Skip to content
Vatican Observatory
  • About
    • Overview
    • Team
    • FAQ
  • Telescopes
    • Overview
    • Telescope Images
  • Latest
    • Overview
    • Resources
    • Press
    • Audio
    • Video
    • Research
    • Authors
      • FAQs
    • Newsletter
    • Tucson Meteor Cameras
  • Podcast
  • Education
    • Overview
    • Resource Center
    • Image Gallery
    • Summer School
    • Books
    • Software
    • Additional Resources
    • ACME
    • Ambassadors
  • Shop
  • Calendar
  • Support
    • Overview
    • Donate Now
    • Smart Ways to Give
    • Sacred Space Astronomy
      • View Content
    • Fr. Coyne Fundraiser
    • Bequests / Trusts
    • The Foundation
      • Newsletters
      • Annual Reports
  • Press
  • Specola Vaticana
  • Contact
    • Contact
  • About
    • Overview
    • Team
    • FAQ
  • Telescopes
    • Overview
    • Telescope Images
  • Latest
    • Overview
    • Resources
    • Press
    • Audio
    • Video
    • Research
    • Authors
      • FAQs
    • Newsletter
    • Tucson Meteor Cameras
  • Podcast
  • Education
    • Overview
    • Resource Center
    • Image Gallery
    • Summer School
    • Books
    • Software
    • Additional Resources
    • ACME
    • Ambassadors
  • Shop
  • Calendar
  • Support
    • Overview
    • Donate Now
    • Smart Ways to Give
    • Sacred Space Astronomy
      • View Content
    • Fr. Coyne Fundraiser
    • Bequests / Trusts
    • The Foundation
      • Newsletters
      • Annual Reports
  • Press
  • Specola Vaticana
  • Contact
    • Contact

In the Sky This Week – August 20, 2019

By Robert Trembley  |  20 Aug 2019

Share:
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share via Email

This entry is part 51 of 246 in the series In the Sky This Week

Saturn and Jupiter

I will be giving live demonstrations of NASA Eyes on the Solar System, Universe Sandbox, Kerbal Space Program and SpaceEngine at the Warren Public Library, Thursday August 22nd at 6:00 PM!  I’ve given these demonstrations several times – I frequently hear “I had no idea these even existed!” from audience members. I lectured at this library a month ago, and mentioned I work for the VOF; afterwards, and audience member came up to me and showed me a picture on her phone of her with Br. Guy – taken overseas! Facebook event: [LINK].

Saturn and Jupiter continue to make excellent observing targets in the southern sky after sunset.

Saturn and Jupiter Saturn, Jupiter and Antares in the southern sky after sunset. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

By midnight, Saturn is high in the south-southwestern sky and Jupiter is near setting in the southwest.

Saturn and Jupiter Saturn and Jupiter in the southwestern sky at midnight on Aug. 20th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

The eastern sky has some bright stars and the Pleiades star cluster at 3:00 AM.

The Pleiades, Aldebaran and several bright stars The Pleiades, Aldebaran and several bright stars in the eastern sky at 3:00 AM this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

On Aug. 20th, the Moon is high and lonely in the sky from midnight to dawn.

A lonely Moon high in the southeastern sky at 3:00 AM on Aug. 20th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

The Summer Triangle sets in the west before sunrise all week.

The Summer Triangle The Summer Triangle near setting in the west-northwestern predawn sky this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

Orion rises in the eastern predawn sky – a sure sign that fall is nearing.

Orion Orion on the rise in the eastern predawn sky this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

Mercury continues to head away from us in its orbit, and appears lower each morning in the eastern predawn sky.

Mercury Mercury in the eastern predawn sky on Aug. 20, 2019. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

The Moon appears near the star Aldebaran in the eastern sky early in the morning from Aug. 23-26th – very near on the 24th!

Moon near Aldebaran Moon near Aldebaran in the early morning from Aug. 23-26th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

M 23

Messier 23. Credit: Wikisky.

“Messier 23, also known as NGC 6494, is an open cluster of stars in the southern constellation of Sagittarius. It was discovered by Charles Messier on June 20, 1764. M23 can be found with binoculars or a modestly sized telescope. The cluster is positioned in front of “an extensive gas and dust network”, although it is unclear if there is an association between the two. It is located near the ecliptic and thus is subject to lunar occultations.

The cluster is located 2,050 light years away. Estimates for the number of cluster members range from 169 up to 414, with a directly-counted mass of 1,206 M☉; 1,332 M☉ by application of the virial theorem. The cluster is around 330 million years old with a near-solar metallicity of [Fe/H] = −0.04.The brightest component (lucida) is of magnitude 9.3. Five of the cluster members are candidate red giants, while the variable VV Sgr is a candidate asymptotic giant branch star.” – Wikipedia

M 23 Location of M 23 around 11:00 PM on Aug. 20, 2019. 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 August 23rd, rising around midnight, visible to the south after sunrise.

After August 23rd, the Moon will be a waning crescent, visible low to the east before sunrise

Moon The Moon from Aug. 20-26, 2019. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.

Moon News

We are going to the Moon — to stay.

Our #Artemis program will lay the groundwork for a sustainable infrastructure to support missions to Mars and beyond. This is what we’re building. This is what we’re training for. We are going.

Explore: https://t.co/Uk5tVT4xC9 pic.twitter.com/98tl1PQQa0

— NASA (@NASA) August 19, 2019

We're looking for industry to help deliver supplies to the Gateway, which is @NASA's lunar outpost. ?

The first supply mission supports landing the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024 as part of our #Artemis program: https://t.co/o2QznRg4KX pic.twitter.com/WVb9dSDwJq

— NASA's Kennedy Space Center (@NASAKennedy) August 19, 2019

The Sun has been spot-free for 13 days. The coronal holes at the Sun’s poles have remained open for months; the north hole has been huge for over a month!

Light prominence over the last couple days.

[video src="https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/dailymov/2019/08/19/20190819_1024_0304.mp4" loop="on" width="1024" height="1024"]https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/dailymov/2019/08/19/20190819_1024_0193.mp4

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10217604697703017&set=gm.2607782549233073&type=1&theater

The solar wind speed is 406.2 km/sec (↓), with a density of 4.0 protons/cm3 (↑) at 1100 UT.

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
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.

Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:

Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Velocity (km/s)
Diameter (m)
2016 PD1
2019-Aug-26
11.3 LD
5.9
65
2002 JR100
2019-Aug-27
19.4 LD
8.4
49
2019 OU1
2019-Aug-28
2.7 LD
13
95
2019 OF2
2019-Sep-03
18.3 LD
10.7
53
2018 DE1
2019-Sep-03
12.7 LD
6.6
28
2019 GT3
2019-Sep-06
19.5 LD
13.6
227
2010 RM82
2019-Sep-13
18.2 LD
14.6
23
2013 CV83
2019-Sep-13
15.7 LD
13.1
62
504800
2019-Sep-14
13.9 LD
14.4
155
467317
2019-Sep-14
13.9 LD
6.4
389
2019 JF1
2019-Sep-16
11.2 LD
4.3
61
2018 FU1
2019-Sep-16
18.4 LD
4.7
16
2017 SL16
2019-Sep-21
7.9 LD
6.5
25
2017 SM21
2019-Sep-21
11.5 LD
9.6
20
523934
2019-Sep-24
10.9 LD
22.3
257
2017 KP27
2019-Sep-26
6.2 LD
4.8
25
2006 QV89
2019-Sep-27
18.1 LD
4.1
31
2018 FK5
2019-Oct-01
13.3 LD
10.5
8
2018 LG4
2019-Oct-02
13.8 LD
8.1
12
2017 TJ4
2019-Oct-05
13.5 LD
8.9
32

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


Near-Earth objects
(NEOs) discovered this month: 49  (+14), this year: 1287  (+16), all time: 20673 (+15)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1983  (last updated  May 8, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 796,635 (+94)

I noticed that the number of known asteroids is approaching 800,000 – I wondered when this milestone might happen. I used data from my previous posts – the trend-line shows 800K being crossed sometime near the end of September of this year! This same trend-line shows the 1,000,000 milestone being crossed in July of 2032, but that’s at the current rate of discovery – hopefully the discovery rate will have increased dramatically before then.

Asteroid Discovery Trendline. Credit: Bob Trembley



On Aug. 19, 2019, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 48 fireballs.
(43 sporadics, 4 Perseids, 1 Northern delta Aquariid)

Fireball Orbits In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point–Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue). From: Spaceweather.com

Fireball & Meteor News

HUGE #meteor (bolide) in the skies over Torregrande, Sardinia, August 16th!

Video credit: @ClaudiuPorcu via Irina Gencheva pic.twitter.com/WRWlMkPaRW

— Physics-astronomy.org (@OrgPhysics) August 19, 2019

This is the position of the planets and a couple bodies in the solar system – I highlighted the asteroid Pallas:

Inner Solar System Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, Aug. 20, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Middle Solar System Position of the planets and a couple asteroids in the middle solar system, Aug. 20, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Orbit of Pallas Orbit of Pallas showing inclination to the plane of the ecliptic, Aug. 20, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Inner Solar System Seen from Pallas Inner Solar System Seen from Pallas, Aug. 20, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Pallas and Pleiades Hypothetical view of the Sun and Pleiades star cluster seen from above Pallas. The urge to superimpose the U.S.S. Enterprise orbiting Pallas in this pic is almost overwhelming! Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Sun from Pallas Hypothetical view of the Sun from the cratered surface of Pallas. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Outer Solar System Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the outer solar system – the orbit of Halley’s comet is highlighted, Aug. 20, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.

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

[iframe src=’https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/orrery/’ height=600 percent=100 style=””]

Solar System News

Who says #WorldPhotographyDay has to be limited to *this* world?

See some of the best photos in the solar system and beyond in our downloadable:

? e-books – https://t.co/ZTQqt3sKJN
? posters – https://t.co/Ohu3z0m2dS
? image collections – https://t.co/TvfTRDhz4V pic.twitter.com/9wzrLkWsr1

— Cassini (@CassiniSaturn) August 19, 2019

One step closer to Europa! Our upcoming mission to Jupiter’s intriguing ocean moon is ready to move into the next phase. Coming up is the final design, followed by construction and testing of our spacecraft and science payload. Details: https://t.co/EH6jfP06Pv pic.twitter.com/8Y2WAmAckP

— NASA Europa Clipper (@EuropaClipper) August 19, 2019

OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission

New mission phase alert! Orbital C began just over a week ago. At an altitude of 1.1 miles (1.7 km), this new orbit is slightly higher than Orbital B. Orbital C is designed to study and monitor asteroid Bennu’s particle ejection events.

Learn more: https://t.co/LlaLk1EQS5 pic.twitter.com/VkITmzKbHt

— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) August 19, 2019

Capturing the beauty and mystery of other worlds #WorldPhotographyDay

This image of asteroid Bennu was taken by PolyCam, built by @UALPL’s OCAMS team, on April 11 from a distance of 2.9 miles (4.6 km). pic.twitter.com/7LI0omKH4Q

— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) August 19, 2019

Landsat

Using 15 #Landsat images, this animation compresses 25 years of change into just 1.5 seconds to reveal the complex behaviour of the surging glaciers in the Panmah region of the Karakoram mountain range in #Asia. Read more: https://t.co/jkYny4AthM pic.twitter.com/PRsFl6Z3ti

— ESA EarthObservation (@ESA_EO) August 19, 2019

Climate

Last month's global average concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) was about 411 parts per million (ppm), up about 3 ppm from the same time last year. https://t.co/qjYgQZI1Al

— NASA Climate (@NASAClimate) August 15, 2019

Exoplanet

All Exoplanets
Share:
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share via Email

Sacred Space Astronomy

The Vatican Observatory’s official digital community and online magazine.

Become a Member

Recent Posts

Ask an AI about the History of Astronomy

By Mr. Christopher Graney  |  25 Mar 2023

Skyward by David Levy – March 2023

By David Levy  |  24 Mar 2023

Conjunction of the Moon and the Pleiades – March 25

By Robert Trembley  |  23 Mar 2023  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

The Northern Mountains

By Richard Hill  |  22 Mar 2023  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

Archives

      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • August
      • June
      • March
      • January
      • November
      • October
      • December
      • November
      • April
      • May
      • January
      • December
      • September
      • May
      • March
      • December
      • November
      • February

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

78  |  What Do We Lose When We Sacrifice Science?

By Br. Guy Consolmagno  |  27 May 2021  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

69  |  To err is human… to admit it, is science

By Br. Guy Consolmagno  |  25 Mar 2021  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

50  |  In the Sky This Week – October 22, 2019

By Robert Trembley  |  22 Oct 2019

52  |  In the Sky This Week – July 14, 2020

By Robert Trembley  |  14 Jul 2020

53  |  In the Sky This Week – August 15, 2017

By Robert Trembley  |  15 Aug 2017

Newsletter

Upcoming astronomical events, scientific breakthroughs, philosophical reflections… just a few reasons to subscribe to our newsletter!

Vatican Observatory
  • About
  • Telescopes
  • Latest
  • Podcast
  • Education
  • Shop
  • Calendar
  • Support
  • Press
  • Specola Vaticana
  • Contact
Privacy Policy  |   Cookie Policy  |   Disclosure Statement

Podcast:

  • Apple Podcasts Listen onApple Podcasts
  • Spotify Listen onSpotify
  • Google Podcasts Listen onGoogle Podcasts
  • Stitcher Listen onStitcher
  • Amazon Alexa Listen onAmazon Alexa
  • TuneIn Listen onTuneIn
Made by Longbeard