In the Sky This Week – August 27, 2019

After my presentation at the Warren Public Library last week, a young woman asked if I was scheduled to speak there again. I told her I hadn’t spoken with the library about presenting again, but I do have a ton I could present. She said “I’m going to suggest to them that they get you back – you’re really good!” AwwwWWwwww! How nice! 🙂 I showed several different space software apps, and gave a virtual “Tour of the Stellar Neighborhood” using SpaceEngine; I took the audience over the rings of Saturn, flew like a drone over the surface of the Moon, orbited the Ring Nebula, flew through a gobular cluster, showed the two stars of Polaris orbiting each other in accelerated time, and more! I LOVE giving this presentation; I’m scheduled to give this talk to a bunch of astronomers at the meeting of the Warren Astronomical Society on Sept. 19th!

In the continuing saga of “selling my home” – the realtor came over yesterday and was completely floored at how much we’ve done to prep the house in the last few weeks – The upper two floors are practically empty; our home of 22 years went on the market yesterday! I KNOW we need to do it, but I’m not handling this move very well… A huge and continuing thank you to my daughter Amanda and son-in-law Sam for all the help they’ve given us with fixes and repairs.

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

Saturn, Jupiter and Antares in the southwestern sky at midnight on Sep. 3, 2019. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

But catch Jupiter before midnight, as it sets in the southwest shortly after then.

Saturn, Jupiter and Antares in the southwestern sky at midnight on Aug. 27, 2019. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

The waning crescent Moon appears in the southeastern skies at dawn On Aug. 27^th & 28^th.

Mercury continues to head away from us in its orbit, and will soon be lost in the light of the dawn.

Mercury low in the eastern predawn sky on Aug. 27, 2019. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

The waxing crescent Moon appears in the southwestern sky at dusk on Sept. 1st and 2nd.

M2

“Messier 2 or M2 (also designated NGC 7089) is a globular cluster in the constellation Aquarius, five degrees north of the star Beta Aquarii. It was discovered by Jean-Dominique Maraldi in 1746, and is one of the largest known globular clusters.” – Wikipedia

Star clusters are commonly featured in cosmic photoshoots, and are also well-loved by the keen eye of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. These large gatherings of celestial gems are striking sights — and the subject of this Picture of the Week, Messier 2, is certainly no exception. Messier 2 is located in the constellation of Aquarius (The Water-Bearer), about 55 000 light-years away. It is a globular cluster, a spherical group of stars all tightly bound together by gravity. With a diameter of roughly 175 light-years, a population of 150,000 stars, and an age of 13 billion years, Messier 2 is one of the largest clusters of its kind and one of the oldest associated with the Milky Way. Most of the cluster’s mass is concentrated at its centre, with shimmering streams of stars extending outwards into space. It is bright enough that it can even be seen with the naked eye when observing conditions are extremely good.

Location of M2 – Aug. 27, 2019. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

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

The new Moon occurs on August 30^th, and will not be visible.

After August 30^th, the Moon will be a waxing crescent, returning to the southwest sky at dusk.

The Moon from Aug. 27-Sep. 2, 2019. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.

Moon News

The Sun has been spot-free for 20 days – coronal holes are everywhere! The hole at the north pole has a tendril stretching down towards the equator, ans there are two large holes on the Sun’s face.

A couple prominences recently made great photographic targets!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10219621211501753&set=gm.2620400931304568&type=3&theater&ifg=1

The solar wind speed is 470.9 km/sec (↑), with a density of  13.1 protons/cm³ (↑↑↑) at 1200 UT.

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

Sun News – Protecting Astronauts From Space Radiation

Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:

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

On Aug. 26, 2019, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 12 fireballs.
(8 sporadics, 2 Northern delta Aquariids, 2 Southern delta Aquariids)

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

Position of the planets and a couple bodies in the inner solar system – I highlighted the Parker Solar Probe, which has re-crossed the orbit of Mercury:

Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, Aug. 27, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.

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

Position of the planets in the middle solar system, Aug. 27, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.

The Steam version of SpaceEngine has some downloadable content (DLC) with models and terrain for asteroids Vesta, Ceres and comet 67P – you can literally “fly like a drone” over the surfaces of these objects. Here’s Asteroid Vesta from above the “Snowman crater” complex in SpaceEngine:

Above the “Snowman Craters” on Vesta. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.

This shot is from the surface of asteroid Vesta, between two lobes of the “Snowman crater.”

On the surface of Vesta, between two lobes of the Snowman on Vesta. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.

This shot shows the rugged terrain of asteroid Vesta:

Rugged Terrain on asteroid Vesta. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.

This shot is from the surface of one of the two lobes of comet 67/P-Churyumov–Gerasimenko -looking at the other lobe:

On the surface of comet 67/P-Churyumov–Gerasimenko looking towards one of the comet’s lobes. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.

Position of the planets and a couple bodies in the outer solar system – I highlighted 2014 MU₆₉, nicknamed Ultma Thule:

Position of the planets in the outer solar system, Aug. 27, 2019, Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) 2014 MU69 is highlighted. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.

Bilobed Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) 2014 MU₆₉ – seen pretty much as it was imaged by NASA’s New Horizons probe.

Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) 2014 MU69, Aug 27, 2019 showing shape similar to that imaged by the New Horizons probe. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar Syste