In the Sky This Week – April 30, 2020

By Robert Trembley  |  30 Apr 2020

This entry is part 146 of 253 in the series In the Sky This Week

Conjunction of Mars, Saturn and Jupiter

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 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.

Western horizon after sunset 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 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.

Moon The Moon from 2020-04-30 – 2020-05-04. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.

Moon News

 

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.

 

Facebook: SolarActivity

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10222072773709276&set=gm.3158738864137436&type=3&theater&ifg=1

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):

SOHO LASCO C2 Latest Image 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)

 

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!

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

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.

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.

Outer Solar System 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

Hubble Space Telescope

International Space Station

Climate

Exoplanet
ex·o·plan·et /ˈeksōˌplanət/, noun: a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun.

All Exoplanets 4152  (+1)
Confirmed Planets with Kepler Light Curves for Stellar Host 2358  (+1)
Confirmed Planets Discovered by Kepler 2349  (+1)
Kepler Project Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed 2420
Confirmed Planets with K2 Light Curves for Stellar Host 430
Confirmed Planets Discovered by K2 397
K2 Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed 889
Confirmed Planets Discovered by TESS 45 
TESS Project Candidates Integrated into Archive (2020-04-20 16:30:03) 1799  
Current date TESS Project Candidates at ExoFOP 1799  
TESS Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed 1111  (-7)

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.

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.

EZ Aqr 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 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

EZ Aqr 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

More Posts in this Series:
"In the Sky This Week"