."
You can see a wave propagating across the face of the Sun from a flare coming out of AR2741.
The solar wind speed is 505.9 km/sec (↑↑), with a density of 5.4 protons/cm3 (↓).
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.
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
Weathering from solar and space radiation gradually darkens material on the lunar surface — meaning that areas freshly exposed to space appear brighter. 💡 This helps scientists identify regions where moonquakes sent lunar material sliding. https://t.co/oagFiT7bZZ pic.twitter.com/d1fo3yysan
— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) May 14, 2019
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2019 JO3 |
2019-May-14
|
18.5 LD
|
10.8
|
47
|
| 2019 JN2 |
2019-May-15
|
7.1 LD
|
6.8
|
26
|
| 2019 JN5 |
2019-May-16
|
4.4 LD
|
13.1
|
28
|
| 2019 JG1 |
2019-May-17
|
5.6 LD
|
8.1
|
16
|
| 2012 KT12 |
2019-May-17
|
4.2 LD
|
4
|
20
|
| 2019 GT1 |
2019-May-17
|
6.1 LD
|
3.9
|
36
|
| 2019 JR1 |
2019-May-18
|
16.2 LD
|
10
|
44
|
| 2019 JB1 |
2019-May-20
|
16.8 LD
|
26
|
230
|
| 2019 JL3 |
2019-May-20
|
2.5 LD
|
8.8
|
37
|
| 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
|
| 2019 JX2 |
2019-Jun-06
|
13.7 LD
|
7
|
47
|
| 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
|
| 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
|
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: 90 (+53), this year: 832 (+54), all time: 20231 (+55)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1983 (+16) (last updated May 8, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 795,051 (+134)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1983 (+16) (last updated May 8, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 795,051 (+134)
On May 13, 2019, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 7 fireballs.
(6 sporadics, 1 eta 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 News: Fireball over Lake Michigan!
We received 267 reports so far about a fireball seen over the Lake Michigan last Friday night.
Event page: https://t.co/GPN1FZlJO6
If you saw this event, please report it here: https://t.co/N0EuOVkOgj pic.twitter.com/T7fYbCa6aS
— AMSMETEORS (@amsmeteors) May 13, 2019
This is the position of the planets and a couple bodies in the solar system - images are from NASA's interactive, real-time orrery at https://solarsystem.nasa.gov:
-
- Inner Solar System May 14, 2019. Image from: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov
-
- Outer Solar System May 14, 2019. Image from: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov
-
- Extreme Outer Solar System May 14, 2019. Image from: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov
-
- Voyager 2 – May 14, 2019. Image from: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov
OSIRIS-REx - Update on the Mission so far
Catch-up on what's happened in the mission so far with this update from OSIRIS-REx principal investigator (and @UofA planetary scientist) Dante Lauretta. https://t.co/DxZICSAzQ9
— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) May 13, 2019
Mars InSight - Dusty Environs
When it comes to science, I’m not afraid to get down and dirty. 💪 As you can see, a few months spent on #Mars has given me a thin coating of dust. Recently though, a bit of that dust was blown away – which is good for both solar power and science. More: https://t.co/W8y00HPNsY pic.twitter.com/6L6LyjmBkr
— NASA InSight (@NASAInSight) May 6, 2019
Climate
Is the 🌞 causing global warming? No. The Sun can influence Earth’s climate, but it is not responsible for the warming trend we’ve seen over the past few decades. Details: https://t.co/MI5xlhSu8o pic.twitter.com/tQqIMnM5lU
— NASA Climate (@NASAClimate) May 9, 2019
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
Exoplanet Artwork by Bob Trembley
"Near the Crab Nebula" - a hypothetical exomoon orbiting a hypothetical exoplanet near the Crab Nebula. Credit: Space Engine / Bob Trembley
LIGO Detects a Possible Black Hole Merger 7 Billion Light Years Away
What type of source is #S190513bm ? If it's real then it's looking like another pair of colliding #BlackHoles with an outside chance it could lie in the #MassGap seemingly between the heaviest #NeutronStars and the lightest #BlackHoles observed so far by astronomers. 4/4 pic.twitter.com/L8aX6dExR6
— LIGO (@LIGO) May 13, 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.
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!
July 20, 2019 is the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon.
In the Sky This Week – May 8, 2019 – MARCON 54 Edition
My wife and I are Science Co-Guests of Honor at MARCON 54, a science fiction convention this weekend in Worthington, Ohio! The excitement and anticipation is going to make me explode! We've been attending midwest SF conventions for decades - I met Br. Guy at one! I became a volunteer NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador and started lecturing at SF cons in 2013; in 2014, I was asked to run the science programming track for DETCON1 - the North American Science Fiction Convention (NASFiC) in Detroit. where I helped arrange to have Br. Guy Skype-in from the Vatican Meteorite Lab for a very well attended panel.
Bob and Connie standing next to a large voltage multiplier stack at Fermilab. The clear tubes contain strings of high voltage diodes immersed in oil. The rounded metal things are corona shields that surround the connections between different components in the system and prevent the air from being ionized when it's running. Ultimately the thing produces 750,000 volts DC and was used as the first stage in a string of large particle accelerators.
Br. Guy will be Skyping-in to MARCON for a lecture with me, and weather permitting I'll be setting up my telescopes to see the Moon and Sun - I'm REALLY hoping for clear skies on Sunday when I'm scheduled to have my solar telescopes out, as there are a couple large sunspots right now! Saturday morning my wife and I will be part of a group from the convention who will be helping judge the Ohio State Science Fair - so that ought to be interesting! Saturday May 11th is also International Astronomy Day - so there's a bit of serendipity there with me expounding about astronomy all weekend!
Venus appears very low in the eastern sky just before sunrise.
Venus very low eastern horizon before sunrise on May 8th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The waxing crescent Moon is very near the star Tianguan on May 7th, and near the star Alhena on May 8th. On May 9th, the Moon will appear between the stars Pollux and Procyon in the western sky after sunset.
Saturn, Jupiter and the star Antares continue to appear southern sky early in the morning - each morning they appear a little more to the southwest.
Saturn and Jupiter are high in the southern sky all week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The star Arcturus and "the Big Dipper" appear in the west-northwestern predawn sky.
The star Arcturus and "the Big Dipper" in the west-northwestern predawn sky on May 8th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon!
This Saturday is International Astronomy Day - find a 'scope, and spot some craters and mountains on the Moon!
The Moon is a waxing crescent,visible toward the southwest in early evening.
The first quarter Moon occurs on Sunday May 12th, the Moon will be visible high in the southern sky in early evening.
After May 12th, the Moon will be a waxing gibbous,visible to the southeast in early evening, up for most of the night.
The Moon from May 8-13, 2019. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.
Moon News
Had a great meeting today with Jean-Yves Le Gall, President of the French Space Agency to discuss @NASA’s Moon 2024 plans. We’ve enjoyed successful partnerships in science and exploration that have taken our countries all the way to Mars on @NASAInSight. pic.twitter.com/lL1fX1ztfi
— Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) May 7, 2019
The Sun has 2 spots - and they're BIG ones!
AR2740 and AR 2741 are making their way across the face of the Sun; AR2740 poses a threat for M-class solar flares - you can see them crackling in the video below. SpaceWeather.com says: "A faint CME that left the sun on May 7th could strike Earth's magnetic field on May 10th or 11th, according to NOAA analysts. The plasma cloud was hurled into space by an explosion in the magnetic canopy of big sunspot AR2740. If the CME does strike, it will likely be a glancing blow sparking only minor geomagnetic storms."
The eastern limb of the Sun continues to hog most of the prominences; you can see flare after flare coming out of AR2740.
The solar wind speed is 326.7 km/sec (↑), with a density of 9.1 protons/cm3 (↑).
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.
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
This is amazing! AR 12740, which is an old cycle region and I honestly have not expected much, has produced a C9.9 (almost M-class) flare. The flare was very short duration, but note the spectacular large-scale coronal propagating front in the difference movie! pic.twitter.com/LVwMsVdrEq
— Halo CME (@halocme) May 6, 2019
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2019 HQ3 |
2019-May-07
|
15.7 LD
|
12.7
|
30
|
| 2019 JM |
2019-May-09
|
3.9 LD
|
7.6
|
15
|
| 2017 RC |
2019-May-09
|
14.5 LD
|
10.6
|
9
|
| 2008 HS3 |
2019-May-09
|
14.6 LD
|
5.3
|
162
|
| 2019 JL |
2019-May-12
|
14.3 LD
|
9.2
|
18
|
| 2018 VX8 |
2019-May-12
|
6.2 LD
|
15.5
|
118
|
| 2019 JG1 |
2019-May-17
|
5.6 LD
|
8.1
|
16
|
| 2012 KT12 |
2019-May-17
|
4.2 LD
|
4
|
20
|
| 2019 GT1 |
2019-May-17
|
6.1 LD
|
3.9
|
36
|
| 2019 JR1 |
2019-May-18
|
16.2 LD
|
10
|
44
|
| 2019 JB1 |
2019-May-20
|
16.9 LD
|
26.2
|
228
|
| 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
|
| 2016 NN15 |
2019-Jun-28
|
9.6 LD
|
8.4
|
16
|
| 2015 XC352 |
2019-Jul-01
|
11.9 LD
|
4.1
|
26
|
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: 37, this year: 778 (+86), all time: 20176 (+75)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1983 (+16) (last updated May 8, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 794,917 (+107)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1983 (+16) (last updated May 8, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 794,917 (+107)
On May 7, 2019, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 32 fireballs.
(23 sporadics, 9 eta 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
This is the position of the planets and a couple bodies in the solar system:
-
- Position of the planets in the inner solar system, May 7, 2019. Note: the Parker Solar Probe will cross the orbit of Venus this week. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
-
- Position of the planets in the middle solar system, May 7, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
-
- The outer solar system May 7, 2019, showing objects larger than 200 km Credit: Universe Sandbox / Bob Trembley.
OSIRIS-REx - Bennu Temperature Map
This is what I see when the meteorologist says, "And here's what's happening in your neck of the woods..."
This Bennu temperature map is in Kelvin, which means you're looking at -99.67 to 170.33 °F (-73.15 to 76.85 °C) — over a distance of 820 ft (250 m).https://t.co/stUJmEv1I7 pic.twitter.com/YBjgBzHCll
— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) May 7, 2019
Mars InSight - Observing Mars' Weather
Dust. Wind. Dude.
Dust clearing winds detected by @NASAInSight’s sensors are revealing a lot about #Mars weather: https://t.co/AckawaO0jT pic.twitter.com/Lgcp3afpAh
— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) May 6, 2019
Climate
Are greenhouse gases released by human activities affecting precipitation and drought? Yes, and the answer is in the trees: https://t.co/PeL9qvbDSa pic.twitter.com/p8EK7YA9ge
— NASA Climate (@NASAClimate) May 3, 2019
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
Exoplanet News
A flyby by two rogue stars prevented an exoplanet from being kicked out of its home system, finds new research. https://t.co/hWpU2b5m5K pic.twitter.com/k49EYSxoRc
— Astronomy Magazine (@AstronomyMag) May 8, 2019
Exoplanet Artwork by Bob Trembley
Exoplanet PSR B1257+12 b. Credit: Space Engine / Bob Trembley
Read more: PSR B1257+B12
Nearly 8,000 light-years away from Earth, astronomers have discovered a black hole that keeps rapidly swinging out jets of plasma clouds into space, according to a new study https://t.co/t3AardLjMN pic.twitter.com/bst7Hw1Ght
— CNN (@CNN) May 4, 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.
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!
July 20, 2019 is the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon.
In the Sky This Week – April 30, 2019
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.
-
- Mercury, Venus and a thin waning crescent Moon on the eastern horizon near sunrise on May 1st. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
-
- Mercury, Venus and a VERY thin waning crescent Moon on the eastern horizon near sunrise on May 2nd. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
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.
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.
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. 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
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.
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.
The Moon from Apr. 30-May 6, 2019. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.
Moon History
Blagg crater is named after Mary Adela Blagg (1858-1944). A Moon mapper extraordinaire, Blagg standardized the names of lunar features and became one of the first 5 women inducted as a fellow into the Royal Astronomical Society. Rock star🌟. #WomenInSTEM https://t.co/H6g34q8Rr5 pic.twitter.com/i6Nb9JLNya
— NASA Moon (@NASAMoon) April 25, 2019
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 (↑).
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.
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
The quadruplet MMS spacecraft have finished 1000 laps 🏁 around Earth — which adds up to 163 million miles flown! 🛰 Their latest adventure took them beyond Earth's bubble of magnetic protection 🌐 and into the flowing solar wind. ☀️💨 https://t.co/nuq1vpfBco pic.twitter.com/3EdZuZVjvZ
— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) April 26, 2019
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)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1967 (last updated Feb. 26, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 794,810 (+117)
Asteroid News
#ICYMI Do you have access to a 1-m telescope or larger? Then register to the @ESAGaia #asteroid alerts 👉https://t.co/KSQS9CniD3 to perform follow-up observations & help improve asteroid orbit determination or even discover new ones!
📷👉 https://t.co/VTyHcDqGC1 #PlanetaryDefense pic.twitter.com/zDaZcnPkqm— ESA Science (@esascience) April 30, 2019
LIVE: Speaking at the #PlanetaryDefense Conference https://t.co/uvjuqc6thj
— Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) April 29, 2019
On Apr. 29, 2019, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 21 fireballs.
(19 sporadics, 2 eta 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
The Eta-Aquariid Meteor Shower is active
The Eta-Aquariid Meteor Shower is active and expected to peak next week.https://t.co/7clcC24nzp pic.twitter.com/Y56hILRSD0
— AMSMETEORS (@amsmeteors) April 29, 2019
This is the position of the planets and a couple bodies in the solar system:
-
- Position of the planets in the inner solar system, Apr. 30, 2019. Note: the Parker Solar Probe is almost to the orbit of Venus. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
-
- Position of the planets in the middle solar system, Apr. 30, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
-
- The outer solar system Apr. 30, 2019, with the orbit of trans-Neptunian object 2018 VG18 highlighted in red. Credit: Space Engine / Bob Trembley.
-
- Visualization of trans-Neptunian object 2018 VG18 – the first TNO discovered while beyond 100 AU (15 billion km) from the Sun. Credit: Space Engine / Bob Trembley.
Read more on: 2018_VG18
Juno - #CitizenScience Collaboration
#CitizenScience collaboration 📸🔬🎨 : I send home raw pictures of Jupiter, and talented people around the world turn them into everything from detailed scientific imagery to beautiful works of art. Full video: https://t.co/YIwpDufF6Q pic.twitter.com/ogkYKdw7HO
— NASA's Juno Mission (@NASAJuno) April 24, 2019
OSIRIS-REx - Detailed Survey: Equatorial Stations Phase
Look at these rocks on top of another rock. https://t.co/BJwDZROU06 pic.twitter.com/fm2LeU0A6T
— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) April 29, 2019
Mars InSight - Winner of the Webby People's Voice Award
Martians, we did it! Your votes helped me win a #Webby People’s Voice award 🏆. Thank you for the love ❤️ and for supporting the work I’m doing on #Mars. Read all about @NASA’s Webby award wins: https://t.co/3hI3CiOvzQ pic.twitter.com/zO499yZnh3
— NASA InSight (@NASAInSight) April 24, 2019
Climate - NASA Earth Observatory, 20 Years
On April 29, 1999, NASA Earth Observatory (EO) started publishing science stories and imagery on the Web. So much has changed in those 20 years… https://t.co/OJ1iFx6WZC #NASAEO20 #EarthDayEveryDay #OTD ⏳ pic.twitter.com/zVpcyK4lzA
— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) April 29, 2019
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
Exoplanet News
Astronomers discover the first known exoplanet to survive a catastrophic collision with another planet. https://t.co/DNXHXLEliL pic.twitter.com/WhRPslrRXH
— Astronomy Magazine (@AstronomyMag) April 29, 2019
Exoplanet Artwork by Bob Trembley
-
- A hypothetical binary star in M-13, with a red giant and a neutron star companion. The neutron star has an accretion disk and polar jets. Credit: Space Engine / Bob Trembley
-
- A hypothetical exoplanet orbiting a binary star in M13. Credit: Space Engine / Bob Trembley
-
- “Blue Sunrise.” A neutron star rising on a hypothetical exoplanet. Credit: Space Engine / Bob Trembley
-
- “Red Sunrise.” A Red giant star rising on a hypothetical exoplanet. Credit: Space Engine / Bob Trembley
Nicknamed the Cheshire Cat galaxy group, this is the most popular example of gravitational lensing https://t.co/7lT87qbmaW pic.twitter.com/rhwhX08bPo
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) April 29, 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.
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!
July 20, 2019 is the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon.
In the Sky This Week – April 23, 2019
Did you get a chance to see the conjunction of Jupiter and the Moon the the predawn sky this morning? I did as I drove my wife to work.
The Moon was in conjunction with Jupiter high in the southern sky on Apr. 23rd; Saturn and the star Antares appear on either side. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Mercury and Venus appear very low in the eastern sky just before sunrise all week - seeing Mercury may be a challenge.
Mercury and Venus appear very low in the eastern sky just before sunrise at 6:00 AM on Apr. 24th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
There will be a conjunction of the Moon and Saturn in the eastern predawn sky on April 25th; Jupiter and the star Antares continue to appear in the southwest.
The Moon will be in conjunction with Saturn high in the southern sky on Apr. 25th; Jupiter and the star Antares appear to their west. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Mars continues to move away from the Pleiades - which is very close to setting with the dusk; the constellations Orion and Taurus set shortly after sunset. Over the last several months, Earth's orbit has taken it away from Mars (see solar system images below).
Mars and the constellations Orion and Taurus in the western sky after sunset on Apr. 24th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
M5 - The Rose Cluster
The globular cluster Messier 5, shown here in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image, is one of the oldest belonging to the Milky Way. The majority of its stars formed more than 12 billion years ago, but there are some unexpected newcomers on the scene, adding some vitality to this aging population. Stars in globular clusters form in the same stellar nursery and grow old together. The most massive stars age quickly, exhausting their fuel supply in less than a million years, and end their lives in spectacular supernovae explosions. This process should have left the ancient cluster Messier 5 with only old, low-mass stars, which, as they have aged and cooled, have become red giants, while the oldest stars have evolved even further into blue horizontal branch stars. Yet astronomers have spotted many young, blue stars in this cluster, hiding amongst the much more luminous ancient stars. Astronomers think that these laggard youngsters, called blue stragglers, were created either by stellar collisions or by the transfer of mass between binary stars. Such events are easy to imagine in densely populated globular clusters, in which up to a few million stars are tightly packed together. Messier 5 lies at a distance of about 25 000 light-years in the constellation of Serpens (The Snake). This image was taken with Wide Field Channel of Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. The picture was created from images taken through a blue filter (F435W, coloured blue), a red filter (F625W, coloured green) and a near-infrared filter (F814W, coloured red). The total exposure times per filter were 750 s, 400 s and 567 s, respectively. The field of view is about 2.6 arcminutes across. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Messier 5 or M5 (also designated NGC 5904) is a globular cluster in the constellation Serpens. Under extremely good conditions, M5 is just visible to the naked eye as a faint "star" near the star 5 Serpentis. Binoculars or small telescopes will identify the object as non-stellar while larger telescopes will show some individual stars, of which the brightest are of apparent magnitude 12.2. The cluster was discovered by Gottfried Kirch in 1702. - Paraphrased from Wikipedia
Location of the M5 - the Rose Cluster. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon is a waning gibbous, rising after sunset, visible high in the sky after midnight, and visible to the southwest after sunrise.
The third quarter Moon occurs on Apr. 25th, rising around midnight, and visible to the south after sunrise.
After the 25th, the Moon will be a waning crescent, visible low to the east before sunrise.
The Moon from Apr. 23-29, 2019. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.
Moon News - Earth Day (a day late)
"We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth." - Bill Anders, Apollo 8
Anders' iconic Earthrise photo taken in 1968 helped spark the first #EarthDay. Can you see why? #PictureEarth pic.twitter.com/r5PlnS8H1t
— NASA Moon (@NASAMoon) April 22, 2019
The Sun has been spot-free for 2 days. AR2738 has rotated out of view, but you can still see coronal loops associated with it on the Sun's limb; a coronal mass ejection blew off the Sun from that region in the first second of the videos below.
Coronal holes appear at both poles, and a snake-like coronal hole appear below the equator. SpaceWeather.com says: "A southern hole in the sun's atmosphere is spewing a stream of solar wind toward Earth. Minor geomagnetic storms are possible when the gaseous material arrives on April 24-25. NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft has already encountered the solar wind stream and measured its velocity: Between 500 and 600 km/s. Polar auroras may be seen despite waning full moonlight."
Several long-lived prominences over the last couple days; note the large amount of activity at the start of the video.
The solar wind speed is 338.8 km/sec (↓), with a density of 2.9 protons/cm3 (↑).
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.
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
#OTD in 2007, @NASA released the first 3D images of the sun acquired by the STEREO spacecraft, which could see the giant orb in different wavelengths. It helped scientists see the sun’s features. #science #space pic.twitter.com/4SNsozGskV
— U.S. Dept of Defense (@DeptofDefense) April 23, 2019
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2019 GF1 |
2019-Apr-27
|
4.7 LD
|
1.9
|
11
|
| 2018 KK1 |
2019-May-05
|
13.9 LD
|
13.9
|
71
|
| 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
|
4
|
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
|
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: 149, this year: 693, all time: 20077 (+6)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1967 (last updated Feb. 26, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 794,693 (+233)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1967 (last updated Feb. 26, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 794,693 (+233)
Asteroid News
This month saw the first ever #asteroid impact experiment, by Japan's @haya2e_jaxa spacecraft. Patrick Michel, a scientist involved with this and our proposed #HeraMission, explains a much bigger impact planned for the coming decade: https://t.co/18aJtXe67a #PlanetaryDefense pic.twitter.com/YxZ8Fulfbq
— ESA (@esa) April 23, 2019
On Apr. 22, 2019, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 16 fireballs.
(11 sporadics, 5 April Lyrids)
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
2 #FIREBALLS CAUGHT LAST NIGHT
- one over #Germany, one over #Maryland -
More info to come. pic.twitter.com/TLlfK7PfGq— AMSMETEORS (@amsmeteors) April 17, 2019
Last Night #Fireball over Delaware
- new video, now 360 reports -Nice video by Kimberly B, Maryland
Details: https://t.co/KWsHgKRcEa pic.twitter.com/JcXvfG8Wol— AMSMETEORS (@amsmeteors) April 17, 2019
This is the position of the planets and a couple bodies in the solar system:
-
- Position of the planets in the inner solar system, Apr. 23, 2019. Note: the Parker Solar Probe has past the orbit of Mercury. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
-
- Position of the planets in the middle solar system, Apr. 23, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
-
- Position of the planets and Kuiper belt objects in the outer solar system, Apr. 23, 2019. Credit: Universe Sandbox / Bob Trembley.
OSIRIS-REx - Detailed Survey: Equatorial Stations Phase
Over the next 7 weeks, I'll be making north/south slews on 7 different stations around Bennu in order to get observations from different sun illumination conditions.
More details on my operations during Detailed Survey: Equatorial Stations: https://t.co/gLPwzyEAwg pic.twitter.com/K0QufAB4Jd
— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) April 22, 2019
JAXA HAYABUSA2 - Descent of the SCI (Small Carry-on Impactor)
This video shows the descent of the SCI (Small Carry-on Impactor) made from images captured at 2 second intervals just after separation from Hayabusa2 by the onboard TIR (Thermal Infrared Camera). In the background, you can see the surface of Ryugu 500m away. pic.twitter.com/O5niPDb2XI
— HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) April 21, 2019
ExoMars 2020 - Call from Mars Competition!
“Call from Mars” competition extended to 20 May! It's not too late to send your voice to #Mars onboard our #ExoMars surface science platform.
⏺🎤Original story & how to enter: https://t.co/kZHBLS4kfq
▶️🎧Listen to entries so far: https://t.co/tP9vP8c8sA pic.twitter.com/taUrRXmOgp
— @ESA_ExoMars (@ESA_ExoMars) April 23, 2019
Climate - NASA's Earth Now (Beta) Website
Monitor our planet's vital signs, such as sea level height, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and Antarctic ozone. Trace the movement of water around the globe using the gravity map from NASA's GRACE satellites. Spot volcanic eruptions and forest fires using the carbon monoxide vital sign. Check out the hottest and coldest locations on Earth with the global surface temperature map.
With the “Latest Events” feature, you can explore geo-located satellite images of recent Earth events, including algal blooms, super storms and wildfires.
For #EarthDay, we're asking everyone a simple question: How do you #PictureEarth?
At NASA, we #PictureEarth with satellites and instruments that study the atmosphere, the ocean and the land of our living, breathing planet 24/7. 🌍 🛰️
Learn more: https://t.co/rTHh1DF638 pic.twitter.com/niCFuwlLZL
— NASA Climate (@NASAClimate) April 22, 2019
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
Exoplanet News
Here's an animated gif of FFIs from the first 8 TESS sectors, centered on the ecliptic pole, using swarp. Shows the continuous coverage in camera 4 nicely. pic.twitter.com/bU8WmvQKmV
— Roland Vanderspek (@twitspek) April 22, 2019
Ready for a weekend getaway?
How about a guided journey through the amazing TRAPPIST-1 system, home of 7 Earth-size exoplanets orbiting a star🌟 just a little larger than Jupiter.@NASA's #Exoplanet Excursions VR is available for download now! https://t.co/mmiyoHmgtK pic.twitter.com/unEtO0PwGq
— NASA Planetquest (@PlanetQuest) April 20, 2019
Exoplanet Artwork by Bob Trembley
Hypothetical Dwarf Moon T Ceti 6.D4. Credit: Space Engine / Bob Trembley.
1/2
Scientific visualization of a star forming Spiral Galaxy, a few million years after the big bang.
Formation of a massive "late-type", star-forming disk galaxy: an individual system is tracked through time, and its stellar light is shown in a 500 kilo-parsec region. pic.twitter.com/Kj8Hz7ui1I— 𝙴𝚢𝚎 𝙾𝚏 𝚅𝚎𝚐𝚊 ✨ (@__Moon2Mars) April 16, 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.
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!
July 20, 2019 is the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon.