In the Sky This Week – July 7, 2020
The Moon appears with Saturn and Jupiter in the southeastern sky at midnight on July 8th.
The Moon appears near Saturn and Jupiter in the southeastern sky near midnight on July 8th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon appears near mars in east-southeastern sky during the early morning hours on July 11th & 12th.
-
- The Moon appears near Mars in the east-southeastern sky at 2:30 PM on July 11th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
-
- The Moon appears near Mars in the east-southeastern sky at 2:30 PM on July 12th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Venus appears in conjunction with the star Aldebaran in the eastern predawn all week.
-
- Venus in conjunction with the star Aldebaran in the eastern predawn sky on July 8th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
-
- Venus in conjunction with the star Aldebaran in the eastern predawn sky on July 13th. 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 July 12th - rising around midnight, and visible to the south after sunrise.
After July 12th, the Moon will be a waning crescent - visible low to the east before sunrise.
The Moon from 2020-07-07 - 2020-07-13. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.
Moon News
Full Moon from the International Space Station.
Credit: NASA/Jeff Williams pic.twitter.com/ltk0Lr8bBK
— Antonio Paris (@AntonioParis) July 4, 2020
The Sun is currently spotless, but SpaceWeather.com reports that a sunspot appears to be emerging on the northern hemisphere, near the center of the Sun's face. Coronal holes appear at both poles, with no significant coronal holes on the Earthside of the Sun.
The Sun seen in 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) July 6, 2020:
A couple long-lived prominences on the Sun's limb over the last couple days made for great astrophoto targets.
The Sun seen in 304 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) July 6, 2020:
Videos courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.
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 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.
Facebook: SolarActivity - Run by Solar System Ambassador Pamela Skivak
Solar Corona
Solar wind speed is 426.2 km/sec (↑), with a density of 4.8 protons/cm3 (↓) at 1310 UT.
Near real-time animation of the corona and solar wind from the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO):
Animated LASCO C2 Coronograph showing the solar corona above the Sun's limb (the white circle). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech-SOHO
Near-Earth objects (NEOs) discovered this month: 2, this year: 1341 (+12), all time: 23,175 (+12)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2037 (last updated June 2, 2020)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 959,004 (+37)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2037 (last updated June 2, 2020)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 959,004 (+37)
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2020 MU1 |
2020-Jul-11
|
18.8 LD
|
2.7
|
37
|
| 2020 ML |
2020-Jul-12
|
11.4 LD
|
4.4
|
23
|
| 2020 KJ7 |
2020-Jul-13
|
11.8 LD
|
3.4
|
31
|
| 2009 OS5 |
2020-Jul-13
|
17.6 LD
|
2.6
|
45
|
| 2020 MQ2 |
2020-Jul-14
|
17.1 LD
|
8.3
|
44
|
| 2020 MX |
2020-Jul-17
|
15 LD
|
5.3
|
51
|
| 2016 DY30 |
2020-Jul-19
|
9 LD
|
15.1
|
3
|
| 2020 ME3 |
2020-Jul-19
|
14.8 LD
|
4.6
|
24
|
| 2002 BF25 |
2020-Jul-21
|
9.4 LD
|
6.8
|
129
|
| 2020 MX3 |
2020-Jul-29
|
9.5 LD
|
8.6
|
70
|
| 2018 PY7 |
2020-Jul-31
|
8.9 LD
|
9.5
|
16
|
| 2007 RF1 |
2020-Jul-31
|
10.7 LD
|
5
|
21
|
| 2018 BD |
2020-Aug-03
|
7.6 LD
|
9.4
|
3
|
| 2009 PQ1 |
2020-Aug-05
|
10.8 LD
|
13.5
|
112
|
| 2020 FA1 |
2020-Aug-23
|
18.4 LD
|
1.9
|
20
|
| 2016 AH164 |
2020-Aug-26
|
15.7 LD
|
5.6
|
4
|
| 2011 ES4 |
2020-Sep-01
|
0.3 LD
|
8.2
|
30
|
Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. Red highlighted entries are asteroids that either pass very close, or very large with high relative velocities to the Earth. Table from SpaceWeather.com
Asteroid Day Recap
A huge THANK YOU to our event organizers for putting on 90+ #AsteroidDay events this year! If you are an organizer/participated in an event be sure to submit your photos & recap of your event to be featured in one of our upcoming monthly newsletters! https://t.co/BImKLYDZwR pic.twitter.com/IXNaNMvTH4
— Asteroid Day ☄ (@AsteroidDay) July 4, 2020
On July 6, 2020, 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). Credit: SpaceWeather.com
Fireball News
Tokyo residents spot massive fireball exploding in the sky producing a loud sonic boom... #Japan #Tokyo #Meteor #Sky #Fireball https://t.co/c6OefkbLtO
— www.THEPIGEONEXPRESS.com (@TPE_connect) July 7, 2020
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system - the Parker Solar Probe is heading towards an encounter with Venus on July 10th.
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, 2020-07-07. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Close up of Parker Solar Probe approaching Venus:
Parker Solar Probe approaching Venus, 2020-07-07. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Artist impression of the Parker Solar Probe flying by Venus on July 10th:
Parker Solar Probe flying by Venus, 2020-07-07. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets in the middle solar system:
Position of the planets in the middle solar system, 2020-07-07 - the orbit of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is highlighted. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets some transneptunian objects in the outer solar system:
Position of the planets in the outer solar system, 2020-07-07. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Highlight: Dwarf Planet Ceres
Approximate true-color image of Ceres, using the F7 ('red'), F2 ('green') and F8 ('blue') filters, projected onto a clear filter image. Images were acquired by Dawn at 04:13 UT May 4, 2015, at a distance of 13641 km. At the time, Dawn was over Ceres' northern hemisphere. The prominent, bright crater at right is Haulani. The smaller bright spot to its left is exposed on the floor of Oxo. Ejecta from these impacts appears to have exposed high albedo material similar to deposits found on the floor of Occator Crater. Image Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA / Justin Cowart
Ceres /ˈsɪəriːz/ (minor-planet designation: 1 Ceres) is the largest object in the main asteroid belt that lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. With a diameter of 940 km (580 mi), Ceres is both the largest of the asteroids and the only unambiguous dwarf planet currently inside Neptune's orbit. It is the 25th-largest body in the Solar System within the orbit of Neptune.
Ceres was the first asteroid to be discovered (by Giuseppe Piazzi at Palermo Astronomical Observatory on 1 January 1801). It was originally considered a planet, but was reclassified as an asteroid in the 1850s after many other objects in similar orbits were discovered.
Ceres is the only object in the asteroid belt currently known to be rounded by its own gravity, although detailed analysis was required to exclude Vesta. From Earth, the apparent magnitude of Ceres ranges from 6.7 to 9.3, peaking once at opposition every 15 to 16 months, which is its synodic period. Thus even at its brightest, it is too dim to be seen by the naked eye, except under extremely dark skies.
Ceres appears to be partially differentiated into a muddy (ice-rock) mantle, with a crust that is 60 percent rock and 40 percent ice or less than 30 percent ice. It probably no longer has an internal ocean of liquid water, but there is brine that can flow through the outer mantle and reach the surface. The surface is a mixture of water ice and various hydrated minerals such as carbonates and clay. Cryovolcanoes such as Ahuna Mons form at the rate of about one every fifty million years. In January 2014, emissions of water vapor were detected from several regions of Ceres. This was unexpected because large bodies in the asteroid belt typically do not emit vapor, a hallmark of comets. Any atmosphere, however, would be the minimal kind known as an exosphere.
The robotic NASA spacecraft Dawn entered orbit around Ceres on 6 March 2015. - Wikipedia
Dawn Spacecraft at Ceres. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Read more about Ceres on NASA's Solar System Exploration site: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/dwarf-planets/ceres/overview/
OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission
After nearly 4 years in flight, I’ll be performing my 100th maneuver today. What a great way to celebrate #AsteroidDay 🌑 pic.twitter.com/uAfu8j5iGS
— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) June 30, 2020
International Space Station
This past week, research aboard the the @Space_Station was conducted on autonomous robot assistants, the properties of liquid metals and the physics of neutron stars.
Learn more: https://t.co/zbMKFSorR9 pic.twitter.com/1C0zs8glzu— ISS Research (@ISS_Research) July 2, 2020
NASA Perseverance Mars Rover
My team at @NASA, @NASAJPL and partners around the world have gone above and beyond to get me to the launch pad and soon on to Mars. We’ll continue to push onward together, to persevere, no matter what challenges arise. #CountdownToMars #WeWillPersevere pic.twitter.com/pYXxKEbVu9
— NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) July 7, 2020
Hubble Space Telescope
A glowing planetary nebula (+) two ultra-hot stars (-) a white dwarf (=) a cosmic conundrum!
Scientists taking a close look at SuWt 2, which lacks a white dwarf, theorize that a third star is the cause of its ghostly glow: https://t.co/95VJaXEnI7 pic.twitter.com/ZaULDf44TE
— HubbleTelescope (@HubbleTelescope) July 7, 2020
Climate
Arizona's Bighorn fire burn scar seen from space. ASTER, an instrument aboard @NASA's Terra satellite imaged the burn in the mountains north of Tucson, providing data for surface mapping and monitoring of changes: https://t.co/ecI5ZSNCJu
Vegetation=red🟥
Burn area=dark gray⬜️ pic.twitter.com/FBTC7dIZpd— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) June 30, 2020
Aerosol particles (like dust) have an effect on human health, weather and climate. While African dust plumes traveling across the Atlantic Ocean are not new, this dust storm has been quite expansive. A NASA satellite has provided a look: https://t.co/G0TGFIDuAK pic.twitter.com/7XplNsQNfW
— NASA Climate (@NASAClimate) June 26, 2020
ex·o·plan·et /ˈeksōˌplanət/, noun: a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun.
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
* Confirmed Planets Discovered by TESS refers to the number planets that have been published in the refereed astronomical literature.
* TESS Project Candidates refers to the total number of transit-like events that appear to be astrophysical in origin, including false positives as identified by the TESS Project.
* TESS Project Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed refers to the number of TESS Project Candidates that have not yet been dispositioned as a Confirmed Planet or False Positive.
Congrats to Wai-iti Recreational Reserve & Tunnicliff Forest for becoming New Zealand's first Intl Dark Sky Park!
The newly designated site consists of 135 hectares of Tasman District Council land just south of Wakefield on New Zealand’s South Island. https://t.co/Mu8J5i9xBw pic.twitter.com/zuZ0b7rdZB
— IDA Dark-Sky (@IDADarkSky) July 6, 2020
The Local Stellar Neighborhood
Continuing with my visual tour of nearby stars and their systems, we travel to Luyten's Star, 12.36 light years distant.
Distance to Luyten's Star (Gliese 273) from Sol; the plane (green) is aligned with the orientation of the plane of the Milky Way galaxy. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Luyten's Star
Luyten's Star /ˈlaɪtənz/ (GJ 273) is a red dwarf in the constellation Canis Minor located at a distance of approximately 12.36 light-years (3.79 parsecs) from the Sun. It has a visual magnitude of 9.9, making it too faint to be viewed with the unaided eye. It is named after Willem Jacob Luyten, who, in collaboration with Edwin G. Ebbighausen, first determined its high proper motion in 1935.
This star is approximately a quarter the mass of the Sun and has 35% of the Sun's radius. Luyten's Star is at the maximum mass at which a red dwarf can be fully convective, which means that most if not all of the star forms an extended convection zone. It has a stellar classification of M3.5V, with the V luminosity class indicating this is a main-sequence star that is generating energy through the thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen at its core. The projected rotation rate of this star is too low to be measured, but is no greater than 1 km/s. Measurements of periodic variation in surface activity suggest a leisurely rotation period of roughly 116 days (which would give a velocity of ~0.15 km/s). The effective temperature of the star's outer envelope is a relatively cool 3,150 K, giving the star the characteristic red-orange hue of an M-type star.
At present, Luyten's Star is moving away from the Solar System. The closest approach occurred about 13,000 years ago when it came within 3.67 parsecs. The star is currently located 1.2 light years distant from Procyon, and the latter would appear as a visual magnitude −4.5 star in the night sky of one of the planets orbiting Luyten's Star. The closest encounter between the two stars occurred about 600 years ago when Luyten's Star was at its minimal distance of about 1.12 ly from Procyon. The space velocity components of Luyten's Star are U = +16, V = −66 and W = −17 km/s.
In March 2017, two candidate planets were discovered orbiting Luyten's Star. The outer planet, GJ 273b, is a Super Earth in its star's habitable zone. It has a mass of 2.89 ± 0.26 Earth masses and orbits at a distance of 0.09110 ± 0.00002 AU, completing one orbital period in 18.650 ± 0.006 days. While the planet is on the innermost edge of the star's conservative habitable zone, the incident flux is only 1.06S⊕, so it may be potentially habitable if water and an atmosphere are present; depending on albedo, its equilibrium temperature could be anywhere between 206 and 293 Kelvin. The inner planet, GJ 273c, is one of the lightest exoplanets detected by radial velocities, with a mass of only 1.18 ± 0.16 Earth masses. However, it orbits much further in, with an orbital period of only 4.7234 ± 0.00004 days.
GJ 273b is one of the closest known planets in its star's habitable zone.
In 2019, two more candidate planets were detected by radial velocity, making a total of four known planets in the system. - Wikipedia
Luyten's Star System Architecture
Luyten's Star (Gliese 273) System Diagram. Note: exoplanet surface features are procedurally generated. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Luyten's Star Exoplanet Orbital Diagram
Top-down view of the inner exoplanet orbits around Luyten's Star (Gliese 273). Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Top-down view of the outer exoplanet orbits around Luyten's Star (Gliese 273). Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Artist's Rendering of Exoplanet Gliese 273 b
Artistic rendering of Luyten's Star seen from above the surface of exoplanet Gliese 273 b. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Stay safe, be well, and look up!
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.
Universe Sandbox: a space simulator that merges real-time gravity, climate, collision, and material interactions to reveal the beauty of our universe and the fragility of our planet. Includes VR support.
SpaceEngine: a free 3D Universe Simulator for Windows. Steam version with VR support available.
Stellarium: a free open source planetarium app for PC/MAC/Linux. It's a great tool for planning observing sessions. A web-based version of Stellarium is also available.
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
Light Pollution - NASA's Black Marble
The Universe - Universe Today
In the Sky This Week – June 30, 2020
June 30th is International Asteroid Day, a UN recognized day of awareness and education about asteroids – their role in the formation of our solar system, how we can use their resources, how asteroids can pave the way for future exploration, and how we can protect the Earth from asteroid impacts; I have been a supporter of #AsteroidDay since day 1. June 30th is the anniversary of the 1908 Tunguska impact event - which leveled 830 square miles of forest in a remote region of Russia.
It's 30th June also #AsteroidDay On this day in 1908 the Tunguska Event occurred. An enormous meteoric explosion over Siberia. Possibly caused by an asteroid airburst. Pictures Leonid Kulik. pic.twitter.com/NnlTbIPTpt
— David Blanchflower (@DavidBflower) June 30, 2020
I'm a complete asteroid fanatic, and I've been lecturing about asteroids since before #AsteroidDay came into existence; during #AsteroidDay events at the Cranbrook Institute of Science, I've given live-demos of an asteroid rendezvous, capture and redirect missions in Kerbal Space Program - one of the asteroid captures was a bit to fast, and I plowed into the asteroid, destroying my probe... in front of a live audience... woohoo!
A small asteroid captured and redirected by a small probe. Credit: Kerbal Space Program / Bob Trembley
The Moon appears in the southern sky after sunset early this week - passing through the constellation Sagittarius.
The conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter continues to appear in the southwestern predawn sky all week.
Saturn and Jupiter in conjunction, appearing in the southwestern sky at 4:30 AM this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon joins the pair of planets for a couple days in the first week of July - passing very close to them on July 5th.
Close-up of the conjunction of the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn in the southeastern sky 10:30 PM on July 5th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Mars appears in the eastern sky during the early morning hours this week.
Mars appears in the eastern early-morning sky this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Venus appears in the east-northeastern predawn sky near the Pleiades star cluster all week.
Venus appears in the east-northeastern predawn sky this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon is a waxing gibbous - visible to the southeast in early evening, up for most of the night.
The full Moon occurs on July 5th - rising at sunset, visible high in the sky around midnight, and visible all night.
After July 5th, 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 2020-06-30 - 2020-07-06. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.
Moon News
Space news, delivered! 📩
Join us for weekly updates on our #Artemis Moon program! Plus discover the latest on Earth, the Solar System and beyond — all delivered right to your inbox. https://t.co/MyG37QzGhO pic.twitter.com/eDPgKsMjBi
— NASA (@NASA) June 28, 2020
Calling all future engineers! @NASA's Artemis program will return astronauts to the Moon. The Next Moon Step Challenge invites you create a footprint and tell us what you'd say if you were an #Artemis astronaut stepping foot on the Moon. HOW TO ENTER >> https://t.co/GDdu4D9GyC pic.twitter.com/knLeGZRh0i
— NASA_SLS (@NASA_SLS) June 23, 2020
The Sun has been spotless for 2 days, so apparently there was a spot that lasted for only a couple days after my last post. Coronal holes remain open at both poles, and a couple small coronal holes pepper the face of the Sun.
The Sun seen in 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) June 29, 2020:
Prominences galore over the last few days! Some beautiful long-lived prominences, and a big loop too!
The Sun seen in 304 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) June 29, 2020:
Videos courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.
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 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.
Facebook: SolarActivity - Run by Solar System Ambassador Pamela Skivak
Solar Corona
Solar wind speed is 328.6 km/sec (↑), with a density of 9.0 protons/cm3 (↑) at 1135 UT.
Near real-time animation of the corona and solar wind from the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO):
Animated LASCO C2 Coronograph showing the solar corona above the Sun's limb (the white circle). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech-SOHO
Near-Earth objects (NEOs) discovered this month: 103 (+33), this year: 1329 (+33), all time: 23,163 (+64)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2037 (last updated June 2, 2020)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 958,967 (+86)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2037 (last updated June 2, 2020)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 958,967 (+86)
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2019 AC3 |
2020-Jul-01
|
10.5 LD
|
3.4
|
12
|
| 2020 MK3 |
2020-Jul-01
|
1.9 LD
|
8.4
|
24
|
| 2020 MT2 |
2020-Jul-03
|
16.1 LD
|
8.4
|
60
|
| 2020 MO |
2020-Jul-03
|
9.3 LD
|
9.6
|
41
|
| 2007 UN12 |
2020-Jul-04
|
16.7 LD
|
2.9
|
6
|
| 2020 LS |
2020-Jul-04
|
19.5 LD
|
11.6
|
75
|
| 2020 MU1 |
2020-Jul-11
|
18.8 LD
|
2.7
|
37
|
| 2020 ML |
2020-Jul-12
|
11.4 LD
|
4.4
|
23
|
| 2020 KJ7 |
2020-Jul-13
|
11.9 LD
|
3.4
|
30
|
| 2009 OS5 |
2020-Jul-13
|
17.6 LD
|
2.6
|
45
|
| 2020 MQ2 |
2020-Jul-14
|
17.1 LD
|
8.3
|
44
|
| 2020 MX |
2020-Jul-17
|
15.1 LD
|
5.4
|
53
|
| 2016 DY30 |
2020-Jul-19
|
9 LD
|
15.1
|
3
|
| 2020 ME3 |
2020-Jul-19
|
14.8 LD
|
4.6
|
24
|
| 2002 BF25 |
2020-Jul-21
|
9.4 LD
|
6.8
|
129
|
| 2018 PY7 |
2020-Jul-31
|
8.9 LD
|
9.5
|
16
|
| 2007 RF1 |
2020-Jul-31
|
10.7 LD
|
5
|
21
|
| 2018 BD |
2020-Aug-03
|
7.6 LD
|
9.4
|
3
|
| 2009 PQ1 |
2020-Aug-05
|
10.8 LD
|
13.5
|
112
|
| 2020 FA1 |
2020-Aug-23
|
18.4 LD
|
1.9
|
20
|
| 2016 AH164 |
2020-Aug-26
|
15.7 LD
|
5.6
|
4
|
Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. Red highlighted entries are asteroids that either pass very close, or very large with high relative velocities to the Earth. Table from SpaceWeather.com
Asteroid News - June 30th is International Asteroid Day
On June 28, 2020, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 8 fireballs.
(8 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). Credit: SpaceWeather.com
Fireball News
Years ago, I was driving home at night with my family and the entire sky lit up with two brilliant green flashes.
"Did you SEE that!?" I asked of my passengers.... all of whom were fast asleep. :/#bolide #AsteroidDay pic.twitter.com/JpCfi07b1K
— AstroBalrog (@AstroBalrog) June 30, 2020
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system:
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, 2020-06-29. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets in the middle solar system:
Position of the planets in the middle solar system, 2020-06-29. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets some transneptunian objects in the outer solar system:
Position of the planets in the outer solar system, 2020-06-29. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Highlight: Mars
I LOVE this photo of Mars!
The largest canyon in the Solar System cuts a wide swath across the face of Mars. Named Valles Marineris, the grand valley extends over 3,000 kilometers long, spans as much as 600 kilometers across, and delves as much as 8 kilometers deep. By comparison, the Earth's Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA is 800 kilometers long, 30 kilometers across, and 1.8 kilometers deep. The origin of the Valles Marineris remains unknown, although a leading hypothesis holds that it started as a crack billions of years ago as the planet cooled. Recently, several geologic processes have been identified in the canyon. The above mosaic was created from over 100 images of Mars taken by Viking Orbiters in the 1970s. Image Credit: NASA
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, being only larger than Mercury. In English, Mars carries the name of the Roman god of war and is often referred to as the "Red Planet". The latter refers to the effect of the iron oxide prevalent on Mars' surface, which gives it a reddish appearance distinctive among the astronomical bodies visible to the naked eye. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, with surface features reminiscent of the impact craters of the Moon and the valleys, deserts and polar ice caps of Earth.
The days and seasons are comparable to those of Earth, because the rotational period as well as the tilt of the rotational axis relative to the ecliptic plane are similar. Mars is the site of Olympus Mons, the largest volcano and highest known mountain on any planet in the Solar System and of Valles Marineris, one of the largest canyons in the Solar System. The smooth Borealis basin in the northern hemisphere covers 40% of the planet and may be a giant impact feature. Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are small and irregularly shaped. These may be captured asteroids, similar to 5261 Eureka, a Mars trojan.
Mars has been explored by unmanned spacecraft. Mariner 4, launched by NASA on November 28, 1964, was the first spacecraft to visit Mars, making its closest approach to the planet on July 15, 1965. Mariner 4 detected the weak Martian radiation belt, measured at about 0.1% that of Earth and captured the first images of another planet from deep space. On July 20, 1976, Viking 1 performed the first successful landing on the Martian surface. The Soviet Mars 3 spacecraft achieved a soft landing in December 1971 but contact was lost with its lander seconds after touchdown. On July 4, 1997, the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft landed on Mars and on July 5 released its rover, Sojourner, the first robotic rover to operate on Mars. Pathfinder was followed by the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which landed on Mars in January 2004 and operated until March 22, 2010 and June 10, 2018, respectively. The Mars Express orbiter, the first European Space Agency spacecraft to visit Mars, arrived in orbit on December 25, 2003. On September 24, 2014, the Indian Space Research Organization became the fourth space agency to visit Mars, when its maiden interplanetary mission, the Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft, arrived in orbit.
There are investigations assessing the past habitability of Mars, as well as the possibility of extant life. Astrobiology missions are planned, including the Perseverance and Rosalind Franklin rovers. Liquid water cannot exist on the surface of Mars due to low atmospheric pressure, which is less than 1% of the atmospheric pressure on Earth, except at the lowest elevations for short periods. The two polar ice caps appear to be made largely of water. The volume of water ice in the south polar ice cap, if melted, would be sufficient to cover the planetary surface to a depth of 11 meters (36 ft). In November 2016, NASA reported finding a large amount of underground ice in the Utopia Planitia region. The volume of water detected has been estimated to be equivalent to the volume of water in Lake Superior.
Mars can easily be seen from Earth with the naked eye, as can its reddish coloring. Its apparent magnitude reaches −2.94, which is surpassed only by Venus, the Moon and the Sun. Optical ground-based telescopes are typically limited to resolving features about 300 kilometers (190 mi) across when Earth and Mars are closest because of Earth's atmosphere. - Wikipedia
Explore Mars yourself with Google Mars: https://www.google.com/mars/
Screen shot of Valles Marineris in false color elevation mode in Google Mars.
Read more about Mars on NASA's Solar System Exploration site: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mars/overview/
OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission
#AsteroidDay is tomorrow, tune in for talks with OSIRIS-REx principal investigator, Dante Lauretta, and science team members. Visit https://t.co/z95R4kZHpN to find the broadcast schedule. pic.twitter.com/5K83WZSHNn
— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) June 29, 2020
International Space Station
.@Astro_Seal and @AstroBehnken will start their second spacewalk on Wednesday to continue upgrading power systems. More... https://t.co/qavbDUOj1W pic.twitter.com/QeIhzteoSg
— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) June 29, 2020
NASA Perseverance Mars Rover
Sending a robot to another planet cannot be done alone. Thank you to the three @ENERGY national laboratories that had key roles in making @NASAPersevere possible. Learn more about this partnership and how you can help us explore the Red Planet too: https://t.co/Ns2ZhOx6Ig pic.twitter.com/emumZF8IgH
— Thomas Zurbuchen (@Dr_ThomasZ) June 29, 2020
Hubble Space Telescope
#HubbleFriday Just like our home galaxy, the Milky Way, the Knife Edge Galaxy is a spiral galaxy. However, its spiral arms aren’t visible in this Hubble image because the galaxy is pictured edge-on, like looking at the rim of a plate: https://t.co/Kco9XlUvav pic.twitter.com/aAIr9sGnN5
— Hubble (@NASAHubble) June 26, 2020
Kerbal Space Center adds female astronomer and computer scientist to staff
Margo does a lot of education and public outreach at the Kerbal Space Center; maybe we can get her to write a guest column for the Sacred Space Astronomy site! Seriously tho, KSP has been posting a lot of astronomy-related posts, and I just LOVE it!
Let us introduce you to the newest recruit at the KSC: Margo Kerman!
Margo loves astronomy and science, just as much as sharing her passion with any curious Kerbal.
Learn more about about her here https://t.co/zqZlGuHL5Q pic.twitter.com/598Yt9jB7K— Kerbal Space Program (@KerbalSpaceP) June 29, 2020
Climate
Aerosol particles (like dust) have an effect on human health, weather and climate. While African dust plumes traveling across the Atlantic Ocean are not new, this dust storm has been quite expansive. A NASA satellite has provided a look: https://t.co/G0TGFIDuAK pic.twitter.com/7XplNsQNfW
— NASA Climate (@NASAClimate) June 26, 2020
In an unprecedented collaboration, @NASA, @esa & @JAXA_en have created the COVID-19 Earth Observation Dashboard, which provides user-friendly tracking of changes in air & water quality, climate change, economic activity & agriculture. Watch the tutorial ⬇️ https://t.co/0BKwtMM89M pic.twitter.com/UItyr0v9yy
— NASA Climate (@NASAClimate) June 25, 2020
ex·o·plan·et /ˈeksōˌplanət/, noun: a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun.
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
* Confirmed Planets Discovered by TESS refers to the number planets that have been published in the refereed astronomical literature.
* TESS Project Candidates refers to the total number of transit-like events that appear to be astrophysical in origin, including false positives as identified by the TESS Project.
* TESS Project Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed refers to the number of TESS Project Candidates that have not yet been dispositioned as a Confirmed Planet or False Positive.
Winning submission for "The Bright Side of Lighting"
“The Celestial River”, Pyrénées National Parc, France. Photo credit: Jean-Francois Graffand. pic.twitter.com/tSg16jRebE
— IDA Dark-Sky (@IDADarkSky) June 26, 2020
The Local Stellar Neighborhood
Continuing with my visual tour of nearby stars and their systems, we travel to YZ Ceti (Luyten 725-32), about 12 light years distant.
Distance to YZ Ceti (Luyten 725-32) from Sol; the plane (green) is aligned with the orientation of the plane of the Milky Way galaxy. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
YZ Ceti
YZ Ceti is a red dwarf star in the constellation Cetus. Although it is relatively close to the Sun at just 12 light years, this star cannot be seen with the naked eye. It is classified as a flare star that undergoes intermittent fluctuations in luminosity. YZ Ceti is about 13 percent the mass of the Sun and 17% of its radius.
This star is unusually close to Tau Ceti, a star of spectral class G8. The two are only about 1.6 light years apart, a little more than a third of the distance from the Sun to the Solar System's nearest neighbor, Proxima Centauri.
YZ Ceti is a variable star designation: the star shows occasional rapid and brief increases in brightness, sometimes reaching magnitude 12.03, caused by eruptions from the surface. This type of variable star is known as a UV Ceti star after its first member, or more colloquially as a flare star. It also shows small periodic variations in brightness caused by starspots or chromospheric features moving as the star rotates. This class of variable stars are known as BY Draconis variables. The periodic variations allow the rotational period of the star to be measured at 68.3 days, although modelling of its planetary system gives a rotational period for the star of 83 days.
On 10 August 2017 three planets were announced to have been discovered around YZ Ceti and a possible fourth sub-Earth planet candidate, still needing confirmation, with 0.472±0.096 Earth masses at an orbital period of 1.04 days. The orbits of the three confirmed planets were determined to be too close to YZ Ceti to be within the star's habitable zone, with equilibrium temperatures ranging from 347–491 K (74–218 °C; 165–424 °F), 299–423 K (26–150 °C; 79–302 °F), and 260–368 K (−13–95 °C; 8–203 °F) for planets b, c, and d, respectively.
An August 2018 study reexamined the discovery measurements, confirming the orbit of YZ Ceti d, but finding a possibly marginally longer orbital period of YZ Ceti b of 2.02 days rather than 1.97 days, and additionally finding that YZ Ceti c probably orbits in only 0.75 days rather than 3.06 days. If the latter is true, YZ Ceti c would have a mass of only 0.58 Earth masses and a roughly 10% chance of transiting YZ Ceti. - Wikipedia
YZ Ceti System Architecture
YZ Ceti (Luyten 725-32) System Diagram. Note: exoplanet surface features are procedurally generated. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
YZ Ceti Exoplanet Orbital Diagram
Top-down view of the exoplanet orbits around the red dwarf star YZ Ceti (Luyten 725-32). Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Artist's Rendering of Exoplanet YZ Ceti b
Artistic rendering of red dwarf star YZ Ceti seen from above the surface of exoplanet YZ Ceti b. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Artist's Rendering of the Surface of Exoplanet YZ Ceti b
YZ Ceti b is likely tidally-locked to YZ Ceti - one face of the exoplanet always pointing towards the star. To get this screenshot, I landed on the exoplanet, and flew around its surface until I had the star where I wanted it on the horizon. I then accelerated time and waited for a cloud pattern I liked; it's weird to watch the clouds flow past and the star just hangs there, unmoving.
"Perpetual Sunset on YZ Ceti b" Artistic rendering of red dwarf star YZ Ceti seen from the surface of exoplanet YZ Ceti b. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Stay safe, be well, and look up!
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.
Universe Sandbox: a space simulator that merges real-time gravity, climate, collision, and material interactions to reveal the beauty of our universe and the fragility of our planet. Includes VR support.
SpaceEngine: a free 3D Universe Simulator for Windows. Steam version with VR support available.
Stellarium: a free open source planetarium app for PC/MAC/Linux. It's a great tool for planning observing sessions. A web-based version of Stellarium is also available.
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
Light Pollution - NASA's Black Marble
The Universe - Universe Today
In the Sky This Week – June 23, 2020
This will be a great week to observe the Moon in the early evening!
-
- The waxing crescent Moon appears in the western sky at dusk on June 25th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
-
- The first quarter Moon appears in the southwestern sky after sunset on June 28th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
At 2:00 AM, the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter appears in the east-southeastern sky, and Mars appears in the eastern sky, having risen shortly beforehand.
Saturn and Jupiter appear in the south-southern sky at 2:00 AM this week - Mars rises in the east shortly beforehand. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Before dawn, Saturn and Jupiter have moved over to the southern sky, and Mars appears high in the southeastern sky
Before dawn, Saturn and Jupiter appear in the southern sky, and Mars appears high in the southeastern sky. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon is be a waxing crescent - visible toward the southwest in early evening.
The first-quarter Moon occurs on June 28th - visible high in the southern sky in early evening.
After June 28th, the Moon will be a waxing gibbous - visible to the southeast in early evening, up for most of the night.
The Moon from 2020-06-23 - 2020-06-29. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.
Moon News
According to NASA, along with 96 bags of urine and vomit, there are old boots, towels, backpacks, and wet wipes on the moon. With no garbage cans at hand, astronauts have left behind magazines, cameras, blankets, and shovels. https://t.co/DkGfg1D5bi
— WIRED (@WIRED) June 22, 2020
Several years ago, I attended a meeting of Seven Ponds Astronomy Club where a former Apollo Mission Control engineer gave a talk - he mentioned that the Apollo landing sites are literally "garbage dumps!" Those bulky EVA suits - OUT the door! Garbage and "other waste" - OUT the door! Anything and everything that did not need to come back with the astronauts - OUT the door! Then the ascent stage lift-off blasted stuff all over the place... He was laughing at the thought of making the landing sites "protected historical monuments" before mankind eventually goes back to the surface of the Moon. He commented that the first humans to lay eyes on the Apollo landing sites are going to be a bit disappointed.
The Sun has been spotless for 7 days. Large coronal holes remain open at both poles, with a small group of coronal holes appearing near the center of the Sun's face.
The Sun seen in 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) June 22, 2020:
Several along-lived prominences with numerous short-lived pillars appearing for only a single frame in the video of the last few days of activity on the Sun.
The Sun seen in 304 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) June 22, 2020:
Videos courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.
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 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.
Facebook: SolarActivity - Run by Solar System Ambassador Pamela Skivak
Solar Corona
Solar wind speed is 298.4 km/sec (↓), with a density of 6.2 protons/cm3 (↑) at 1330 UT.
Near real-time animation of the corona and solar wind from the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO):
Animated LASCO C2 Coronograph showing the solar corona above the Sun's limb (the white circle). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech-SOHO
Near-Earth objects (NEOs) discovered this month: 70 (+49), this year: 1296 (+53), all time: 23,129 (+53)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2037 (last updated June 2, 2020)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 958,881 (+167)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2037 (last updated June 2, 2020)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 958,881 (+167)
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters::
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 441987 |
2020-Jun-24
|
9.8 LD
|
12.9
|
186
|
| 2017 FW128 |
2020-Jun-25
|
6.9 LD
|
5.4
|
11
|
| 2020 MA |
2020-Jun-25
|
5.4 LD
|
7.8
|
32
|
| 2020 MK |
2020-Jun-27
|
12 LD
|
17.8
|
115
|
| 2020 MF1 |
2020-Jun-27
|
1.3 LD
|
10.5
|
10
|
| 2020 KQ7 |
2020-Jun-27
|
10.3 LD
|
2.6
|
18
|
| 2020 ME1 |
2020-Jun-28
|
2 LD
|
10.9
|
21
|
| 2020 JX1 |
2020-Jun-29
|
3.3 LD
|
5
|
62
|
| 2019 AC3 |
2020-Jul-01
|
10.5 LD
|
3.4
|
12
|
| 2020 MO |
2020-Jul-03
|
9.3 LD
|
9.6
|
41
|
| 2007 UN12 |
2020-Jul-04
|
16.7 LD
|
2.9
|
6
|
| 2020 LS |
2020-Jul-04
|
19.4 LD
|
11.6
|
73
|
| 2020 ML |
2020-Jul-12
|
11.4 LD
|
4.4
|
23
|
| 2020 KJ7 |
2020-Jul-13
|
11.9 LD
|
3.4
|
30
|
| 2009 OS5 |
2020-Jul-13
|
17.6 LD
|
2.6
|
45
|
| 2020 MX |
2020-Jul-17
|
15.1 LD
|
5.4
|
53
|
| 2016 DY30 |
2020-Jul-19
|
9 LD
|
15.1
|
3
|
| 2002 BF25 |
2020-Jul-21
|
9.4 LD
|
6.8
|
129
|
| 2018 PY7 |
2020-Jul-31
|
8.9 LD
|
9.5
|
16
|
| 2007 RF1 |
2020-Jul-31
|
10.7 LD
|
5
|
21
|
| 2018 BD |
2020-Aug-03
|
7.6 LD
|
9.4
|
3
|
| 2009 PQ1 |
2020-Aug-05
|
10.8 LD
|
13.5
|
112
|
Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. Red highlighted entries are asteroids that either pass very close, or very large with high relative velocities to the Earth. Table from SpaceWeather.com
Asteroid News
Happy to be a co-presenter for @AsteroidDay again this year!
Brought to you entirely digitally, https://t.co/ynDLWvPHc1, currently streaming until 4 July.#AsteroidDay itself is June 30th, recognised by the @UN @esa @LuxSpaceAgency @DrBrianMay @b612foundation @GrigRichters— Lisa Burke (@lisa_toni_burke) June 23, 2020
On June 22, 2020, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 23 fireballs.
(23 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). Credit: SpaceWeather.com
Fireball News
:/
Lot of #Starlink satellites tonight pic.twitter.com/irK8D6cYo7
— UK Meteor Network (@UKMeteorNetwork) June 22, 2020
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system:
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, 2020-06-23. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets in the middle solar system:
Position of the planets in the middle solar system, 2020-06-23. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets some transneptunian objects in the outer solar system:
Position of the planets in the outer solar system, 2020-06-23 - the orbit of Halley's comet is highlighted. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Highlight: Planet Earth
"The Blue Marble" photograph of Earth, taken by the Apollo 17 mission. Credit: NASA.
"There's no place like home"
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. According to radiometric dating estimation and other evidence, Earth formed over 4.5 billion years ago. Earth's gravity interacts with other objects in space, especially the Sun and the Moon, which is Earth's only natural satellite. Earth orbits around the Sun in 365.256 solar days, a period known as an Earth sidereal year. During this time, Earth rotates about its axis 366.256 times, that is, a sidereal year has 366.256 sidereal days.
Earth's axis of rotation is tilted with respect to its orbital plane, producing seasons on Earth. The gravitational interaction between Earth and the Moon causes tides, stabilizes Earth's orientation on its axis, and gradually slows its rotation. Earth is the densest planet in the Solar System and the largest and most massive of the four rocky planets.
Read more about Earth on the Wikipedia article - which is quite large.
Iconic Earthrise photo from Apollo 8. Credit: Astronaut Bill Anders.
Read more about Earth on NASA's Solar System Exploration site: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/earth/overview/
OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission
This image was taken on May 26, from a distance of 0.2 miles (0.3 km).
— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) June 22, 2020
Mars Insight
After several assists from my robotic arm, the mole appears to be underground. It’s been a real challenge troubleshooting from millions of miles away. We still need to see if the mole can dig on its own. More from our @DLR_en partners: https://t.co/7YjJIF6Asx #SaveTheMole pic.twitter.com/qHtaypoxPp
— NASA InSight (@NASAInSight) June 3, 2020
International Space Station
Two @NASA_Astronauts checked spacesuits and tools today as the rest of the Exp 63 crew worked fluid and combustion physics. More... https://t.co/5zP7Ar9jV5 pic.twitter.com/zRNjWkayOl
— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) June 22, 2020
NASA Perseverance Mars Rover
In 30 days, I’ll be launching to Mars. If you’ve ever dreamed of working in mission control, here’s your chance to show us what you’ve got and be part of history: https://t.co/fvR0TcrWm9
1️⃣ Record your own countdown video
2️⃣ Share it on social
3️⃣ Tag #CountdownToMars pic.twitter.com/BbnOmNSTPJ— NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) June 20, 2020
Hubble Space Telescope
The galaxy known as NGC 5907 stretches wide across this Picture of the Week. The galaxy is categorised as a spiral galaxy just like our own Milky Way.
Credit: @ESA / @Hubble_Space / @NASA , R. de Jong https://t.co/nH6l0O0gLr pic.twitter.com/aRfdU3H2Ox
— HUBBLE (@HUBBLE_space) June 22, 2020
Kerbal Space Program v. 1.10 debuts on July 1
KSP is adding ESA rocket and probe parts, comets and comet missions into the game! I can't wait to run my first comet mission!
Comet nucleus in Kerbal Space Program v 1.10.
Climate
Lima, Peru saw a 69% decrease in nitrogen dioxide emissions from the 2015-2019 average, while Buenos Aires, Argentina saw a 40% decrease. pic.twitter.com/BXkcAAeS52
— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) June 18, 2020
ex·o·plan·et /ˈeksōˌplanət/, noun: a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun.
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
* Confirmed Planets Discovered by TESS refers to the number planets that have been published in the refereed astronomical literature.
* TESS Project Candidates refers to the total number of transit-like events that appear to be astrophysical in origin, including false positives as identified by the TESS Project.
* TESS Project Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed refers to the number of TESS Project Candidates that have not yet been dispositioned as a Confirmed Planet or False Positive.
Hey! This was in Michigan! You GO students!
Check out these ✨stellar✨ middle-schoolers from Newaygo County, #Michigan who led a countywide effort to reduce #lightpollution. They convinced 3,770 homes to turn off their porch, garage and yard lights as part of their project 👏👏 https://t.co/Cv4vWqDI3E #STEM
— IDA Dark-Sky (@IDADarkSky) June 22, 2020
The Local Stellar Neighborhood
Continuing with my visual tour of nearby stars and their systems, we travel to Gliese 1061, about 12 light years distant.
Distance to Gliese 1061 from Sol; the plane (green) is aligned with the orientation of the plane of the Milky Way galaxy. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Gliese 1061
Gliese 1061 is a red dwarf star located approximately 12 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation of Horologium. Even though it is a relatively nearby star it has an apparent visual magnitude of about 13 so it can only be seen with at least a moderately-sized telescope.
The proper motion of Gliese 1061 has been known since 1974, but it was estimated to be further away: approximately 25 light-years distant based upon an estimated parallax of 0.130″. Its distance was only accurately determined in 1997 by the RECONS team. At that time, it was the 20th-nearest star system to the Sun. The discovery team noted that many more stars such as this are likely to be discovered nearby.
This star is a very small, dim, red dwarf, close to the lower mass limit for a star. It has an estimated mass of about 11.3% of the Sun and is only 0.1% as luminous. The star has been examined for the presence of an astrometric companion, but none has been detected. Nor does it display a significant infrared excess due to circumstellar dust.
On August 13, 2019, a planetary system was announced orbiting the star Gliese 1061 by the Red Dots project of detecting terrestrial planets around nearby red dwarf stars. The planet, Gliese 1061 d, orbits on the conservative circumstellar habitable zone of its star and the planet Gliese 1061 c orbits in the inner edge of the habitable zone. - Wikipedia
Gliese 1061 System Architecture
Gliese 1061 System Diagram. Note: Planet surface features are procedurally generated - artistic representations. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Gliese 1061 Exoplanet Orbital Diagram
Top-down view of the exoplanet orbits around the red dwarf star Gliese 1061. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
The orbits in the image above caused my eyes to pop! The eccentricities of the exoplanets seem to be correct in SpaceEngine, with exoplanet Gliese 1061 d having a fairly high eccentricity of 0.54. However, the NASA Exoplanet site shows a different orbital diagram, and I'm pretty sure that none of these exoplanets are showing the slightest eccentricity - I've queried the Solar System Ambassadors about this.
Gliese 1061 Orbital Diagram from the NASA Exoplanets site.
Artist's Rendering of Exoplanet Gliese 1061 d
Artistic representation of exoplanet Gliese 1061 b. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Stay safe, be well, and look up!
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.
Universe Sandbox: a space simulator that merges real-time gravity, climate, collision, and material interactions to reveal the beauty of our universe and the fragility of our planet. Includes VR support.
SpaceEngine: a free 3D Universe Simulator for Windows. Steam version with VR support available.
Stellarium: a free open source planetarium app for PC/MAC/Linux. It's a great tool for planning observing sessions. A web-based version of Stellarium is also available.
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
Light Pollution - NASA's Black Marble
The Universe - Universe Today
In the Sky This Week – June 16, 2020
Saturn and Jupiter, continuing their months-long conjunction, appear in the southern predawn sky all week.
The ongoing conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter appears in the southern predawn sky this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Mars appears in the southeastern sky all week; the waning crescent Moon appears in the eastern predawn sky from June 16-19th.
A waning crescent Moon appears in the eastern predawn on June 16th; Mars appears in the southeastern predawn sky this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
A very thin waning crescent moon appears near the planet Venus in the east-northeastern predawn sky on June 19th; with a good likelihood of earthshine on the Moon, this will be an excellent opportunity to take some astrophotos!
A very thin waning crescent moon appears very close to Venus in the east-northeastern predawn sky on June 19th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The constellation Hercules and the globular cluster M13 appear nearly overhead at midnight this week.
The constellation Hercules and the globular cluster M13 appear nearly overhead at midnight this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
M13 Wide-Field image. Credit: Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0
The Moon is a waning gibbous - visible low to the east before sunrise.
The new Moon occurs on June 21st.
After June 21st the Moon will be a waxing crescent - visible toward the southwest in early evening.
The Moon from 2020-06-16 - 2020-06-22. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.
Moon Humor
Sunspot AR2765 from last week is decaying and rotating around the Sun's western limb. Large coronal holes remain open at both poles.
The Sun seen in 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) June 15, 2020:
Moderate prominence activity on the Sun's limb over the last few days.
The Sun seen in 304 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) June 15, 2020:
Videos courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.
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 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.
Facebook: SolarActivity
Solar Corona
Solar wind speed is 453.5 km/sec (↑), with a density of 1.1 protons/cm3 (↓) at 2346 UT.
Near real-time animation of the corona and solar wind from the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO):
Animated LASCO C2 Coronograph showing the solar corona above the Sun's limb (the white circle). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech-SOHO
Near-Earth objects (NEOs) discovered this month: 21 (+17), this year: 1243 (+17), all time: 23,076 (+18)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2037 (last updated June 2, 2020)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 958,714 (+52)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2037 (last updated June 2, 2020)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 958,714 (+52)
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2020 KP6 |
2020-Jun-16
|
3.6 LD
|
10.8
|
41
|
| 2020 JU3 |
2020-Jun-17
|
6.9 LD
|
10.9
|
55
|
| 2020 KF3 |
2020-Jun-17
|
12.5 LD
|
3.4
|
15
|
| 2020 LG |
2020-Jun-18
|
8.9 LD
|
10.6
|
51
|
| 2018 PD22 |
2020-Jun-19
|
17.2 LD
|
14.6
|
56
|
| 2020 KR1 |
2020-Jun-22
|
11.6 LD
|
6.8
|
42
|
| 441987 |
2020-Jun-24
|
9.8 LD
|
12.9
|
186
|
| 2017 FW128 |
2020-Jun-25
|
6.9 LD
|
5.4
|
11
|
| 2020 KQ7 |
2020-Jun-27
|
10.3 LD
|
2.6
|
18
|
| 2020 JX1 |
2020-Jun-29
|
3.3 LD
|
5
|
60
|
| 2019 AC3 |
2020-Jul-01
|
10.5 LD
|
3.4
|
12
|
| 2007 UN12 |
2020-Jul-04
|
16.7 LD
|
2.9
|
6
|
| 2020 LS |
2020-Jul-04
|
19.4 LD
|
11.5
|
73
|
| 2020 KJ7 |
2020-Jul-13
|
11.9 LD
|
3.4
|
30
|
| 2009 OS5 |
2020-Jul-13
|
17.6 LD
|
2.6
|
45
|
| 2016 DY30 |
2020-Jul-19
|
9 LD
|
15.1
|
3
|
| 2002 BF25 |
2020-Jul-21
|
9.4 LD
|
6.8
|
129
|
| 2018 PY7 |
2020-Jul-31
|
8.9 LD
|
9.5
|
16
|
| 2007 RF1 |
2020-Jul-31
|
10.7 LD
|
5
|
21
|
| 2018 BD |
2020-Aug-03
|
7.6 LD
|
9.4
|
3
|
| 2009 PQ1 |
2020-Aug-05
|
10.8 LD
|
13.5
|
112
|
Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. Red highlighted entries are asteroids that either pass very close, or very large with high relative velocities to the Earth. Table from SpaceWeather.com
Asteroid News - New Minor Planet Circular with Named Asteroids
Congrats Christopher J. Corbally S.J. on your newly named asteroid! This listing is SO NEW it still appears as 2010 RS10 in the JPL Small Body Database Browser.
(119248) Corbally = 2001 RS10
Discovered 2001 Sept. 10 by R. A. Tucker at at the Goodricke-Pigott Observatory, Tucson.
Christopher J. Corbally S.J. (b. 1946) was ordained in the Society of Jesus and earned a PhD in astronomy. He continues a long career in astronomy where his contributions have included areas of multiple stellar systems, stellar spectral classification, galactic structure, star formation and telescope technology.
A member of NASA's OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission got a named asteroid:
(133832) Loveridge = 2003 XJ39
Discovered 2003 Dec. 5 by the Catalina Sky Survey.
Michael Francis Ubaldo Loveridge (b. 1993) worked on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Mission as a software engineer at the Science Processing and Operations Center.
His primary contributions included work on science data assembly and processing software.
Another named asteroid that caught my eye was:
(503033) New Hampshire = 2015 FE144
Discovered∗ 2005 Mar. 3 by the Catalina Sky Survey.
New Hampshire is a state located in the northeast corner United States, within the region of New England. The capitol is the city of Concord. It is nicknamed The
Granite State due to its high supply of quality granite. The state motto, Live Free or Die, accurately captures the strongly held sentiment of its citizens.
Link to MPC Circular: https://minorplanetcenter.net/iau/ECS/MPCArchive/2020/MPC_20200603.pdf
On June 8, 2020, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 9 fireballs.
(9 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). Credit: SpaceWeather.com
Fireball News - HUGE Green Fireball Over Australia
Experts have confirmed that a massive green fireball filmed streaking through the sky in Western Australia wasn’t aliens, but a meteor.
More on this story: https://t.co/yxIt8RfQEK pic.twitter.com/1RPgsl6OQB
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) June 16, 2020
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system:
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, 2020-06-16. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets in the middle solar system - the orbit of asteroid 216 Kleopatra is highlighted.
Position of the planets in the middle solar system, 2020-06-16 - the orbit of asteroid 216 Kleopatra is highlighted. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Asteroid 216 Kleopatra
Artistic rendering of Asteroid 216 Kleopatra from radar imaging data. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
216 Kleopatra is a metallic, ham-bone-shaped asteroid and trinary system orbiting in the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 138 kilometers (86 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 10 April 1880, by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa at the Austrian Naval Pola Observatory, in what is now Pula, Croatia. The M-type asteroid has a shorter than average rotation period of 5.4 hours. It was named after Cleopatra, the famous Egyptian queen. Two small minor-planet moons were discovered in 2008, and later named Alexhelios and Cleoselene.
Kleopatra is a relatively large asteroid, measuring 217 × 94 × 81 km. Calculations from its radar albedo and the orbits of its moons show it to be a rubble pile, a loose amalgam of metal, rock, and 30–50% empty space by volume, likely due to a disruptive impact prior to the impact that created its moons.
Kleopatra has an unusual shape. Initial observations with the ESO 3.6 m Telescope at La Silla, run by the European Southern Observatory, were interpreted to show a double source with two distinct lobes of similar size. These results were disputed when radar observations at the Arecibo Observatory showed that the two lobes of the asteroid are connected, resembling the shape of a ham-bone. The radar observations provided a detailed shape model that appeared on the cover of Science Magazine. - Wikipedia
Position of the planets some transneptunian objects in the outer solar system:
Position of the planets in the middle solar system, 2020-06-16 - the orbit of dwarf planet and transneptunian object Eris is highlighted. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Highlight: Planet Venus
Venus dayside synthesized false color image by UVI (2018 Mar 18). Credit: JAXA.
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. As the second-brightest natural object in the night sky after the Moon, Venus can cast shadows and can be, on rare occasion, visible to the naked eye in broad daylight. Venus lies within Earth's orbit, and so never appears to venture far from the Sun, either setting in the west just after dusk or rising in the east a bit before dawn. Venus orbits the Sun every 224.7 Earth days. With a rotation period of 243 Earth days, it takes longer to rotate about its axis than any other planet in the Solar System and does so in the opposite direction to all but Uranus (meaning the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east). Venus does not have any moons, a distinction it shares only with Mercury among planets in the Solar System.
Venus is a terrestrial planet and is sometimes called Earth's "sister planet" because of their similar size, mass, proximity to the Sun, and bulk composition. It is radically different from Earth in other respects. It has the densest atmosphere of the four terrestrial planets, consisting of more than 96% carbon dioxide. The atmospheric pressure at the planet's surface is 92 times that of Earth, or roughly the pressure found 900 m (3,000 ft) underwater on Earth. Venus is by far the hottest planet in the Solar System, with a mean surface temperature of 735 K (462 °C; 863 °F), even though Mercury is closer to the Sun. Venus is shrouded by an opaque layer of highly reflective clouds of sulfuric acid, preventing its surface from being seen from space in visible light. It may have had water oceans in the past, but these would have vaporized as the temperature rose due to a runaway greenhouse effect. The water has probably photodissociated, and the free hydrogen has been swept into interplanetary space by the solar wind because of the lack of a planetary magnetic field. Venus's surface is a dry desertscape interspersed with slab-like rocks and is periodically resurfaced by volcanism.
As one of the brightest objects in the sky, Venus has been a major fixture in human culture for as long as records have existed. It has been made sacred to gods of many cultures, and has been a prime inspiration for writers and poets as the morning star and evening star. Venus was the first planet to have its motions plotted across the sky, as early as the second millennium BC.
In January 2020, astronomers reported evidence that suggests that Venus is currently volcanically active.- Wikipedia
SpaceEngine on Steam has some free downloadable content (DLC) featuring high resolution radar images of Venus' surface from NASA's Magellan mission.
Surface features of Venus - radar imaged by NASA's Magellan mission. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Read more about Venus on NASA's Solar System Exploration site: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/venus/overview/
OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission
Last week, our asteroid-sampling spacecraft @OSIRISREx made its closest swoop –– 820 feet (250 meters) –– over Osprey, a backup sample site on asteroid Bennu. The mission will make its first collection attempt at primary site Nightingale on Oct. 20: https://t.co/8jsSOYbZwW pic.twitter.com/2ehnepjJ3L
— NASA (@NASA) June 3, 2020
https://t.co/VIaGE19fzf pic.twitter.com/MzA0xZTfmm
— AstroBalrog (@AstroBalrog) June 16, 2020
International Space Station
The Exp 63 crew is starting the week getting ready for a pair of upcoming spacewalks and a satellite deployment. They are also setting up research gear that will analyze hazardous particles and plasma crystals. https://t.co/SnA4WeBqdv pic.twitter.com/O6CPEWh0en
— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) June 15, 2020
NASA Perseverance Mars Rover
With about a month till @NASAPersevere’s launch, @NASA leaders, scientists & engineers will talk the latest on the #Mars2020 rover June 17, 11am PT (2pm ET, 1800 UTC). Questions will be answered live on the show. Submit yours with #askNASA.
How to watch: https://t.co/1C2DGdWEjc pic.twitter.com/6xVTCTepkr
— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) June 15, 2020
Hubble Space Telescope
Our latest Picture of the Week captures, in incredible detail, the starburst galaxy formally known as PLCK G045.1+61.1. Credit: @ESA / @Hubble_Space/@NASA, B. Fryehttps://t.co/1XUJlePU9s pic.twitter.com/8RaQ39AW7e
— HUBBLE (@HUBBLE_space) June 15, 2020
ESA Solar Orbiter
Today, @ESASolarOrbiter makes its first close approach to the Sun, called perihelion, bringing the spacecraft within 48 million miles of our star. This is the closest distance at which a spacecraft has ever taken images of the Sun. More from @ESA: https://t.co/qBrjFfLhLT pic.twitter.com/wn71l9yzR2
— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) June 15, 2020
Climate
Update: Since 2002, Greenland has been losing ice mass at an avg rate of 280 gigatonnes (Gt) per year, & Antarctica has been losing an avg of 147 Gt per year. 1 Gt = 1 billion metric tons, 2.2 trillion pounds, or 10,000 fully-loaded U.S. aircraft carriers. https://t.co/ZrlzwqDIeQ
— NASA Climate (@NASAClimate) June 15, 2020
The monthly GISTEMP surface temperature analysis update has been posted. The global mean temperature anomaly for May 2020 was 1.02°C above the 1951-1980 May average. https://t.co/EDTZWL4pYk pic.twitter.com/k8cirFMycP
— NASA GISS (@NASAGISS) June 12, 2020
ex·o·plan·et /ˈeksōˌplanət/, noun: a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun.
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
* Confirmed Planets Discovered by TESS refers to the number planets that have been published in the refereed astronomical literature.
* TESS Project Candidates refers to the total number of transit-like events that appear to be astrophysical in origin, including false positives as identified by the TESS Project.
* TESS Project Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed refers to the number of TESS Project Candidates that have not yet been dispositioned as a Confirmed Planet or False Positive.
@GrandCanyonNPS Star Party has gone virtual this year! Join @IDADarkSky Director of Public Policy @JohnBarentine for a presentation on 'Dark Skies in Isolation' and the importance of protecting the night from #lightpollution.https://t.co/3kOzFYBfsy
— IDA Dark-Sky (@IDADarkSky) June 15, 2020
The Local Stellar Neighborhood
Continuing with my visual tour of nearby stars and their systems, we travel to Tau Ceti, about 11.7 light years distant.
Distance to Tau Ceti from Sol; the plane (green) is aligned with the orientation of the plane of the Milky Way galaxy. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Tau Ceti
Tau Ceti (τ Cet, τ Ceti) is a star in the constellation Cetus. It can be seen with the unaided eye as a third-magnitude star.
It has a spectrum similar to the Sun, but is only 78% of the Sun's mass. It is just under 12 light-years from the Solar System, a relatively nearby star. It is the closest solitary G-class star. The star appears stable, and is "metal-deficient" because (like the Sun) it is mostly made of hydrogen and helium.
There is more than ten times as much dust surrounding Tau Ceti as in the Solar System. There are probably five planets orbiting Tau Ceti, two in the habitable zone. Because of its debris disk, any planet orbiting Tau Ceti would get far more impact events than Earth. Despite this, its Sun-like characteristics have led to widespread interest in the star. Tau Ceti is consistently listed as a target for the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI), and it appears in some science fiction literature.
On December 19, 2012, evidence was presented for a system of five planets orbiting Tau Ceti. The planets' estimated minimum masses are between two and six times the Earth's mass. Their orbital periods range from 14 to 640 days. One of them, Tau Ceti e, appears to orbit about half as far from Tau Ceti as Earth does from the Sun. With Tau Ceti's luminosity of 52% that of the Sun and a distance from the star of 0.552 AU, the planet would receive 1.71 times as much stellar radiation as Earth does. This is slightly less than Venus, which gets 1.91 times Earth's. Some research places it within the star's habitable zone.
The habitable zone for a star is where liquid water could be present on an Earth-like planet. For Tau Ceti, this is at a radius of 0.55–1.16 AU, where 1 AU is the average distance from the Earth to the Sun. - Wikipedia
NOTE: The Wikipedia article says 5 exoplanets, but at the time of this writing, NASA's exoplanet archive only shows 4 for Tau Ceti; SpaceEngine also shows only 4 exoplanets.
Tau Ceti System Architecture
-
- Tau Ceti System Diagram. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
-
- Close-up view of the exoplanets in the Tau Ceti System Diagram. NOTE: surface features are artistic renderings. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Tau Ceti Exoplanet Orbital Diagram
Top-down view of the exoplanet orbits around the star Tau Ceti - the orbit of Tau Ceti f is highlighted in red . Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Artist's Rendering of Exoplanet Tau Ceti f
Artistic rendering of exoplanet Tau Ceti f. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Stay safe, be well, and look up!
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.
Universe Sandbox: a space simulator that merges real-time gravity, climate, collision, and material interactions to reveal the beauty of our universe and the fragility of our planet. Includes VR support.
SpaceEngine: a free 3D Universe Simulator for Windows. Steam version with VR support available.
Stellarium: a free open source planetarium app for PC/MAC/Linux. It's a great tool for planning observing sessions. A web-based version of Stellarium is also available.
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
Light Pollution - NASA's Black Marble
The Universe - Universe Today
In the Sky This Week – June 9, 2020
Today is my 60th birthday; I was awake for 2 hours before I was reminded of that fact by friends wishing me well on Facebook. My thought process went something like: "Oh yea... Huh... ... ... I wonder how many rockets I can launch today?" Here's one of them, with a pilot and 2 orbital tourists:
What did YOU do on your birthday? I launched tourists into space in Kerbal Space Program.
The Moon appears in conjunction with Saturn and Jupiter in the southern predawn sky on June 9th; Mars appears away from the conjunction in the southeastern sky.
The Moon in conjunction with Saturn and Jupiter in the southern predawn sky on June 9th; Mars appears away from the group in the southeastern sky. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon appears near Mars in the southeastern predawn sky on June 12th and 13th.
-
- The Moon appears near Mars in the southeastern predawn sky on June 12th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
-
- The Moon appears near Mars in the southeastern predawn sky on June 13th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Mercury appears above west-northwestern horizon at sunset - look for it this week as it will appear lower towards the horizon each day, and be gone by next week.
Mercury appears above the west-northwestern horizon after sunset this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The sky overhead at midnight from my location at 42° north, and from 27° south in the southern hemisphere:
-
- The sky overhead at midnight from 42° North on June 9th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
-
- The sky overhead at midnight from 27° South on June 9th. 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 June 13th - rising around midnight, and visible to the south after sunrise.
After June 13th, the Moon will be a waning gibbous - visible low to the east before sunrise.
The Moon from 2020-06-09 - 2020-06-15. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.
Moon News
Our new Moon rover, called VIPER, will create the first resource maps for human exploration before #Artemis astronauts arrive in 2024.
This Wednesday, we’re announcing the company selected to deliver VIPER to the lunar surface. How to tune in: https://t.co/U9AkAZ0RqP pic.twitter.com/blE7a15qU7
— NASA (@NASA) June 8, 2020
Here's an image of an engineering testbed of the VIPER rover - It isn't small!
VIPER rover mobility testbed, an engineering model created to evaluate the rover’s mobility system. The testbed includes mobility units, computing and motor controllers. Testing involves evaluating performance of the rover as it drives over various slopes, textures and soils that simulate the lunar environment. Credit: NASA/Johnson Space Center
Not only do we have a spot - sunspot AR2765 has been blowing off B-class flares!
here we see the AR2765 look at the loops. 2/3👀👀 pic.twitter.com/XO4kYgm1W8
— Industrial Engineer Irene Quiroz (@nenecallas) June 8, 2020
The northern and southern coronal holes appears to be about the same size - AR2765's coronal loops are clearly visible in the video below.
The Sun seen in 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) June 8, 2020:
Several swirling and looping prominences on the Sun's limb over the last few days!
The Sun seen in 304 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) June 8, 2020:
Videos courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.
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 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.
Facebook: SolarActivity
Solar Corona
Solar wind speed is 442.6 km/sec (↑), with a density of 7.9 protons/cm3 (↓) at 2346 UT.
Near real-time animation of the corona and solar wind from the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO):
Animated LASCO C2 Coronograph showing the solar corona above the Sun's limb (the white circle). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech-SOHO
Near-Earth objects (NEOs) discovered this month: 4 (+4), this year: 1226 (+53), all time: 23,058 (+6)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2037 (last updated June 2, 2020)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 958,662 (+44)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2037 (last updated June 2, 2020)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 958,662 (+44)
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2020 KZ3 |
2020-Jun-08
|
3.2 LD
|
6
|
21
|
| 2020 KY |
2020-Jun-10
|
17.3 LD
|
2.4
|
21
|
| 2020 JQ2 |
2020-Jun-11
|
15.2 LD
|
4.5
|
25
|
| 2020 JS1 |
2020-Jun-11
|
9.9 LD
|
5
|
19
|
| 2020 JU1 |
2020-Jun-13
|
19 LD
|
6.6
|
49
|
| 2020 KB3 |
2020-Jun-13
|
3.2 LD
|
7.5
|
46
|
| 2017 MF7 |
2020-Jun-14
|
3.7 LD
|
10.9
|
23
|
| 2020 KP6 |
2020-Jun-16
|
3.6 LD
|
10.8
|
38
|
| 2020 JU3 |
2020-Jun-17
|
6.9 LD
|
10.9
|
55
|
| 2020 KF3 |
2020-Jun-17
|
12.5 LD
|
3.5
|
14
|
| 2018 PD22 |
2020-Jun-19
|
17.2 LD
|
14.6
|
56
|
| 2020 KR1 |
2020-Jun-22
|
11.6 LD
|
6.8
|
42
|
| 441987 |
2020-Jun-24
|
9.8 LD
|
12.9
|
186
|
| 2017 FW128 |
2020-Jun-25
|
6.9 LD
|
5.4
|
11
|
| 2020 KQ7 |
2020-Jun-27
|
10.4 LD
|
2.6
|
17
|
| 2020 JX1 |
2020-Jun-29
|
3.3 LD
|
5
|
60
|
| 2019 AC3 |
2020-Jul-01
|
10.5 LD
|
3.4
|
12
|
| 2007 UN12 |
2020-Jul-04
|
16.7 LD
|
2.9
|
6
|
| 2020 KJ7 |
2020-Jul-13
|
11.9 LD
|
3.4
|
30
|
| 2009 OS5 |
2020-Jul-13
|
17.6 LD
|
2.6
|
45
|
| 2016 DY30 |
2020-Jul-19
|
9 LD
|
15.1
|
3
|
| 2002 BF25 |
2020-Jul-21
|
9.4 LD
|
6.8
|
129
|
| 2018 PY7 |
2020-Jul-31
|
8.9 LD
|
9.5
|
16
|
| 2007 RF1 |
2020-Jul-31
|
10.7 LD
|
5
|
21
|
| 2018 BD |
2020-Aug-03
|
7.6 LD
|
9.4
|
3
|
| 2009 PQ1 |
2020-Aug-05
|
10.8 LD
|
13.5
|
112
|
Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. Red highlighted entries are asteroids that either pass very close, or very large with high relative velocities to the Earth. Table from SpaceWeather.com
On June 8, 2020, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 5 fireballs.
(5 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). Credit: SpaceWeather.com
Fireball News
Here is a second video I have received of the #fireball #meteor that occurred over our area tonight. This happened near 9:43 pm and was reported in at least 4 surrounding states.
🎥 sent you me by Kaylan Lee Sullivan pic.twitter.com/FZrmV1bhq6
— Marc Weinberg (@MarcWeinbergWX) June 8, 2020
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system - the Parker Solar Probe has just past perihelion #5.
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, 2020-06-08. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets in the middle solar system.
Position of the planets in the middle solar system, 2020-06-08. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets some transneptunian objects in the outer solar system.
Position of the planets in the outer solar system on 2020-06-08 - the orbit of dwarf planet Pluto is highlighted. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Highlight: Planet Mercury
I want to briefly highlight each of the planets in my next few "In the Sky" posts - this week is Mercury. Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun - its daytime temperature reaches 460°C, but without an atmosphere, the nighttime temperature can drop to -180°C. There are craters at Mercury's poles that have not seen sunlight for billions of years - water ice was detected in these craters. Mercury has a HUGE core.
A graphical representation of Mercury’s internal structure. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
SpaceEngine on Steam has some free downloadable content (DLC) featuring ridiculously high resolution images of Mercury from the MESSENGER mission; I was flying over and around Mercury looking for an interesting feature, and this crater practically jumped out at me.
Abedin is a crater on Mercury. It is named after the Bangladeshi painter Zainul Abedin. It exhibits a complex crater structure with a smooth floor, wall terraces, and a central peak complex. The chains of smaller craters surrounding Abedin are secondary craters formed by ejecta from the initial impact. The northwestern section of Abedin's continuous ejecta blanket appears to have a lower reflectance than the rest of the material adjacent to the crater rim. This pattern suggests that the darker material resided at some depth beneath the northwestern portion of the pre-impact target area and was excavated and redeposited during the crater's formation. - Wikipedia
Abedin Crater on Mercury. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Mercury’s eccentric orbit combined with rotational locking (Mercury rotates three times for every two orbits of the Sun) causes the Sun to rise, set, then rise again - when seen from just the right longitude. At sunset, the Sun sets, rises back up, then sets again. 90° away, you would see double noons, with the Sun passing overhead, stopping and reversing, then reversing again and resuming its normal motion westward. I created this time-lapse video simulating Mercury's double sunrise:
Read more about Mercury on NASA's Solar System Exploration site: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mercury/overview/
Solar System News
Neptune’s moon Triton shows tantalizing evidence of water beneath its jumbled crust, making it a high-priority target in the search for life. https://t.co/kXatih4lFw
— Astronomy Magazine (@AstronomyMag) June 8, 2020
Saturn’s largest moon Titan can teach #astrobiology researchers about habitability beyond Earth. A new discovery by @CassiniSaturn showed that Titan is drifting away from Saturn 100 times faster than previously thought — about 4 in (11 cm) per year: https://t.co/YNnGNbXRle pic.twitter.com/CPmvjdddsg
— NASA Astrobiology: Exploring Life in the Universe (@NASAAstrobio) June 8, 2020
OSIRIS-REx: NASA's Asteroid Sample Return Mission
Rocks on asteroid Bennu appear to be cracking as they heat up and cool down — a process called thermal fracturing. OSIRIS-REx has provided scientists with the first-ever opportunity to observe this process on an object with no atmosphere.
Learn more: https://t.co/oJShOJry4Q pic.twitter.com/ea9Czku7QW
— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) June 9, 2020
SpaceX Falcon 9 10 Year Anniversary
Falcon 9 flew for the first time ten years ago today. Completing 85 missions to date, Falcon 9 is now the most flown operational rocket in the United States. pic.twitter.com/duuMDuyv7t
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 4, 2020
International Space Station
Exp 63 starts the week on communications gear, orbital plumbing and spacewalk preps. More... https://t.co/uwoVoyD8lY pic.twitter.com/pH67hLBatM
— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) June 8, 2020
Kerbal Space Program April Fools Tease Transforms into New Content
The big green gas giant planet in KSP is getting a graphic make-over in version 1.10, complete with cloud animations. Time to send another Galileo probe to Jool!
As teased on April Fool's Day, Jool is getting an awesome revamp in 1.10, including cloud animation for this beautiful gas giant. Can't wait to see your screenshots!#SharedHorizons #KSPLoadingPreview #KSP #Jool pic.twitter.com/gWYuYBfCvJ
— Kerbal Space Program (@KerbalSpaceP) June 8, 2020
Hubble Space Telescope
ESA/Hubble #Flashback: This image shows new stars around Westerlund 2 and was part of the 2015 Hubble anniversary image.
Credit: @NASA / @ESA the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), A. Nota (ESA/STScI), and the Westerlund 2 Science Team https://t.co/EsXFjvtuxj pic.twitter.com/1sHXJA5yYH
— HUBBLE (@HUBBLE_space) June 8, 2020
The early days of our universe are still a mystery. ✨
Hubble used the light-bending power of a massive galaxy cluster to peer into the early universe, and found something surprising. The first stars and galaxies might've formed sooner than we thought: https://t.co/8kAAQ4qivp pic.twitter.com/P7unpc3yk4
— Hubble (@NASAHubble) June 3, 2020
Climate
When it comes to sea level, NASA not only measures it, but also seeks to understand it.
Fathoming the forces that determine sea levels around the world can be a bit daunting, so here’s a guide to some of the basics. https://t.co/94ZUI8GJYM
— NASA Climate (@NASAClimate) June 4, 2020
ex·o·plan·et /ˈeksōˌplanət/, noun: a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun.
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
* Confirmed Planets Discovered by TESS refers to the number planets that have been published in the refereed astronomical literature.
* TESS Project Candidates refers to the total number of transit-like events that appear to be astrophysical in origin, including false positives as identified by the TESS Project.
* TESS Project Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed refers to the number of TESS Project Candidates that have not yet been dispositioned as a Confirmed Planet or False Positive.
Light pollution scale.
How dark is your sky? pic.twitter.com/Ny1FrViIFu— Con Stoitsis (@vivstoitsis) June 2, 2020
The largest globular cluster in the Milky Way, Omega Centauri, might actually be the leftovers of a cannibalized galaxy. https://t.co/R5jg7vI6WB
— Astronomy Magazine (@AstronomyMag) June 9, 2020
The Local Stellar Neighborhood
Continuing with my visual tour of nearby stars and their systems, we travel to DX Cancri, about 12 light years distant.
Distance to DX Cancri from Sol; the plane (green) is aligned with the orientation of the plane of the Milky Way galaxy. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
DX Cancri
DX Cancri is the variable star identifier for a small star in the northern zodiac constellation of Cancer the crab. With an apparent visual magnitude of 14.81, it is much too faint to be seen with the naked eye. Visually viewing this star requires a telescope with a minimum aperture of 16 in (41 cm). Based upon parallax measurements, DX Cancri is located at a distance of 11.8 light-years (3.6 parsecs) from Earth. This makes it the 18th closest star (or star system) to the Sun.
This star has a stellar classification of M6.5V, identifying it as a type of main sequence star known as a red dwarf. It has about 9% of the mass of the Sun and 11% of the Sun's radius. The outer envelope of the star has an effective temperature of 2,840 K,[10] giving it the cool red-orange glow of an M-type star. This is a flare star that has random, intermittent changes in brightness by up to a fivefold increase. This star has been examined for excess emission of infrared radiation caused by cold circumstellar dust, but none was found. It is a proposed member of the Castor Moving Group of stars that share a common trajectory through space. This group has an estimated age of 200 million years. - Wikipedia
Hypothetical DX Cancri System Architecture
Note: at the time of this writing, DX Cancri has no known exoplanets - but it could have some! The planets shown below are procedurally generated in SpaceEngine based on data from similar systems.
Hypothetical system diagram of DX Cancri. NOTE: Planets and moons have been procedurally generated. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Artist's view of a hypothetical exoplanet orbiting DX Cancri
Artist's concept of a hypothetical ringed gas giant planet orbiting DX Cancri, seen from an asteroid moon. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Stay safe, be well, and look up!
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.
Universe Sandbox: a space simulator that merges real-time gravity, climate, collision, and material interactions to reveal the beauty of our universe and the fragility of our planet. Includes VR support.
SpaceEngine: a free 3D Universe Simulator for Windows. Steam version with VR support available.
Stellarium: a free open source planetarium app for PC/MAC/Linux. It's a great tool for planning observing sessions. A web-based version of Stellarium is also available.
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
Light Pollution - NASA's Black Marble
The Universe - Universe Today
In the Sky This Week – June 2, 2020
Mars continues to move eastward away from Saturn and Jupiter in the southern predawn sky.
Mars in the southeastern predawn sky; Jupiter and Saturn in the southern predawn sky this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Mercury appears above west-northwestern horizon at sunset.
Mercury appears above the western horizon after sunset this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon appears near the star Spica the southern sky at 11:00 PM on June 2nd.
The Moon appears near the star Spica on June 2nd in the southern sky at 11:00 PM. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon appears near the star Antares in the southeastern sky at 11:00 PM on June 4th and 5th.
-
- The Moon appears near the star Antares in the southeastern sky at 11:00 PM on June 4th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
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- The Moon appears near the star Antares in the southeastern sky at 11:00 PM on June 5th. 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 June 5th - rising at sunset, visible high in the sky around midnight, and visible all night.
After June 5th, 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 2020-06-02 - 2020-06-08. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.
Moon News
What looks like a dried river bed is actually a lava channel, carved out of the Moon's surface long ago by flowing lava. 🌋 These channels, called sinuous rilles, are a common landform on the Moon. https://t.co/oUqfenqlyn pic.twitter.com/pe3tyzKBdR
— NASA Moon (@NASAMoon) May 21, 2020
We have a spot! Sunspot AR2764 is a member of new Solar Cycle 25. The northern coronal hole appears to have opened up a bit since last week, while the southern hole remains open and large.
The Sun seen in 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) June 1, 2020:
More, beautiful, swirling prominences on the Sun's limb over the last few days!
The Sun seen in 304 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) June 1, 2020:
Videos courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.
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 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.
Facebook: SolarActivity
Solar Corona
Solar wind speed is 347.9 km/sec (↑), with a density of 9.0 protons/cm3 (↑) at 1445 UT.
Near real-time animation of the corona and solar wind from the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO):
Animated LASCO C2 Coronograph showing the solar corona above the Sun's limb (the white circle). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech-SOHO
Near-Earth objects (NEOs) discovered this month: 0, this year: 1173, all time: 230,052
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2037 (last updated June 2, 2020) (+19)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 958,618 (+92)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2037 (last updated June 2, 2020) (+19)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 958,618 (+92)
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2020 KN2 |
2020-Jun-02
|
5.8 LD
|
8.4
|
18
|
| 2020 KK7 |
2020-Jun-02
|
1.3 LD
|
15.2
|
20
|
| 2020 KD4 |
2020-Jun-02
|
10.5 LD
|
5.2
|
21
|
| 2020 KF |
2020-Jun-02
|
12.1 LD
|
10.8
|
26
|
| 2020 KJ1 |
2020-Jun-02
|
5.5 LD
|
5.1
|
19
|
| 2020 KE4 |
2020-Jun-03
|
7.7 LD
|
9.1
|
31
|
| 2020 KN5 |
2020-Jun-04
|
16.2 LD
|
12.7
|
32
|
| 2020 KA6 |
2020-Jun-05
|
11.7 LD
|
11.6
|
17
|
| 163348 |
2020-Jun-06
|
13.3 LD
|
11.1
|
339
|
| 2020 KO1 |
2020-Jun-06
|
15.5 LD
|
7.3
|
35
|
| 2020 KQ1 |
2020-Jun-06
|
13.4 LD
|
14.9
|
49
|
| 2020 KA7 |
2020-Jun-07
|
10.4 LD
|
7.3
|
31
|
| 2020 KK3 |
2020-Jun-07
|
17.8 LD
|
11.9
|
29
|
| 2013 XA22 |
2020-Jun-08
|
7.6 LD
|
6.7
|
98
|
| 2020 KZ3 |
2020-Jun-08
|
3.2 LD
|
6
|
21
|
| 2020 KY |
2020-Jun-10
|
17.3 LD
|
2.4
|
21
|
| 2020 JQ2 |
2020-Jun-11
|
15.2 LD
|
4.5
|
24
|
| 2020 JS1 |
2020-Jun-11
|
9.9 LD
|
5
|
19
|
| 2020 JU1 |
2020-Jun-13
|
19 LD
|
6.6
|
48
|
| 2020 KB3 |
2020-Jun-13
|
3.2 LD
|
7.5
|
46
|
| 2017 MF7 |
2020-Jun-14
|
3.7 LD
|
10.9
|
23
|
| 2020 KP6 |
2020-Jun-16
|
3.6 LD
|
10.8
|
38
|
| 2020 JU3 |
2020-Jun-17
|
6.9 LD
|
10.9
|
55
|
| 2020 KF3 |
2020-Jun-17
|
12.5 LD
|
3.5
|
14
|
| 2018 PD22 |
2020-Jun-19
|
17.2 LD
|
14.6
|
56
|
| 2020 KR1 |
2020-Jun-22
|
11.6 LD
|
6.8
|
42
|
| 441987 |
2020-Jun-24
|
9.8 LD
|
12.9
|
186
|
| 2017 FW128 |
2020-Jun-25
|
6.9 LD
|
5.4
|
11
|
| 2020 JX1 |
2020-Jun-29
|
3.3 LD
|
5
|
59
|
| 2019 AC3 |
2020-Jul-01
|
10.5 LD
|
3.4
|
12
|
| 2007 UN12 |
2020-Jul-04
|
16.7 LD
|
2.9
|
6
|
| 2020 KJ7 |
2020-Jul-13
|
11.9 LD
|
3.4
|
30
|
| 2009 OS5 |
2020-Jul-13
|
17.6 LD
|
2.6
|
45
|
| 2016 DY30 |
2020-Jul-19
|
9 LD
|
15.1
|
3
|
| 2002 BF25 |
2020-Jul-21
|
9.4 LD
|
6.8
|
129
|
Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. Red highlighted entries are asteroids that either pass very close, or very large with high relative velocities to the Earth. Table from SpaceWeather.com
Asteroid News
Atira #asteroids are asteroids whose orbits are entirely confined within Earth's orbit but do not cross paths with our planet. They extremely rare with only 22 known examples. Congratulations to @Catalina_sky survey and Greg Leonard for spotting a newest one! #planetarydefense https://t.co/K9di8G0ozU
— NASA Asteroid Watch (@AsteroidWatch) May 5, 2020
On June 2, 2020, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 13 fireballs.
(13 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). Credit: SpaceWeather.com
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system.
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, 2020-06-02 - the orbit of asteroid Eros is highlighted.. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets in the middle solar system.
Position of the planets in the middle solar system, 2020-06-02. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets some transneptunian objects in the outer solar system.
Position of the planets in the outer solar system on 2020-06-02 - the orbit of dwarf planet Eris is highlighted. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Solar System News
Every 19 months, Venus passes between the Sun and the Earth. And every 8 years, Venus looks particularly close to the Sun.
This image was taken this morning, Venus was only 2,4° from the Sun. All we can see is its thin atmosphere that scatters light and gives this shape of ring. pic.twitter.com/HOEvHXFnxB
— Thierry Legault (@ThierryLegault) June 2, 2020
As of today the @ESA/@NASASun SOHO satellite has discovered 3,979 new comets via the Sungrazer Project. We're now 21 comets away from FOUR THOUSAND discoveries! 😱🤯☄️
A huge win for #CitizenScience and all the volunteers that @DoNASAScience from the comfort & safety of home!👏 pic.twitter.com/AA4fa3y9Xo
— Karl Battams (@SungrazerComets) June 1, 2020
OSIRIS-REx: NASA's Asteroid Sample Return Mission
Scientists are gaining a new understanding of asteroid Bennu’s memorable “spinning top” shape and where it comes from.
Read more about what they’ve discovered: https://t.co/hRvwO4qTb1 pic.twitter.com/qYKl8xLQpQ
— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) June 1, 2020
SpaceX Crew Dragon Launches to the International Space Station!
Falcon 9 lifts off from historic Launch Complex 39A and sends Crew Dragon to orbit on its first flight with @NASA astronauts to the @space_station pic.twitter.com/UOoaKiQaFk
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 31, 2020
International Space Station
.@Astro_Doug and @AstroBehnken were aboard the @SpaceX #CrewDragon as it approached the station. https://t.co/IXnE4DimeS pic.twitter.com/AtqnUA9GdN
— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) June 1, 2020
#LaunchAmerica: Kerbal Space Program Teases Players with Possible Crew Dragon Suits
In our excitement for today's launch, and after seeing the @NASA astronaut's sweet suits, we made our own concept! Who wants to see this in the game? #LaunchAmerica @SpaceX pic.twitter.com/eJW46azhyY
— Kerbal Space Program (@KerbalSpaceP) May 30, 2020
Hubble Space Telescope
At the heart of our Milky Way galaxy is a supermassive black hole.
About 3.5 million years ago, it unleashed a burst of energy that our very distant hominid ancestors likely saw as ghostly light overhead. Hubble is uncovering clues about this explosion: https://t.co/kSEB8wdbwH pic.twitter.com/WQg7cKuu2B
— Hubble (@NASAHubble) June 2, 2020
Climate
Seven of the regions that dominate global ice mass losses (such as the Southern Andes and High Mountain Asia) are melting at an accelerated rate, depleting freshwater resources that millions of people depend on and adding to sea level rise. https://t.co/tJ4ptv0jDA
— NASA Climate (@NASAClimate) June 1, 2020
ex·o·plan·et /ˈeksōˌplanət/, noun: a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun.
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
* Confirmed Planets Discovered by TESS refers to the number planets that have been published in the refereed astronomical literature.
* TESS Project Candidates refers to the total number of transit-like events that appear to be astrophysical in origin, including false positives as identified by the TESS Project.
* TESS Project Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed refers to the number of TESS Project Candidates that have not yet been dispositioned as a Confirmed Planet or False Positive.
Do you know an advocate who deserves recognition for their work protecting the night from #lightpollution? Nominate them today for the 2020 @IDADarkSky Awards! We would love to recognize their commitment to the #darksky movement.
Open thru June 30th, 2020 https://t.co/0l028CSKiV
— IDA Dark-Sky (@IDADarkSky) May 26, 2020
Fast Radio Bursts Sheds Light on Missing Matter Mystery
Astronomers led by A/Prof Jean-Pierre Macquart (ICRAR-@CurtinUni) have used mysterious fast radio bursts to solve the mystery of 'missing matter' https://t.co/va4ShliQAO@ucsantacruz @UW @CSIRO @CSIRO_ATNF @Swinburne @Macquarie_Uni @pucv_cl @SKA_Australia @SKA_telescope @nature pic.twitter.com/eVTspLUU8Q
— ICRAR (@ICRAR) May 27, 2020
The Local Stellar Neighborhood
Continuing with my visual tour of nearby stars and their systems, we travel to the Epsilon Indi star system, about 12 light years distant.
Distance to Epsilon Indi from Sol; the plane (green) is aligned with the orientation of the plane of the Milky Way galaxy. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Epsilon Indi
Epsilon Indi (ε Indi, ε Ind) is a star system approximately 12 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Indus consisting of a K-type main-sequence star, ε Indi A, and two brown dwarfs, ε Indi Ba and ε Indi Bb, in a wide orbit around it. The brown dwarfs were discovered in 2003. ε Indi Ba is an early T dwarf (T1) and ε Indi Bb a late T dwarf (T6) separated by 0.6 arcseconds, with a projected distance of 1460 AU from their primary star.
ε Indi A has one known planet, ε Indi Ab, with a mass of 3.3 Jupiter masses in a nearly circular orbit with a period of about 45 years. ε Indi Ab is the closest Jovian exoplanet. The ε Indi system provides a benchmark case for the study of the formation of gas giants and brown dwarfs. - Wikipedia
Epsilon Indi System Architecture
Epsilon Indi System Diagram. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Epsilon Indi System Orbital Diagrams
Top-down view of the orbits of the stars in the Epsilon Indi star system - the system barycenter is highlighted in red. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Oblique view of the orbits of the star Epsilon Indi A and its exoplanet - the barycenter for both A & B is shown as the blue diamond. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Top-down view of the orbits of the brown dwarfs in the Epsilon Indi B sub-system - the system barycenter is highlighted in red. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Artist's view of exoplanet Epsilon Indi Ab
Artist's concept of exoplanet Epsilon Indi Ab. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Artist's view of brown dwarf Epsilon Indi Bb
Artist's concept of brown dwarf Epsilon Indi Bb - Epsilon Indi Ba (red) and Epsilon Indi A (yellow) are shown in the distance. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Stay safe, be well, and look up!
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.
Universe Sandbox: a space simulator that merges real-time gravity, climate, collision, and material interactions to reveal the beauty of our universe and the fragility of our planet. Includes VR support.
SpaceEngine: a free 3D Universe Simulator for Windows. Steam version with VR support available.
Stellarium: a free open source planetarium app for PC/MAC/Linux. It's a great tool for planning observing sessions. A web-based version of Stellarium is also available.
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
Light Pollution - NASA's Black Marble
The Universe - Universe Today
In the Sky This Week – May 26, 2020
Mars is now half-way across the southeastern predawn sky from Saturn and Jupiter, and is getting farther away from the pair with each day.
Mars in the southeastern predawn sky; Jupiter and Saturn in the southern predawn sky this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Mercury and Venus appear low on the northwestern horizon at sunset - the crescent Moon appears near the star Pollux on May 26th.
The waxing crescent Moon appears near the star Pollux in the western sky at sunset on May 26th; Mercury and Venus appear low on the horizon this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon appears the star Regulus high in the west-southwestern sky after sunset on May 28 and 29th.
-
- The Moon appears near the star Regulus on May 28th high in the west-southwestern sky at 10:00 PM. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
-
- The Moon appears near the star Regulus on May 29th high in the west-southwestern sky at 10:00 PM. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon then appears near the star Spica, high in the southern sky after sunset on June 1st.
The Moon appears near the star Spica on June 1st high in the southern sky at 10:00 PM. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Asterisms galore in the east-northeastern sky at midnight this week: the Summer Triangle, the Northern Cross and the Mini-Cassiopeia - which I didn't know was a thing... now I'll have to go look for it!
Asterisms in the east-northeastern sky at midnight this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon is a waxing crescent - visible toward the southwest in early evening.
The first quarter Moon occurs on Friday May 30th - visible high in the southern sky in the early evening.
After May 30th, the Moon will be a waxing gibbous - visible to the southeast in early evening, and up for most of the night.
The Moon from 2020-05-26 - 2020-06-01. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.
The Sun has been spot-free for 24 days, apparently those 2 active regions rotating into view last week never developed into spots. Coronal loops from one of those regions are still visible in the videos below. The northern coronal hole remains open, but smaller than last week - the hole at the south pole is very large.
The Sun seen in 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) May 25, 2020:
Beautiful, large, long-lived prominences on the Sun over the last few days!
The Sun seen in 304 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) May 25, 2020:
Videos courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.
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 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.
Facebook: SolarActivity
Solar Corona
Solar wind speed is 314.5 km/sec (↓), with a density of 6.4 protons/cm3 (↓) at 1210 UT.
Near real-time animation of the corona and solar wind from the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO):
Animated LASCO C2 Coronograph showing the solar corona above the Sun's limb (the white circle). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech-SOHO
Near-Earth objects (NEOs) discovered this month: 173 (+81), this year: 1173 (+156), all time: 232,004 (+82)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2018 (last updated Oct. 1, 2019)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 958,526 (+133)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2018 (last updated Oct. 1, 2019)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 958,526 (+133)
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2020 JP2 |
2020-May-27
|
11.6 LD
|
8.6
|
18
|
| 2020 KJ3 |
2020-May-27
|
7.8 LD
|
10.1
|
22
|
| 2020 JN3 |
2020-May-27
|
4.3 LD
|
5.8
|
12
|
| 2020 KV |
2020-May-28
|
7.2 LD
|
12.7
|
33
|
| 2020 JM1 |
2020-May-28
|
9.5 LD
|
5.8
|
21
|
| 2020 JV2 |
2020-May-29
|
9.2 LD
|
11.5
|
26
|
| 2020 KB |
2020-May-29
|
7.5 LD
|
12.2
|
40
|
| 2020 KD3 |
2020-May-29
|
7.9 LD
|
7.4
|
19
|
| 2020 KU1 |
2020-May-29
|
15.4 LD
|
12.4
|
42
|
| 2020 KV1 |
2020-May-29
|
10.1 LD
|
4.7
|
21
|
| 2020 KN2 |
2020-Jun-02
|
5.8 LD
|
8.4
|
17
|
| 2020 KD4 |
2020-Jun-02
|
10.5 LD
|
5.2
|
22
|
| 2020 KF |
2020-Jun-02
|
12.1 LD
|
10.8
|
26
|
| 2020 KJ1 |
2020-Jun-02
|
5.5 LD
|
5.1
|
20
|
| 2020 KE4 |
2020-Jun-03
|
7.7 LD
|
9.1
|
29
|
| 163348 |
2020-Jun-06
|
13.3 LD
|
11.1
|
339
|
| 2020 KO1 |
2020-Jun-06
|
15.5 LD
|
7.3
|
35
|
| 2020 KQ1 |
2020-Jun-06
|
13.4 LD
|
14.9
|
53
|
| 2020 KK3 |
2020-Jun-07
|
17.7 LD
|
11.9
|
29
|
| 2013 XA22 |
2020-Jun-08
|
7.6 LD
|
6.7
|
98
|
| 2020 KZ3 |
2020-Jun-08
|
3.2 LD
|
6
|
21
|
| 2020 KY |
2020-Jun-10
|
17.3 LD
|
2.4
|
20
|
| 2020 JQ2 |
2020-Jun-11
|
15.2 LD
|
4.5
|
25
|
| 2020 JS1 |
2020-Jun-11
|
9.9 LD
|
5
|
19
|
| 2020 JU1 |
2020-Jun-13
|
19 LD
|
6.6
|
48
|
| 2020 KB3 |
2020-Jun-13
|
3.2 LD
|
7.5
|
46
|
| 2017 MF7 |
2020-Jun-14
|
3.7 LD
|
10.9
|
23
|
| 2020 KF3 |
2020-Jun-17
|
12.5 LD
|
3.5
|
14
|
| 2018 PD22 |
2020-Jun-19
|
17.2 LD
|
14.6
|
56
|
| 2020 KR1 |
2020-Jun-22
|
11.6 LD
|
6.8
|
42
|
| 441987 |
2020-Jun-24
|
9.8 LD
|
12.9
|
186
|
| 2017 FW128 |
2020-Jun-25
|
6.9 LD
|
5.4
|
11
|
| 2020 JX1 |
2020-Jun-29
|
3.3 LD
|
5
|
59
|
| 2019 AC3 |
2020-Jul-01
|
10.5 LD
|
3.4
|
12
|
| 2007 UN12 |
2020-Jul-04
|
16.7 LD
|
2.9
|
6
|
| 2009 OS5 |
2020-Jul-13
|
17.6 LD
|
2.6
|
45
|
| 2016 DY30 |
2020-Jul-19
|
9 LD
|
15.1
|
3
|
| 2002 BF25 |
2020-Jul-21
|
9.4 LD
|
6.8
|
129
|
Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. Red highlighted entries are asteroids that either pass very close, or very large with high relative velocities to the Earth. Table from SpaceWeather.com
Asteroid News
Newly discovered asteroid #2020KJ4 (~ 5 meters in diameter) will have a very close encounter with Earth on May 28, 2020 at 13:20 UTC flying at 0.37 LD (lunar distances) or about 142,000 km [more: https://t.co/VVDIkJOrRd] pic.twitter.com/81z4OPVHxp
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) May 26, 2020
On May 25, 2020, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 5 fireballs.
(5 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). Credit: SpaceWeather.com
Fireball & Meteor News
The American Meteor Society had 124 fireball reports from right around midnight. The reports came in from WA, ID, OR, MT and Alberta. Loni Grant captured this quick flash of light near Pablo.
Check your cameras if you have anything good, upload it at https://t.co/qD1dielwRC pic.twitter.com/trwxhOyueW— Brooke Foster (@BrookeNBCMT) May 22, 2020
American Meteor Society approved 63 eyewitness reports about a fireball seen over Alberta, British Columbia, ID, MT, OR and WA on Friday, May 22nd 2020 around 12:47 AM. pic.twitter.com/8WrIraKlM1
— Brooke Foster (@BrookeNBCMT) May 22, 2020
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system.
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, 2020-05-26 - the orbit of asteroid Eros is highlighted.. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets in the middle solar system.
Position of the planets in the middle solar system, 2020-05-26 - the orbit of asteroid Eros is highlighted. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets some transneptunian objects in the outer solar system.
Position of the planets in the outer solar system on 2020-05-26 - the orbit of transneptunian object 2007 OR10 is highlighted. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Solar System News
With data from @NASA's @NASANewHorizons spacecraft — and a telescope a lot closer to home — scientists are unraveling the mysteries of Pluto's hazy atmosphere >> https://t.co/ATTrjhyyrJ pic.twitter.com/RiHdlrt6Xi
— NASA Marshall (@NASA_Marshall) May 22, 2020
OSIRIS-REx: NASA's Asteroid Sample Return Mission
Glow up? 🌟
These images were taken during various mission phases and from various altitudes. The same boulder is pictured in all 3 images, but the details come into focus as we get closer to asteroid Bennu. pic.twitter.com/uWQFDYNBoG
— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) May 22, 2020
International Space Station
On the @Space_Station, 10 EXPRESS Racks help keep @ISS_Research up and running — and after Wednesday's @JAXA_en launch, one more is on its way >> https://t.co/oTTCFqZM89 pic.twitter.com/EbRItvqT9A
— NASA Marshall (@NASA_Marshall) May 22, 2020
Hubble Space Telescope
This amazing image taken by @NASAHubble was only possible thanks to Nobel Laureates George Smith, born on this day in 1930, and Willard Boyle who invented the CCD sensor.
Photo: The Hubble Space Telescope's image of the star V838 Monocerotis. pic.twitter.com/uX3DojmnZ1
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) May 10, 2020
Juno Mission at Jupiter
Racing stripes: Jupiter is huge, but makes a full rotation in just 10 hours. This creates powerful jet streams that divide its clouds into distinctive bands, as seen in this striking JunoCam image processed by citizen scientist David Marriott. Details: https://t.co/v71OOHdGj8 pic.twitter.com/k1C5AWasdF
— NASA's Juno Mission (@NASAJuno) May 21, 2020
HISTORY - Launch Complex 39: Apollo & Crew Dragon
Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39 has been the site of space history. The Crew Dragon spacecraft will launch from historic Pad 39A, the same launch pad that sent our first astronauts to the Moon. Explore the history of LC-39 in a new blog: https://t.co/5uCVxhYl7e
📷: NASA pic.twitter.com/j20QPPC0j3— National Air and Space Museum (@airandspace) May 24, 2020
SpaceX Crew Dragon Prepares to Launch to the International Space Station!
All systems are looking good for Crew Dragon’s first flight with astronauts → https://t.co/bJFjLCzWdK pic.twitter.com/2gZzEnMlia
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 25, 2020
A new era of human spaceflight begins this week 🚀
Today, our #LaunchAmerica mission passed its final major review & teams received the “go” to proceed toward launch on May 27. @AstroBehnken & @Astro_Doug will fly aboard @SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft: https://t.co/BeSFgRAEZn pic.twitter.com/4Vqu68pV0e
— NASA (@NASA) May 26, 2020
#LaunchAmerica: Kerbal Space Program Challenges Players to Recreate the Crew Dragon - NASA Approves!
We love a good challenge. Kerbonauts, show us your skills! 🚀 pic.twitter.com/c5gGfixlkW
— NASA (@NASA) May 15, 2020
Here's some amazing KSP #LaunchAmerica footage:
Everybody excited for #CrewDragon #DM2 next week? I already flew the mission in @KerbalSpaceP where my monster ISS meets the @SpaceX capsule.#LaunchAmerica
Full video with more footage and commentary here:https://t.co/aASqqmmaqz pic.twitter.com/CmIBKlsT4p
— ShadowZone (@The_ShadowZone) May 22, 2020
Climate
It's hard to "see" sea level rise by just looking at the ocean, but its effects are very real. A new video covers some of the basics.
Related story: https://t.co/ZtgsLbO7hL pic.twitter.com/udHtTJT6KG
— NASA Climate (@NASAClimate) May 21, 2020
Want to go backward and forward in time? Enter our Climate Time Machine to see how some of Earth's key climate indicators have changed over the years. https://t.co/yvItokRB1D pic.twitter.com/HxDyyWrAY5
— NASA Climate (@NASAClimate) May 19, 2020
ex·o·plan·et /ˈeksōˌplanət/, noun: a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun.
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
* Confirmed Planets Discovered by TESS refers to the number planets that have been published in the refereed astronomical literature.
* TESS Project Candidates refers to the total number of transit-like events that appear to be astrophysical in origin, including false positives as identified by the TESS Project.
* TESS Project Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed refers to the number of TESS Project Candidates that have not yet been dispositioned as a Confirmed Planet or False Positive.
Exoplanet Artwork
Artist's concept of a crater lake on a body in a globular star cluster. Credit: SpaceEngine / Hap N Stance on Twitter.
Meet the next judge for our #CaptureTheDark Photo Contest: @AngryTheInch. Fortunate to live in the subarctic where #northernlights light up the night, Mia’s photos more often than not feature those magical lights in the sky.
Learn more at https://t.co/ECf8zAi01K
📸: @AngryTheInch pic.twitter.com/8mDzM9sbR7— IDA Dark-Sky (@IDADarkSky) May 15, 2020
The Local Stellar Neighborhood
Continuing with my visual tour of nearby stars and their systems, we travel to the Groombridge 34 star system, 11.6 light years distant.
Distance to Groombridge 34 from Sol; the plane (green) is aligned with the orientation of the plane of the Milky Way galaxy. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Groombridge 34
Groombridge 34 [Gliese 15 / SAO 36248 / HIP 1475 / HD 1326] is a binary star system in the northern constellation of Andromeda. It was listed as entry number 34 in A Catalogue of Circumpolar Stars, published posthumously in 1838 by British astronomer Stephen Groombridge. Based upon parallax measurements taken by the Gaia spacecraft, the system is located about 11.6 light-years from the Sun. This positions the pair among the nearest stars to the Solar System.
Both components are small, dim red dwarf stars that are too faint to be seen with the naked eye. They orbit around their common barycenter in a nearly circular orbit with a separation of about 147 AU and a period of around 2,600 years. Both stars exhibit random variation in luminosity due to flares and they have been given variable star designations: the brighter member Groombridge 34 A is designated GX And, while the smaller component is designated GQ And.
The star system has a relatively high proper motion of 2.9 arc seconds per year, and is moving away from the Solar System at a velocity of 11.6 km/s. It achieved perihelion some 15,000 years ago when it came within 11 ly (3.5 pc) of the Sun. - Wikipedia
Groombridge 34 System Architecture
Groombridge 34 system architecture. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Groombridge 34 (Gliese 15) System Orbital Diagram
Top-down view of the orbits of the stars in the Groombridge 34 star system - the system barycenter is highlighted. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Artist's view of exoplanet Groombridge 34 Ab
In August 2014, a planet orbiting around Groombridge 34 A was reported. The planet's existence was deduced from analysis of the radial velocities of the parent Star by the Eta-Earth Survey using HIRES at Keck Observatory. At the time of its discovery, it was the sixth-nearest known exoplanet.
Using the CARMENES spectrograph combined with the measurements of the HARPS and HIRES spectrographs, researchers failed to detect the purported Groombridge 34 Ab. However, they did propose another that another planet (Groombridge 34 Ac, GJ 15 Ac) could be orbiting the parent star.
This discrepancy was later reconciled with new HIRES observations, covering a longer span of time, where both planets were recovered, constraining their minimum mass to 3.03 M⊕ for Groombridge 34 Ab and 36 M⊕ for Groombridge Ac. Their orbital periods are 11.4 and approximately 7,600 days, respectively. To date, this is the multi-planet system closest to our Sun, hosting the longest period Neptune mass planet discovered so far. - Wikipedia
Artist's concept of exoplanet Groombridge 34 Ab. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley
Stay safe, be well, and look up!
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.
Universe Sandbox: a space simulator that merges real-time gravity, climate, collision, and material interactions to reveal the beauty of our universe and the fragility of our planet. Includes VR support.
SpaceEngine: a free 3D Universe Simulator for Windows. Steam version with VR support available.
Stellarium: a free open source planetarium app for PC/MAC/Linux. It's a great tool for planning observing sessions. A web-based version of Stellarium is also available.
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
Light Pollution - NASA's Black Marble
The Universe - Universe Today
In the Sky This Week – May 19, 2020
Mars continues to pull away from Saturn and Jupiter in the southeastern predawn sky; Saturn and Jupiter are getting a little closer with each passing day.
Mars continues to pull away from Saturn and Jupiter in the southeastern predawn sky this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Mercury and Venus in the west-northwestern sky are joined by a thin crescent Moon at sunset on May 23-25th.
-
- A very thin crescent Moon joins Mercury and Venus low on the west-northwestern horizon at sunset on May 23rd. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
-
- A thin crescent Moon joins Mercury and Venus low on the west-northwestern horizon at sunset on May 24th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
-
- A thin waxing crescent Moon appears above Mercury and Venus in the west-northwestern horizon at sunset on May 25th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon is a waning crescent, visible low to the east before sunrise.
The new Moon occurs on May 22nd.
After May 22nd the Moon will be a waxing crescent, visible toward the southwest in early evening.
The Moon from 2020-05-19 - 2020-05-25. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.
Moon News: NASA unveils new rules to guide behavior in space and on the lunar surface
As @NASA leads a coalition of nations to the Moon, safety, transparency, and coordination are paramount. Hence, the Artemis Accords:https://t.co/liHjCpTQEk
— Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) May 15, 2020
The Sun has 2 spots rotating into view - you can see the active regions in the videos below - both above and below the equator on the left-hand side. Coronal holes remain open at both poles, and s smaller hole appears between the equator and the south pole.
The Sun seen in 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) May 18, 2020:
Lots of prominence activity on the Sun with these two active regions rotating into view.
The Sun seen in 304 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) May 18, 2020:
Videos courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.
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 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.
Facebook: SolarActivity
Solar Corona
Solar wind speed is 380.0 km/sec (↑), with a density of 10.1 protons/cm3 (↑) at 1136 UT.
Near real-time animation of the corona and solar wind from the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO):
Animated LASCO C2 Coronograph showing the solar corona above the Sun's limb (the white circle). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech-SOHO
Near-Earth objects (NEOs) discovered this month: 92 (+73), this year: 1017 (+74), all time: 22,922 (+72)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2018 (last updated Oct. 1, 2019)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 958,393 (+115)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2018 (last updated Oct. 1, 2019)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 958,393 (+115)
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2020 KA |
2020-May-19
|
2 LD
|
5.8
|
12
|
| 2020 JD2 |
2020-May-19
|
10 LD
|
9.5
|
28
|
| 136795 |
2020-May-21
|
16.1 LD
|
11.7
|
892
|
| 2020 JE1 |
2020-May-22
|
14.4 LD
|
7.5
|
35
|
| 2020 JH2 |
2020-May-22
|
10.8 LD
|
15.1
|
46
|
| 2020 JY1 |
2020-May-22
|
3.1 LD
|
8.7
|
31
|
| 2020 JR1 |
2020-May-23
|
3.8 LD
|
6.2
|
9
|
| 2020 KJ |
2020-May-23
|
9 LD
|
15.7
|
45
|
| 2020 JX |
2020-May-23
|
19.4 LD
|
7.9
|
62
|
| 2020 JZ1 |
2020-May-24
|
11.7 LD
|
5.7
|
24
|
| 2020 JP2 |
2020-May-27
|
11.6 LD
|
8.6
|
20
|
| 2020 JM1 |
2020-May-28
|
9.5 LD
|
5.8
|
21
|
| 2020 JV2 |
2020-May-29
|
9.2 LD
|
11.5
|
26
|
| 2020 KB |
2020-May-29
|
7.5 LD
|
12.2
|
40
|
| 2020 KF |
2020-Jun-02
|
12.1 LD
|
10.8
|
26
|
| 163348 |
2020-Jun-06
|
13.3 LD
|
11.1
|
339
|
| 2013 XA22 |
2020-Jun-08
|
7.6 LD
|
6.7
|
98
|
| 2020 JQ2 |
2020-Jun-11
|
15.2 LD
|
4.5
|
24
|
| 2020 JS1 |
2020-Jun-11
|
9.9 LD
|
5
|
19
|
| 2020 JU1 |
2020-Jun-13
|
19.1 LD
|
6.6
|
47
|
| 2017 MF7 |
2020-Jun-14
|
3.7 LD
|
10.9
|
23
|
| 2018 PD22 |
2020-Jun-19
|
17.2 LD
|
14.6
|
56
|
| 441987 |
2020-Jun-24
|
9.8 LD
|
12.9
|
186
|
| 2017 FW128 |
2020-Jun-25
|
6.9 LD
|
5.4
|
11
|
| 2020 JX1 |
2020-Jun-29
|
3.3 LD
|
5
|
58
|
| 2019 AC3 |
2020-Jul-01
|
10.5 LD
|
3.4
|
12
|
| 2007 UN12 |
2020-Jul-04
|
16.7 LD
|
2.9
|
6
|
| 2009 OS5 |
2020-Jul-13
|
17.6 LD
|
2.6
|
45
|
Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. Red highlighted entries are asteroids that either pass very close, or very large with high relative velocities to the Earth. Table from SpaceWeather.com
On May 18, 2020, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 7 fireballs.
(7 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). Credit: SpaceWeather.com
Fireball & Meteor News
Large fireball seen from Hampshire last night at 21:34 GMT (22:34 BST) moving towards the NW. pic.twitter.com/sRxrgXpY6C
— Richard (@nova_foresta) May 12, 2020
New and special, isolation issue is here! https://t.co/TOVSyJgYjS
— MeteorNews (@eMeteorNews) April 30, 2020
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system.
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, 2020-05-19. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets in the middle solar system.
Position of the planets in the middle solar system, 2020-05-19 - the orbit of dwarf planet Ceres. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets some transneptunian objects in the outer solar system.
Position of the planets in the outer solar system on 2020-05-19 - the orbit of dwarf planet and transneptunian object Sedna is highlighted. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
OSIRIS-REx: NASA's Asteroid Sample Return Mission
It’s #NationalPetMonth
Plz send pet pics 🐶🐱🐍🐰Here are a few of my pet rocks.https://t.co/hTU99arLOihttps://t.co/pRdXiHQ5Xp pic.twitter.com/JKAP0ka7UA
— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) May 18, 2020
International Space Station
Plant growth has been researched for many years aboard the @Space_Station!🌱#SpaceStation20th#OTD in 2017, @AstroPeggy photographed Chinese cabbage plants during the Veg-03 experiment, which tested out a plant water delivery system. https://t.co/1Odc2Zq8B7 pic.twitter.com/laoxTXNxto
— ISS Research (@ISS_Research) May 18, 2020
Japan’s next mission to resupply the station is “go” to launch Wednesday at 1:30pm ET. The Exp 63 studied how planetary surfaces might affect future spacecraft. Read more... https://t.co/UHpHJxgK4K pic.twitter.com/hYsOZh1i2E
— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) May 18, 2020
Hubble Space Telescope
#HubbleFriday This Hubble image captures the beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 5861, located about 85 million light-years away in the constellation Libra. The galaxy has hosted two known supernovae, one discovered in 1971 and the other in 2017: https://t.co/cIrKTI7RTa pic.twitter.com/3RdSF5Q8kA
— Hubble (@NASAHubble) May 15, 2020
Juno Mission at Jupiter
I’ve teamed up with @NASAHubble and the ground-based @GeminiObs observatory to probe the powerful storms on Jupiter, including the "radio light show" produced by lightning flashes up to three times more energetic than Earth's largest bolts. See more: https://t.co/w3SkTkHiZS pic.twitter.com/jT7Ni5PqgJ
— NASA's Juno Mission (@NASAJuno) May 7, 2020
BepiColombo: ESA/JAXA Mission to Mercury
Want to popularize your space missions? Get them added into Kerbal Space Program!
The first new @KerbalSpaceP scenario is based on @BepiColombo. Players attempt to reach orbit and land on 'Moho', the equivalent of Mercury in the ‘Kerbal universe’, while performing various scientific tasks from the actual ESA/JAXA mission.
Cool.🕹️ https://t.co/PPpUqAE7FW
— ESA Operations (@esaoperations) May 18, 2020
HISTORY - Rosetta: ESA mission to comet 67/P
Late night treat. First draft of a time lapse showing Comet #67P as seen by #Rosetta over 90 minutes on 4 June 2015. As the comet rotates, different parts of the surface are exposed to sunlight & the inner coma changes.
1/
Images: @Rosetta_OSIRIS WAC, @esa/MPS for OSIRIS team pic.twitter.com/dd37VKtjXI
— Mark McCaughrean (@markmccaughrean) May 16, 2020
Climate
After California, Arizona and Nevada set mandatory stay-at-home restrictions to try to slow the spread of COVID-19, NASA's Aura satellite observed decreased nitrogen dioxide levels over certain cities. https://t.co/CWCrkX4xd5
— NASA Climate (@NASAClimate) May 18, 2020
Initial results from a new NASA satellite suggest that winter Arctic sea ice has thinned by as much as 20% since 2008, contrary to existing studies that find sea ice thickness has remained relatively constant in the last decade. https://t.co/L5orZO9TLF
— NASA Climate (@NASAClimate) May 15, 2020
Kerbal Space Program
This one IS spacecraft news... kinda... A new KSP update is due out July 1 will include content mirroring two actual ESA missions!
Big news, Kerbonauts: We’re partnering with @ESA for the 1.10 update #SharedHorizons!
We’re excited to add two cornerstone missions to the game, BepiColombo and Rosetta. Releasing on PC on July 1st. Coming soon to consoles. More info to come.
#ExploreFarther pic.twitter.com/k1W5QkofRH— Kerbal Space Program (@KerbalSpaceP) May 18, 2020
Yes, we are adding comets to the game!
😎— Kerbal Space Program (@KerbalSpaceP) May 18, 2020
ex·o·plan·et /ˈeksōˌplanət/, noun: a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun.
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
* Confirmed Planets Discovered by TESS refers to the number planets that have been published in the refereed astronomical literature.
* TESS Project Candidates refers to the total number of transit-like events that appear to be astrophysical in origin, including false positives as identified by the TESS Project.
* TESS Project Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed refers to the number of TESS Project Candidates that have not yet been dispositioned as a Confirmed Planet or False Positive.
Shining a #darkskyfriendly light on the next judge in our #CaptureTheDark Contest: @mikeshawphoto.
Mike is an @IDADarkSky Delegate & Resident Artist at @BellMuseum exploring novel VR/AR experiences for making the #nightsky & #lightpollution more accessible to the general public. pic.twitter.com/lCgPYY3ess— IDA Dark-Sky (@IDADarkSky) May 18, 2020
The Local Stellar Neighborhood
Continuing with my visual tour of nearby stars and their systems, we travel to the Struve 2398 star system, 11.6 light years distant.
Distance to Struve 2398 from Sol; the plane (green) is aligned with the orientation of the plane of the Milky Way galaxy. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Struve 2398
Struve 2398 (Gliese 725) is a binary star system in the northern constellation of Draco. Struve 2398 is star number 2398 in the Struve Double Star Catalog of Baltic-German astronomer Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve. The astronomer's surname, and hence the star identifier, is sometimes indicated by a Greek sigma, Σ. Although the components are too faint to be viewed with the naked eye, this star system is among the closest to the Sun. Parallax measurements by the Hipparcos spacecraft give them an estimated distance of about 11.6 light years away.
Both stars are small red dwarfs, with each having around a third the Sun's mass and radius. They each display the type of variability common to flare stars, and their active surfaces are sources of X-ray emission. The orbital period for the pair is about 295 years, with an average distance of about 56 astronomical units, and the eccentricity of their orbit is 0.70.
The pair has a relatively high proper motion of 2.2 arc seconds per year. The system is on an orbit through the Milky Way that has an eccentricity of 0.05, carrying them as close as 8 kpc and as far as 9 kpc from the Galactic Center. The plane of their galactic orbit carries them as far as 463−489 pc away from the galactic plane. - Wikipedia
Struve 2398 System Architecture
Struve 2398 system architecture. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Struve 2398 System Orbital Diagram
Top-down view of the orbits of the stars in the Struve 2398 star system - the system barycenter is highlighted. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Artist's view of the Struve 2398 Star System
Artist's concept of the Struve 2398 star system. SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley
Stay safe, be well, and look up!
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.
Universe Sandbox: a space simulator that merges real-time gravity, climate, collision, and material interactions to reveal the beauty of our universe and the fragility of our planet. Includes VR support.
SpaceEngine: a free 3D Universe Simulator for Windows. Steam version with VR support available.
Stellarium: a free open source planetarium app for PC/MAC/Linux. It's a great tool for planning observing sessions. A web-based version of Stellarium is also available.
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
Light Pollution - NASA's Black Marble
The Universe - Universe Today
In the Sky This Week – May 12, 2020
When it comes to astronomy, asteroids are pretty much my favorite subject; the Sun comes in #2 by a wide margin. I have a presentation about the Sun that I've given numerous times - I'm modifying it to present remotely to my wife's middle-school science students, and creating a worksheet based on my presentation. Here's me giving my Sun presentation to the Warren Astronomical Society before the total solar eclipse of 2017:
I've also suggested to my wife that she show the following videos to her science students:
Mars continues to pull away from Saturn and Jupiter in the southeastern predawn sky; the Moon joins the early morning planets from May 12-15th.
The Moon appears near the planets for several days in the southeastern predawn sky from May 12-15. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Mercury appears low on the northwestern horizon at sunset this week.
Mercury low on the no northwestern horizon at sunset this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Venus appears a bit lower each evening on the northwestern horizon after sunset. Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) will be north of Venus and the star Capella, but may require binoculars or a telescope to see.
Comet C/2019 (ATLAS) appears north of Venus above the northwestern horizon after sunset this week. 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 May 14th, rising around midnight, and visible to the south after sunrise.
After May 14th, the Moon will be a waning crescent, visible low to the east before sunrise (my favorite).
The Moon from 2020-05-12 - 2020-05-18. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.
Moon News
This week on #NASAatHome Spaceport Series, we're talking #Artemis, which is @NASA's program which will land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024.
Live at 1 p.m. ET we'll talk with experts about launch complex 39B, which is ready for launch: https://t.co/qoF1zGbqZm pic.twitter.com/7XrfsPhh5F
— NASA's Kennedy Space Center (@NASAKennedy) May 11, 2020
The Sun has been spotless for 9 days. Coronal holes remain open at both poles, and smaller holes pepper the face of the Sun.
The Sun seen in 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) May 11, 2020:
Light prominence on the Sun for the last couple days - a short-lived pyramidal "flame" prominence appears on the Sun's limb in the video below.
The Sun seen in 304 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) May 11, 2020:
Videos courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.
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 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.
Facebook: SolarActivity
Solar Corona
Solar wind speed is 303.4 km/sec (↑), with a density of 8.4 protons/cm3 (↑) at 1116 UT.
Near real-time animation of the corona and solar wind from the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO):
Animated LASCO C2 Coronograph showing the solar corona above the Sun's limb (the white circle). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech-SOHO
Near-Earth objects (NEOs) discovered this month: 19 (+9), this year: 1017 (+9), all time: 22,850 (+8)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2018 (last updated Oct. 1, 2019)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 958,278 (+20)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2018 (last updated Oct. 1, 2019)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 958,278 (+20)
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2000 KA |
2020-May-12
|
8.9 LD
|
13.5
|
162
|
| 2020 JK |
2020-May-14
|
14.8 LD
|
20.1
|
56
|
| 2020 HS6 |
2020-May-14
|
16 LD
|
23.6
|
131
|
| 478784 |
2020-May-15
|
8.5 LD
|
3.6
|
28
|
| 2020 HA9 |
2020-May-15
|
18.2 LD
|
15.8
|
33
|
| 2020 HG9 |
2020-May-18
|
15.6 LD
|
10.6
|
71
|
| 136795 |
2020-May-21
|
16.1 LD
|
11.7
|
892
|
| 163348 |
2020-Jun-06
|
13.3 LD
|
11.1
|
339
|
| 2013 XA22 |
2020-Jun-09
|
10.6 LD
|
6.5
|
98
|
| 2017 MF7 |
2020-Jun-14
|
3.7 LD
|
10.9
|
23
|
| 2018 PD22 |
2020-Jun-19
|
17.2 LD
|
14.6
|
56
|
| 441987 |
2020-Jun-24
|
9.8 LD
|
12.9
|
186
|
| 2017 FW128 |
2020-Jun-25
|
6.9 LD
|
5.4
|
11
|
| 2019 AC3 |
2020-Jul-01
|
10.5 LD
|
3.4
|
12
|
| 2007 UN12 |
2020-Jul-04
|
16.7 LD
|
2.9
|
6
|
Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. Red highlighted entries are asteroids that either pass very close, or very large with high relative velocities to the Earth. Table from SpaceWeather.com
On May 11, 2020, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 2 fireballs.
(1 sporadic, 1 eta Aquari)
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). Credit: SpaceWeather.com
Fireball & Meteor News
Last night there was what appears to be a large fireball caught between 22:34:12 and 22:34:22 travelling SE to NW captured from #Thatcham @VirtualAstro @UKMeteorNetwork @UKspace pic.twitter.com/WE3gCfUXXg
— BikesBrew&Bivi (@uk_wildcamp) May 12, 2020
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system.
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, 2020-05-12. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets in the middle solar system.
Position of the planets in the middle solar system, 2020-05-12 - the orbit of comet 67P/Churymov-Gerasimenko is highlighted. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets some transneptunian objects in the outer solar system.
Position of the planets in the outer solar system on 2020-05-12 - the orbit of transneptunian object 2007 OR10 is highlighted. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
OSIRIS-REx: NASA's Asteroid Sample Return Mission
That mood tho.
This image was taken on April 28 from a distance of 6 miles (10 km). It was captured two weeks after Checkpoint rehearsal, and two days before orbit re-entry.
Image details: https://t.co/c9QD60HUoJ pic.twitter.com/8dSHpwzY1P
— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) May 11, 2020
International Space Station
The @NorthropGrumman #Cygnus spacecraft was released from the @CSA_ASC #Canadarm2 robotic arm at 12:09pm ET today. It will orbit Earth until the end of May for more space research. Read more... https://t.co/UVtTaifId3 pic.twitter.com/wTfIymPbdr
— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) May 11, 2020
Hubble Space Telescope
#HubbleClassic This image of the nebula K 4-55 was the last of many beautiful pictures taken by Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 over >15 years. Astronauts removed & replaced the camera during Servicing Mission 4, which launched #OTD in 2009: https://t.co/fqEmwWlqmf pic.twitter.com/N8aqJWWMyR
— Hubble (@NASAHubble) May 11, 2020
Mars Insight
I recently spotted evidence of an eclipse on Mars. Watch closely as the surface gets dimmer, and my solar power dips just before 11:25 a.m. Phobos—the bigger of Mars’ two moons—was responsible for this one, as it slipped between the sun and me. pic.twitter.com/HNvDj7bQkS
— NASA InSight (@NASAInSight) May 5, 2020
Juno Mission at Jupiter
With nods to @BackyrdAstroGuy for the idea, here’s some Jupiter for your phone’s wallpaper image.
@NASAJuno Perijove 26 pic.twitter.com/QqMKEVyoFV
— Kevin M. Gill (@kevinmgill) May 9, 2020
BepiColombo Mission to Mercury
How to browse the images from the monitoring cameras on @BepiColombo @ESA_Bepi at @ESA's Planetary Science Archive (https://t.co/uIlGw0i0fu) in six simple steps. CC @esascience @esapsanews pic.twitter.com/zckN0IwziH
— ESA ESDC (@ESAesdc) May 6, 2020
Climate
Volcanic activity has shaped Greenland and Antarctica, but it's not to blame for today's rapidly melting polar ice sheets. Learn why. https://t.co/Nbv5Ri7nJK
— NASA Climate (@NASAClimate) May 6, 2020
📈 416.41 parts per million (ppm) #CO2 in the atmosphere May 7, 2020 📈 Up from 414.24 ppm a year ago 📈 Mauna Loa Observatory @NOAA data & graphic: https://t.co/MZIEphYygh 📈 https://t.co/DpFGQoYEwb tracking: https://t.co/PTTkLiPGm2 🙏 View & share often 🙏 pic.twitter.com/KlO3gUkVAw
— CO2_Earth (@CO2_earth) May 8, 2020
Kerbal Space Program
While not exactly spacecraft news, the KSP twitter feed has been posting a LOT of educational and space-related news - this one was pretty cool!
In March 5, 2019 NASA has successfully tested an advanced air-to-air photographic technology in flight, capturing the first-ever images of the interaction of shockwaves from two supersonic aircraft in flight.
Credits: @NASA Photo pic.twitter.com/eLjaR7zaYT
— Kerbal Space Program (@KerbalSpaceP) April 28, 2020
ex·o·plan·et /ˈeksōˌplanət/, noun: a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun.
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
* Confirmed Planets Discovered by TESS refers to the number planets that have been published in the refereed astronomical literature.
* TESS Project Candidates refers to the total number of transit-like events that appear to be astrophysical in origin, including false positives as identified by the TESS Project.
* TESS Project Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed refers to the number of TESS Project Candidates that have not yet been dispositioned as a Confirmed Planet or False Positive.
Inquiring minds want to know...have we seen a change in #lightpollution as a result of lockdowns around the world? @jamieacarter explores this question with IDA Director of Public Policy @JohnBarentine, who weighs in with some interesting observations https://t.co/YWJKsRfBUd
— IDA Dark-Sky (@IDADarkSky) May 11, 2020
Zoom to Star Cluster Terzan 5
This is an optical zoom to the star cluster:
This prompted me to fire up SpaceEngine, and create a virtual fly-to the star cluster:
The Local Stellar Neighborhood
Continuing with my visual tour of nearby stars and their systems, we travel to the 61 Cygni star system, 11.41 light years distant.
Distance to 61 Cygni from Sol; the plane (green) is aligned with the orientation of the plane of the Milky Way galaxy. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
61 Cygni
61 Cygni /ˈsɪɡni/ is a binary star system in the constellation Cygnus, consisting of a pair of K-type dwarf stars that orbit each other in a period of about 659 years. Of apparent magnitude 5.20 and 6.05, respectively, they can be seen with binoculars in city skies or with the naked eye in rural areas without photopollution.
61 Cygni first attracted the attention of astronomers when its large proper motion was first demonstrated by Giuseppe Piazzi in 1804. In 1838, Friedrich Bessel measured its distance from Earth at about 10.4 light-years, very close to the actual value of about 11.4 light-years; this was the first distance estimate for any star other than the Sun, and first star to have its stellar parallax measured. Among all stars or stellar systems listed in the modern Hipparcos Catalogue, 61 Cygni has the seventh-highest proper motion, and the highest among all visible stars or systems.
Over the course of the twentieth century, several different astronomers reported evidence of a massive planet orbiting one of the two stars, but recent high-precision radial velocity observations have shown that all such claims were unfounded. No planets have been confirmed in this stellar system to date.
61 Cygni is relatively dim, so it does not appear on ancient star maps, nor is it given a name in western or Chinese systems. - Wikipedia
61 Cygni System Architecture
61 Cygni system architecture. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
61 Cygni System Orbital Diagram
Top-down view of the orbits of the stars in the 61 Cygni star system - the system barycenter is highlighted. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
61 Cygni Location
Location of the 61 Cygni star system. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Artist's view of the 61 Cygni Star System
Artist's concept of the 61 Cygni star system. SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley
Stay safe, be well, and look up!
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.
Universe Sandbox: a space simulator that merges real-time gravity, climate, collision, and material interactions to reveal the beauty of our universe and the fragility of our planet. Includes VR support.
SpaceEngine: a free 3D Universe Simulator for Windows. Steam version with VR support available.
Stellarium: a free open source planetarium app for PC/MAC/Linux. It's a great tool for planning observing sessions. A web-based version of Stellarium is also available. A new version of Stellarium has been released:
"meteor shower plugin 2.0.6: radiants are twinkling" by axd1967 @ 12-May-2020 08:40:47 https://t.co/dDNG87LQYB
— Stellarium Dev. Team (@StellariumDev) May 12, 2020
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
Light Pollution - NASA's Black Marble
The Universe - Universe Today
The Great Debate of 1920
The beginning of the 20th century saw several occurrences that had a profound effect on the field of astronomy: worldwide construction of large and complex telescopes designed specifically for photographic imaging; the on-going Carte du Ciel international astronomical project, with the Vatican Observatory contributing thousands of photographic plates; Albert Einstein and his theories of special relativity, published in 1905, and general relativity in 1915 – forever changing the way we look at the cosmos; women acting as human "computers" who took part in several great astronomical discoveries, many only recently receiving the credit they are due.
Exactly a hundred years ago, in the 1920s, the size of the universe was a major source of debate among astronomers. At the time, it was unknown if there was only one galaxy, and if the "spiral nebulae" astronomers had cataloged resided within that galaxy, or if they were many galaxies in their own right – much farther away. The debate brought into focus humanity's efforts at the time to find our place in the Universe. This debate was featured in a pair of recent APOD.NASA.gov postings.
The Astronomers
Harlow Shapely from SIA Acc.
Heber Doust Curtis poses before the Crossley telescope.
In 1920 Harlow Shapley was a young ambitious astronomer. He had published a series of papers marking several fascinating astronomical discoveries - many times involving properties of stars in binary systems or globular clusters. He was a rising star himself - a golden boy of astronomy.
In 1920 Heber D. Curtis was a bit older, more established, and very well respected in his own right. He had published a series of solid papers on good astronomical results - many times on the properties of spiral nebulae. He was a `rock of clear thinking' to all that knew him. He was a hard worker usually taking the conservative view - frequently skeptical of anything new until proven to his exacting standards... - APOD.NASA.gov
The Setting
Historic image of Baird Auditorium at the National Museum of Natural History (U.S.). Credit: Smithsonian
The debate was held on April 26th, during the 1920 meeting of the National Academy of Sciences as a public event. It was held in what is now known as the the Baird Auditorium of the Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C. Most of the attendees were not astronomers, rather they were members of the National Academy of Sciences; however, several prominent astronomers were in attendance.
The event was not truly a debate; each person spoke for 40 minutes, and was given one opportunity to rebut the other's remarks. After the remarks, several comments were made from the audience, including one from the prominent astronomer Henry Norris Russell in support of Shapley.
Who Won the Debate?
Neither Curtis nor Shapley were entirely right or wrong. Both presented ideas which represented major advances in astronomy.
- Curtis was right about his "Island Theory of the Universe" - that "spiral nebulae" were external galaxies; Curtis was a bit wrong about size of our galaxy.
- Shapley was more correct about the size of the galaxy, and that our Sun was well off from the center of the galaxy.
The Milky Way Galaxy. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC/Caltech).
I've seen mentioned in several articles that the debate was a tie, while several other articles state that Curtis was the winner; the descendants of Curtis (see video below) believe that Curtis won because although he may have been off with his math, he got the idea right.
Does it really matter that two astronomers debated each other near the beginning of this century? It is now clear that a once little-heard-of discussion was at the crux of a major change of humanity's view of our place in the universe. The events that happened in the first quarter of our century were together much more than a debate - this is a story of humanity's discovery of the vastness of our universe, a story of a seemingly small academic disagreement whose dramatic resolution staggered the world. It is a story of human drama - two champion astronomers struggling at the focus of a raging controversy who's solution represents an inspiring synthesis of old and new ideas. It is the story of monumental insight and tragic error. It is a story of an astronomical legend. Does this sound melodramatic? It s all true. And it happened this century. - APOD.NASA.gov
National Geographic Universe Poster. Credit: National Geographic Magazine
Resolution of the Debate
The photographic plate of Messier 31 on which Hubble discovered the first Cepheid variable star in a spiral nebula. Image courtesy of the Hale Observatory
Studio Portrait of Edwin Powell Hubble. Photographer: Johan Hagemeyer
A few years after the debate, astronomer Edwin Hubble took images of M31, the Andromeda Nebula, using the 100-inch telescope on Mount Wilson. Hubble discovered that M31 was composed of stars, at a distance far exceeding Shapley’s estimate of the Milky Way’s size. Hubble also identified several Cepheid variable stars, which are useful for measuring the distances to other galaxies.
Sharpest ever view of the Andromeda Galaxy. Click to see ZOOMable 6000px image.
Image credit: NASA, ESA, J. Dalcanton (University of Washington, USA), B. F. Williams (University of Washington, USA), L. C. Johnson (University of Washington, USA), the PHAT team, and R. Gendler.
The Next Great Debate
We live at a time when the marriage of physics and astronomy has birthed a new branch of observational astronomy: gravitational wave astronomy. The discovery of extremophiles has forced us to rewrite our definition of life, and greatly expand the extraterrestrial environments where life might evolve and survive. Astronomy today has some major issues that need to be resolved, and are fuel for a lot of debate.
What is dark matter and dark energy?
We can observe the gravitational effects of something we can't see or detect - this "dark matter" makes up most of the mass of the universe. This is maddening at the very least.
The universe is expanding at an accelerating rate; this acceleration must be driven by some form of energy, but we do not know what this "dark energy" is.
When will we find extraterrestrial life?
The search for extraterrestrial life for most of us something I like to refer to as "the big wait..." (shamelessly stolen from Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire). For some of us, it's not a matter of "if," but "when" will we find life? Unfortunately, space is big, and "when" isn't coming soon enough for me. There is a lot of work being done towards the search for life, some examples are:
- At the time of this writing there have been over 4100 exoplanets discovered orbiting other stars; estimates for the number of planets in our Milky Way galaxy is in the tens of billions.
- Organic material, even simple amino acids, have been detected in meteorites, comet tail particles, on Mars, on asteroids, and in the interstellar medium; the precursors to life are pretty much everywhere we care to look.
- Rovers on Mars have discovered evidence of past water flowing on the surface; NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover will look for signs of past microbial life on Mars.
- NASA's Cassini Saturn Orbiter discovered a subsurface ocean under the icy crust of the moon Enceladus, and plumes of water vapor streaming out into space from deep crevasses in Enceladus' southern pole. These plumes are likely caused by processes similar to Earth's mid-ocean hydrothermal vents, and are powered by tidal forces with Saturn.
- The proposed Europa Clipper will conduct a detailed survey of Jupiter's icy moon Europa to determine whether its subsurface ocean could harbor conditions suitable for life; Europa and Enceladus are prime candidates in the search for life.
- The James Webb Space Telescope will look inside clouds of gas and dust where stars and planetary systems are forming.
When it comes to the search for life in the universe, a quote I like to use from Br. Guy is "If it has happened, it can happen!"
Here are some of the different points of view featured at the APOD.NASA.gov site (including one from Br. Guy... where they misspelled his name!)
Great Debate 100th Anniversary Videos on YouTube:
1
/
2
Robert Nemiroff's 100th Anniversary Debate Contribtion
Timothy Ferris 100th Anniversary Debate Contribution
Paul Hertz's 100th Anniversary Debate Video
Jessie Christiansen's 100th Anniversary Debate Video
Jim Green's 100th Anniversary Debate Contribution
Christiansen100thVid3
Christiansen100thVid2
Christiansen100thVid1
Richard Tresch Fienberg's 100th Anniversary Debate Video
Guy Consolmango's 100th Anniversary Debate Video
Caleb Scharf's 100th Anniversary Debate Video
Jill Tarter's 100th Anniversary Slides Voiced by Artificial Intelligence
The Family Legacy of Heber Doust Curtis
David Spergel's 100th Anniversary Debate Video
Ethan Siegel's 100th Anniversary Debate video
1
/
2
Great Debate post from the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD): https://apod.nasa.gov/debate/debate100th.html
Br. Guy's Great Debate page at the APOD: https://apod.nasa.gov/debate/2020/Consolmagno100th.html
In the Sky This Week – May 5, 2020
Libraries across the U.S. are looking for online presentations by NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassadors and NASA Night Sky Network members; my wife is having me give my presentation about the Sun (and possibly a tour of the solar system using SpaceEngine) to her science classes using Google Hangouts Meet. If you are an astronomy presenter and you have the equipment to present remotely, you may want to contact libraries and schools in your area to see if they would like you to do an online presentation.
Mars continues to pull away from Saturn and Jupiter in the southeastern predawn sky; the Moon joins the early morning planets at the beginning of next week.
Mars, Saturn and Jupiter in the southeastern predawn sky this week. The Moon joins the planets early next week for a couple days. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Venus appears a bit lower each evening at dusk in the western sky.
Venus appears a bit lower than last week above the western horizon after sunset - the orbit of Venus is shown in red. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Early next week, comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) will be in the same general region of the sky as Venus, however it will probably not be as spectacular as the depiction in the image below. Use the image below as a guide where to point your binoculars or telescopes.
The comet C/2019 (ATLAS) joins Venus above the western horizon after sunset early next week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon appears near the star Spica in the southern sky at midnight on May 6th.
The Moon appears near the star Spica in the southern sky at midnight on May 6th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon appears near the star Antares in the southwestern predawn sky on May 9th.
The Moon appears near the star Antares in the southwestern predawn sky on May 9th. 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 May 7th; the Moon rises at sunset, is visible high in the sky around midnight, and is visible all night.
After May 7th, 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 2020-05-05 - 2020-05-05. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.
Moon News: Three Companies Selected for Human Moon Landings
Our #Artemis astronauts will be landing on the Moon in style 😎
Here are the three companies that were selected to provide human landing services to the Moon. https://t.co/8x2wlMLN0U pic.twitter.com/GHGGdEnJfc
— NASA Moon (@NASAMoon) April 30, 2020
The Sun has been spotless for 3 days. Coronal holes remain open at both poles - the southern coronal hole has a snake-like tendril reaching up towards the equator.
The Sun seen in 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) May 4, 2020:
We got a monster prominence! A beautiful, long-lived looping prominence on the Sun for the last couple days.
The Sun seen in 304 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) May 4, 2020:
Videos courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.
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 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.
Facebook: SolarActivity
Solar Corona
Solar wind speed is 302.6 km/sec (↑), with a density of 5.2 protons/cm3 (↑) at 1000 UT.
Near real-time animation of the corona and solar wind from the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO):
Animated LASCO C2 Coronograph showing the solar corona above the Sun's limb (the white circle). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech-SOHO
Near-Earth objects (NEOs) discovered this month: 10 (+10), this year: 1008 (+31), all time: 22,842 (+31)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2018 (last updated Oct. 1, 2019)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 958,258 (+116)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2018 (last updated Oct. 1, 2019)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 958,258 (+116)
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2020 HS9 |
2020-May-05
|
4.6 LD
|
18.1
|
31
|
| 2020 HR8 |
2020-May-05
|
9.1 LD
|
9.6
|
14
|
| 2020 HZ6 |
2020-May-05
|
10.2 LD
|
21.7
|
34
|
| 2020 HL |
2020-May-05
|
16.7 LD
|
9.1
|
35
|
| 2020 HF7 |
2020-May-05
|
9.3 LD
|
17.3
|
22
|
| 2020 HL6 |
2020-May-06
|
2.1 LD
|
5.4
|
9
|
| 438908 |
2020-May-07
|
8.9 LD
|
12.8
|
282
|
| 2020 JE |
2020-May-07
|
11.8 LD
|
12.1
|
21
|
| 2020 JF |
2020-May-07
|
5 LD
|
18.5
|
22
|
| 2020 HM4 |
2020-May-07
|
10.7 LD
|
18.1
|
42
|
| 2016 HP6 |
2020-May-07
|
4.3 LD
|
5.7
|
31
|
| 2020 HB6 |
2020-May-08
|
9.8 LD
|
9.1
|
52
|
| 2020 HC6 |
2020-May-09
|
2.9 LD
|
6
|
35
|
| 388945 |
2020-May-10
|
7.3 LD
|
8.8
|
295
|
| 2000 KA |
2020-May-12
|
8.9 LD
|
13.5
|
162
|
| 2020 HS6 |
2020-May-14
|
16.1 LD
|
23.6
|
131
|
| 478784 |
2020-May-15
|
8.5 LD
|
3.6
|
28
|
| 2020 HA9 |
2020-May-15
|
18.2 LD
|
15.8
|
31
|
| 2020 HG9 |
2020-May-18
|
15.6 LD
|
10.7
|
73
|
| 136795 |
2020-May-21
|
16.1 LD
|
11.7
|
892
|
| 163348 |
2020-Jun-06
|
13.3 LD
|
11.1
|
339
|
| 2013 XA22 |
2020-Jun-09
|
10.6 LD
|
6.5
|
98
|
| 2017 MF7 |
2020-Jun-14
|
3.7 LD
|
10.9
|
23
|
| 2018 PD22 |
2020-Jun-19
|
17.2 LD
|
14.6
|
56
|
| 441987 |
2020-Jun-24
|
9.8 LD
|
12.9
|
186
|
| 2017 FW128 |
2020-Jun-25
|
6.9 LD
|
5.4
|
11
|
| 2019 AC3 |
2020-Jul-01
|
10.5 LD
|
3.4
|
12
|
Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. Red highlighted entries are asteroids that either pass very close, or very large with high relative velocities to the Earth. Table from SpaceWeather.com
On May the Forth, NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 16 fireballs.
(8 eta Aquarids, 8 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). Credit: SpaceWeather.com
Fireball & Meteor News
This is the reentry, last night at 4:45 UT (6:45 local Spanish time), of the Russian Soyuz rocket Upper Stage that launched the Progress MS-14 cargoship to the International Space Station on April 25. Time and general location match the CSpOC TIP message for this reentry. https://t.co/cbjO26f5u6
— Dr Marco Langbroek (@Marco_Langbroek) April 28, 2020
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system.
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, 2020-05-04. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets in the middle solar system.
Position of the planets in the middle solar system, 2020-05-04. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets some transneptunian objects in the outer solar system.
Position of the planets in the outer solar system on 2020-05-04. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission
It's been 7 years since the name “Bennu” was bestowed upon my favorite rocky asteroid!
The asteroid is named after the ancient Egyptian bird deity, Bennu, who is linked with the Sun, creation and rebirth.
Print your very own asteroid Bennu to celebrate🥳https://t.co/8HaFRj9ERE pic.twitter.com/HbAe8kdSlf
— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) May 1, 2020
International Space Station
.@NorthropGrumman's #Cygnus craft leaves the station next week and the Exp 63 crew practiced a medical emergency today. Read more... https://t.co/JUtHXNfUZJ pic.twitter.com/8v6TUhRt8h
— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) May 4, 2020
Hubble Space Telescope
1/6 Here it is! The anniversary image of #Hubble30 features the giant nebula NGC 2014 and its neighbour NGC 2020, part of a vast star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
Credit: @NASA / @ESA and @stsci https://t.co/iO1vnUPyls pic.twitter.com/pxsP5jdX4c— HUBBLE (@HUBBLE_space) April 24, 2020
Mars Insight
My team at @NASAJPL & @DLR_en continues to take encouragement from our latest efforts to #SaveTheMole. Another push with my robotic arm has helped the mole keep pushing onward. Taking it one step at a time, and reaching out to help where I can. pic.twitter.com/Xkriknbdc0
— NASA InSight (@NASAInSight) April 14, 2020
Learn about #Mars and my mission from home, with lessons, activities, and even some new quizzes and games created by our partners on my seismometer team @InSight_IPGP. It’s all available for students, teachers and learners of any age, over at: https://t.co/NWxEqGoyRK pic.twitter.com/9hQReBDyjl
— NASA InSight (@NASAInSight) March 30, 2020
Juno Mission at Jupiter
A rose by any other name…🌹
This JunoCam image processed by Mary J. Murphy offers an especially colorful take on Jupiter’s Great Red Spot.
Details: https://t.co/ewDmpKf9MD pic.twitter.com/760BMyR13v— NASA's Juno Mission (@NASAJuno) May 1, 2020
BepiColombo Mission to Mercury
Thanks to all astronomers – amateur & professional alike – from around the world who observed the #BepiColombo Earth flyby on 10 April (and later too) and shared their great images! Our jury was very impressed with all entries 👍
And the winners are...👇👉https://t.co/LZTvRON1f8 pic.twitter.com/q5bBaOSY9Z
— BepiColombo (@BepiColombo) April 30, 2020
Climate
Launched not that long ago (2018), in an orbit not that far away... this GEDI (NASA’s Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation) uses powerful lasers to craft 3D maps of Earth's forests & topography from a perch aboard the @Space_Station. #MayThe4thBeWithYou https://t.co/4PeteCvXBQ pic.twitter.com/tMkHNMYFoQ
— NASA Goddard (@NASAGoddard) May 4, 2020
ex·o·plan·et /ˈeksōˌplanət/, noun: a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun.
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
* Confirmed Planets Discovered by TESS refers to the number planets that have been published in the refereed astronomical literature.
* TESS Project Candidates refers to the total number of transit-like events that appear to be astrophysical in origin, including false positives as identified by the TESS Project.
* TESS Project Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed refers to the number of TESS Project Candidates that have not yet been dispositioned as a Confirmed Planet or False Positive.
How to fix light pollution in a few pictures:
Image from: https://citiesatnight.org/index.php/light-pollution/
Binary Black Hole Merger!
We are excited to announce the discovery of #GW190412, the first binary #BlackHoles merger detected by @LIGO and @ego_virgo with clear evidence for unequal mass components. Read all about it at https://t.co/RKdgwoqE7k #GravitationalWaves pic.twitter.com/jt5ZvFfeCl
— LIGO (@LIGO) April 20, 2020
Supernova!
Another SuperNova (2020ftl) discovered on April 2, 2020 in NGC 4277. Discovered by Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey and Mirco Villi (USA, Italy). This one is a Type Ia. Current magnitude estimates are 14.3
Image taken April 26, 2020 pic.twitter.com/xMCyoZFpE1— Doug Bock (@Mars_1956) April 27, 2020
The Local Stellar Neighborhood
Continuing with my visual tour of nearby stars and their systems, we travel to the Procyon star system, 11.46 light years distant.
Distance to Procyon from Sol; the plane (green) is aligned with the orientation of the plane of the Milky Way galaxy. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Procyon
Procyon (α CMi, α Canis Minoris, Alpha Canis Minoris) is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Minor. To the naked eye, it appears to be a single star, the eighth brightest in the night sky with a visual apparent magnitude of 0.34.
It is actually a binary star system of a white main-sequence star of spectral type F5 IV–V, named Procyon A, and a faint white dwarf companion of spectral type DQZ, named Procyon B.
The reason for its brightness is not its intrinsic luminosity but its relative closeness to the Sun. Its distance was worked out by the European Space Agency Hipparcos astrometry satellite. It is just 11.46 light-years (3.51 parsecs) away, and is one of our nearest stellar neighbours. Its closest neighbour is Luyten's Star, about 1.12 ly (0.34 pc) away.
Procyon forms one of the three vertices of the Winter Triangle, along with Sirius and Betelgeuse. Its colour index is 0.42, and its hue has been described as having a faint yellow tinge to it. - Wikipedia
Procyon System Architecture
Procyon system architecture. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Procyon System Orbital Diagram
Top-down view of the orbits of the stars in the Procyon star system - the system barycenter is highlighted. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Artist's view of the Procyon Star System
Artist's concept of the Procyon star system. SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley
Stay safe, be well, and look up!
Apps used for this post:
NASA Eyes on the Solar System: an immersive 3D solar system and space mission simulator - free for the PC /MAC. I maintain the unofficial NASA Eyes Facebook page.
Stellarium: a free open source planetarium app for PC/MAC/Linux. It's a great tool for planning observing sessions. A web-based version of Stellarium is also available.
Universe Sandbox: a space simulator that merges real-time gravity, climate, collision, and material interactions to reveal the beauty of our universe and the fragility of our planet. Includes VR support.
SpaceEngine: a free 3D Universe Simulator for Windows. Steam version with VR support available.
Section header image credits:
The Sky - Stellarium / Bob Trembley
Observing Target - Turn Left at Orion / M. Skirvin
The Moon - NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Sun - NASA/JPL-Caltech
Asteroids - NASA/JPL-Caltech
Fireballs - Credited to YouTube
Comets - Comet P/Halley, March 8, 1986, W. Liller
The Solar System - NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley
Spacecraft News - NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley
Exoplanets - Space Engine / Bob Trembley
Light Pollution - NASA's Black Marble
The Universe - Universe Today
In the Sky This Week – April 30, 2020
I've been having a pretty rough time since the recent loss of my brother - thank you for the kind thoughts. I've been an avid computer gamer ever since the first computer games existed; I've recently started playing No Man's Sky, a futuristic space exploration and survival game with more worlds than I could explore in my lifetime - it's providing the distraction my mind needs right now.
The conjunction of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn continues in the southeastern predawn sky - Mars has pulled far away from Saturn and Jupiter.
Conjunction of Mars, Saturn and Jupiter in the southeastern predawn sky this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Venus appears in the western sky at dusk accompanied by Betelgeuse and Capella.
Venus appears above the western horizon after sunset this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon appears between the stars Regulus and Pollux high in the southwestern sky after sunset on April 30th, and very near the star Regulus on May 1st.
-
- The Moon appears between the stars Regulus and Pollux high in the southwestern sky after sunset on April 30th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
-
- The Moon appears near the star Regulus high in the southwestern sky after sunset on May 1st. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon is a waxing crescent, visible toward the southwest in early evening.
The first quarter Moon occurs on May 1st, it will be visible high in the southern sky in early evening.
After May 1st, the Moon will be a waxing gibbous, visible to the southeast in early evening, and up for most of the night.
The Moon from 2020-04-30 - 2020-05-04. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.
Moon News
We are on our way to the Moon! In this new era of space exploration, we have selected three U.S. companies — @blueorigin, @Dynetics & @SpaceX — to develop human landers that will land #Artemis astronauts on the lunar surface.
Read today's announcement: https://t.co/KKPdq5kwAm pic.twitter.com/SVM7HrQHlh
— NASA (@NASA) April 30, 2020
The Sun has a spot! AR2760 is a member of the the Solar Cycle 25. Coronal holes remain open at both poles - the northern coronal hole seems a bit lop-sided.
The Sun seen in 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) Apr. 29, 2020:
Lots of prominence activity on the Sun's limb over the last couple days - several that appear for only one frame of the video below.
The Sun seen in 304 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) Apr. 29, 2020:
Videos courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.
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 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.
Facebook: SolarActivity
Solar Corona
Solar wind speed is 278.5 km/sec (↓), with a density of 5.1 protons/cm3 (↓) at 1836 UT.
Near real-time animation of the corona and solar wind from the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO):
Animated LASCO C2 Coronograph showing the solar corona above the Sun's limb (the white circle). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech-SOHO
Near-Earth objects (NEOs) discovered this month: 261 (+130), this year: 977 (+130), all time: 22,811 (+131)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2018 (last updated Oct. 1, 2019)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 958,142 (+230)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2018 (last updated Oct. 1, 2019)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 958,142 (+230)
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2020 HO3 |
2020-Apr-30
|
17.5 LD
|
9.3
|
21
|
| 2020 GY2 |
2020-Apr-30
|
17.2 LD
|
16.3
|
66
|
| 2020 HB3 |
2020-Apr-30
|
13 LD
|
12.2
|
34
|
| 2020 HK3 |
2020-May-01
|
4.4 LD
|
23.4
|
51
|
| 2020 HF4 |
2020-May-01
|
9.1 LD
|
2.6
|
11
|
| 2020 DM4 |
2020-May-01
|
18.4 LD
|
6.4
|
158
|
| 2020 HU2 |
2020-May-01
|
7.4 LD
|
5.6
|
17
|
| 2020 HR6 |
2020-May-01
|
12.7 LD
|
12.2
|
20
|
| 2020 HZ4 |
2020-May-02
|
16.1 LD
|
18.8
|
52
|
| 2020 HN5 |
2020-May-03
|
9.6 LD
|
7.2
|
35
|
| 2020 HL1 |
2020-May-03
|
12.6 LD
|
12
|
31
|
| 2020 GE3 |
2020-May-04
|
19.1 LD
|
5.2
|
22
|
| 2020 HQ3 |
2020-May-04
|
10.8 LD
|
9.5
|
29
|
| 2020 HV4 |
2020-May-04
|
18.2 LD
|
10
|
77
|
| 2020 HR8 |
2020-May-05
|
9.1 LD
|
9.7
|
14
|
| 2020 HZ6 |
2020-May-05
|
10.2 LD
|
21.8
|
34
|
| 2020 HL |
2020-May-05
|
16.7 LD
|
9.1
|
35
|
| 2020 HF7 |
2020-May-05
|
9.3 LD
|
17.3
|
21
|
| 2020 HL6 |
2020-May-06
|
2.1 LD
|
5.4
|
9
|
| 438908 |
2020-May-07
|
8.9 LD
|
12.8
|
282
|
| 2020 HM4 |
2020-May-07
|
10.7 LD
|
18.1
|
43
|
| 2016 HP6 |
2020-May-07
|
4.3 LD
|
5.7
|
31
|
| 2020 HB6 |
2020-May-08
|
9.8 LD
|
9.1
|
53
|
| 2020 HC6 |
2020-May-09
|
2.9 LD
|
6
|
36
|
| 388945 |
2020-May-10
|
7.3 LD
|
8.8
|
295
|
| 2000 KA |
2020-May-12
|
8.9 LD
|
13.5
|
162
|
| 2020 HS6 |
2020-May-14
|
15.8 LD
|
23
|
125
|
| 478784 |
2020-May-15
|
8.5 LD
|
3.6
|
28
|
| 2020 HA9 |
2020-May-15
|
18.2 LD
|
15.8
|
31
|
| 136795 |
2020-May-21
|
16.1 LD
|
11.7
|
892
|
| 163348 |
2020-Jun-06
|
13.3 LD
|
11.1
|
339
|
| 2013 XA22 |
2020-Jun-09
|
10.6 LD
|
6.5
|
98
|
| 2017 MF7 |
2020-Jun-14
|
3.7 LD
|
10.9
|
23
|
| 2018 PD22 |
2020-Jun-19
|
17.2 LD
|
14.6
|
56
|
| 441987 |
2020-Jun-24
|
9.8 LD
|
12.9
|
186
|
| 2017 FW128 |
2020-Jun-25
|
6.9 LD
|
5.4
|
11
|
Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. Red highlighted entries are asteroids that either pass very close, or very large with high relative velocities to the Earth. Table from SpaceWeather.com
On Apr. 29, 2020, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 8 fireballs.
(6 sporadics, 2 eta Aquarids)
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). Credit: SpaceWeather.com
Fireball & Meteor News
Well, I guess I'll be updating my lectures about asteroids and meteorites!
Terrible Luck. The Only Person Ever Killed by a Meteorite - Back in 1888 https://t.co/PSkA14MC58 By @Nancy_A pic.twitter.com/JSGu5kRgh9
— Universe Today (@universetoday) April 29, 2020
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system.
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, 2020-04-29. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets in the middle solar system.
Position of the planets in the middle solar system, 2020-04-29. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets some transneptunian objects in the outer solar system - the orbit of TNO Arrokoth is highlighted.
Position of the planets in the outer solar system on 2020-04-29 - the orbit of transneptunian object Arrokoth is highlighted.. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission
It’s the last day of #NationalPoetryMonth! As a final celebration, caption this anaglyph with a poem or share some of your favorite lines 🖋📒
Image details: https://t.co/irv3v3dYH4 pic.twitter.com/Xvs52QBVFL
— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) April 30, 2020
Hubble Space Telescope
What has Hubble discovered recently? What kinds of light does Hubble see? How do we control the telescope? Hubble senior project scientist Dr. Jennifer Wiseman answers these questions & more asked by @NASA social media followers in this #AskNASA episode: https://t.co/BuXzd3Jcap pic.twitter.com/j6WGsaNfZ3
— Hubble (@NASAHubble) April 29, 2020
International Space Station
The Exp 63 crew focused on spacesuits and cardiac research today while servicing science hardware and life support gear. Read more... https://t.co/D1xmzYAfTr pic.twitter.com/diLn9todyE
— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) April 29, 2020
Climate
We have updated our "vital sign" dashboard with the latest sea level data, as measured from space 🛰️ https://t.co/f8Cpqo7QQT
— NASA Climate (@NASAClimate) April 29, 2020
ex·o·plan·et /ˈeksōˌplanət/, noun: a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun.
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
* Confirmed Planets Discovered by TESS refers to the number planets that have been published in the refereed astronomical literature.
* TESS Project Candidates refers to the total number of transit-like events that appear to be astrophysical in origin, including false positives as identified by the TESS Project.
* TESS Project Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed refers to the number of TESS Project Candidates that have not yet been dispositioned as a Confirmed Planet or False Positive.
Did you know that a massive 18% of Wales’ land mass is protected from man-made light pollution, being either an IDA Dark Sky Status or Dark Sky Discovery Site? That’s 1million acres of land. The Elan Valley International Dark Sky Park makes up nearly 1% of Wales.📷Janice Vincett pic.twitter.com/3Rac21a7Uq
— Elan Links (@ElanLinks) July 14, 2019
1/2 @NASAWebb will study a bustling stellar nursery in the Orion Nebula with a thousand or so young stars in a space that could fit between our Sun and Alpha Centauri - our nearest neighbor. pic.twitter.com/S8iJMdKLPg
— NASA Goddard (@NASAGoddard) April 30, 2020
The Local Stellar Neighborhood
Continuing with my visual tour of nearby stars and their systems, we travel to EZ Aquarii, 11.3 light years distant.
Distance to EZ Aqr from Sol; the plane (green) is aligned with the orientation of the plane of the Milky Way galaxy. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
EZ Aquarii
EZ Aquarii is a triple star system approximately 11.3 ly (3.5 pc) from the Sun in the constellation Aquarius. It is also known as Luyten 789-6 and Gliese 866 and all three components are M-type red dwarfs. The pair EZ Aquarii AC form a spectroscopic binary with a 3.8-day orbit and a 0.03 AU separation. This pair share an orbit with EZ Aquarii B that has an 823-day period. The A and B components of Luyten 789-6 together emit X-rays.
The configuration of the inner binary pair may permit a circumbinary planet to orbit near their habitable zone. EZ Aquarii is approaching the Solar System and, in about 32,300 years, will be at its minimal distance of about 8.2 ly (2.5 pc) from the Sun. The ChView simulation shows that currently its nearest neighbouring star is Lacaille 9352 at about 4.1 ly (1.3 pc) from EZ Aquarii. .- Wikipedia
EZ Aquarii System Architecture
EZ Aqr System architecture. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
EZ Aquarii System Orbital Diagram
Top-down view of the orbits of the stars in the EZ Aqr star system in 2020. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Artist's view of the EZ Aquarii Star System
Artist's concept of the EZ Aqr star system. SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley
Stay safe, be well, and look up!
Apps used for this post:
NASA Eyes on the Solar System: an immersive 3D solar system and space mission simulator - free for the PC /MAC. I maintain the unofficial NASA Eyes Facebook page.
Stellarium: a free open source planetarium app for PC/MAC/Linux. It's a great tool for planning observing sessions. A web-based version of Stellarium is also available.
Universe Sandbox: a space simulator that merges real-time gravity, climate, collision, and material interactions to reveal the beauty of our universe and the fragility of our planet. Includes VR support.
SpaceEngine: a free 3D Universe Simulator for Windows. Steam version with VR support available.
Section header image credits:
The Sky - Stellarium / Bob Trembley
Observing Target - Turn Left at Orion / M. Skirvin
The Moon - NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Sun - NASA/JPL-Caltech
Asteroids - NASA/JPL-Caltech
Fireballs - Credited to YouTube
Comets - Comet P/Halley, March 8, 1986, W. Liller
The Solar System - NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley
Spacecraft News - NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley
Exoplanets - Space Engine / Bob Trembley
Light Pollution - NASA's Black Marble
The Universe - Universe Today