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In the Sky This Week – August 28, 2018

By Robert Trembley  |  28 Aug 2018

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This entry is part 111 of 246 in the series In the Sky This Week

Eastern sky

Sirius “the Dog Star” appears in the southeastern predawn sky below the constellation Orion. If you look closely you may catch a glimpse of Mercury low in the east shortly before sunrise.

Eastern sky Sirius below the constellation Orion in the predawn sky to the east on Aug. 28, 2018; Mercury also makes an appearance. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

The splash of planets across the southern sky is free of the glare of the Moon – assuming your skies aren’t obscured by smoke, or the ever-present cloud cover Michigan frequently offers, they should make for excellent observing all week.

Southern sky Mars, Saturn and Jupiter in the south-southwestern sky shortly after 10:00 PM, Aug. 28 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

In the southwestern sky at dusk, Jupiter continues to move slowly westward toward Venus, as Venus moves slowly southward. Venus continues to appear lower in the sky each evening.

Southwestern sky Jupiter and Venus in the southwestern sky at dusk, Aug. 28, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

The Moon

The Moon is a waning gibbous heading towards third-quarter on September 3rd. Next week the Moon will be a waning crescent.

Moon The Moon from Aug. 28-Sep.3, 2018. Visualizations by Ernie Wright

Observing Target: The Double Cluster

NGC 869 and NGC 884 are open clusters located about 7600 light years away in the constellation of Perseus. The clusters most likely formed around 12.5 – 13 million years ago. “The clusters are both located in the Perseus OB1 association, a few hundred light years apart from each other. The clusters were first recorded by Hipparchus, but have likely been known since antiquity.” ~ From Wikipedia

The Double Cluster Location of NGC 869 – The Double Cluster. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
Double Cluster The Double Cluster. Credit: Creative Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

The Sun

Sunspot AR2720, with a moderate amount of coronal loop activity, is rotating out of view to the right in the animation below. The northern coronal hole is simply gargantuan! A smaller equatorial hole fills in and vanishes in over the last few days. The solar wind speed is 535.9 km/sec, with a density of 4.9 protons/cm3.

https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/dailymov/2018/08/27/20180827_1024_0193.mp4

SpaceWeather.com says: “Earth’s magnetic field is quieting, finally, almost 48 hours after a surprisingly strong geomagnetic storm sparked auroras seen from the Arctic Circle to the continental USA. Arctic sky watchers should nevertheless remain alert for auroras. Earth is passing through a stream of high-speed solar wind, and according to NOAA there is a 40% chance of renewed minor storms on Aug. 28th.”


As I was looking at SpaceWeather.com this morning, I was completely gobsmacked by an article posted there – I’m reposting it here because of how exciting I found it! And yet again, I need to update my lecture about the Sun…

ELECTRICITY FLOWS THROUGH THE SOIL OF NORWAY: When a geomagnetic storm erupts, most eyes naturally turn to the sky, looking for auroras. But during the surprisingly strong G3-class geomagnetic storm of Aug. 26th, there was action underfoot as well. Probes buried in the ground in Norway detected strong currents of electricity moving through the soil. This chart recording made by Rob Stammes at the Polarlightcenter in Lofoten shows wild swings in current during the storm’s peak:

“The currents were remarkably strong,” says Stammes, who has been monitoring ground currents outside his Arctic observatory for many years. “During the magnetic storm, voltages surged to 10mv/m or 10v/km. That’s about 10 times stronger than normal. These are pretty rare readings without a strong solar flare during solar minimum.”

Why does electricity flow through the ground during a geomagnetic storm? It’s basic physics. Changing magnetic fields cause currents to flow in wires and other conductors. In most places, soil can conduct electricity due to the presence of dissolved salts and minerals. So when the local magnetic field begins to vibrate, electricity naturally begins to flow. Currents induced by geomagnetic storms can cause voltage fluctuations in power systems and in rare cases complete blackouts.


Prominences are few this week, with the notable exception of the roiling one in the upper left of the animation below. AR2720 appears as the bright orange region on the right below.

https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/dailymov/2018/08/27/20180827_1024_0304.mp4
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.

Asteroids

Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:

Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Velocity (km/s)
Diameter (m)
2018 PK9
2018-Aug-22
17 LD
9
33
2018 PW7
2018-Aug-23
11.3 LD
10.6
50
2018 QF1
2018-Aug-23
18.1 LD
14.3
75
2018 PU23
2018-Aug-23
7.8 LD
1.5
8
2018 PR9
2018-Aug-24
18.1 LD
14
46
2018 QH1
2018-Aug-27
13.2 LD
12.5
27
2018 LQ2
2018-Aug-27
9.4 LD
1.5
39
2016 GK135
2018-Aug-28
16.8 LD
2.8
9
2016 NF23
2018-Aug-29
13.2 LD
9
93
1998 SD9
2018-Aug-29
4.2 LD
10.7
51
2018 DE1
2018-Aug-30
15.2 LD
6.5
28
2001 RQ17
2018-Sep-02
19.3 LD
8.3
107
2015 FP118
2018-Sep-03
12.3 LD
9.8
490
2018 QA
2018-Sep-03
17.5 LD
20.4
73
2017 SL16
2018-Sep-20
8.5 LD
6.4
25
2018 EB
2018-Oct-07
15.5 LD
15.1
155
2014 US7
2018-Oct-17
3.2 LD
8.7
19
2013 UG1
2018-Oct-18
10.4 LD
13.4
123
2016 GC221
2018-Oct-18
8.7 LD
14.4
39

Notes: LD means “Lunar Distance.” 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. Table from SpaceWeather.com

Near-Earth objects (NEOs) discovered this month: 123, this year: 1095, all time: 18647.
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1912 (as of August 28, 2018)
Minor Planets discovered: 779,736 (as of July 31, 2018)

Fireballs

On Aug. 27, 2018, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 13 fireballs.

Fireball orbits In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point–Earth. Source: Spaceweather.com

The Solar System

This is the position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the solar system:

Inner Solar System Position of the planets and a few spacecraft in the inner system, Aug 28 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Middle Solar System Position of the planets in the middle system, Aug 28 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.

Spacecraft

The OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return spacecraft is approaching its target.

I'm less than 2 million kilometers (1.2 million miles) from #asteroid Bennu! It now takes almost 13 minutes round-trip for me to communicate with the team on the ground. ? ↔️ ?

More about my progress on the journey #ToBennuAndBack: https://t.co/rACre4nDe4 pic.twitter.com/qWClC0Zu0G

— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) August 27, 2018

The Mars InSight mission has passed the half-way point on its journey to Mars.

NASA's Mars InSight lander is halfway to the Red Planet and all instruments are doing A-OK: https://t.co/UCFsal2rDU pic.twitter.com/Ars6R9KAbd

— NASA 360 (@NASA360) August 22, 2018

The Parker Solar Probe launched on Aug. 12, 2018 – it will fly closer to the Sun than any spacecraft before. To say I’m excited about this is an understatement!

On Aug. 12, we launched #ParkerSolarProbe to the Sun, where it will fly closer than any spacecraft before and uncover new secrets about our star. Here are 10 things you need to know: https://t.co/Uyw4rK4GPX pic.twitter.com/IHyw5hW3OU

— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) August 27, 2018

In fact I’m SUCH a geek about the Parker Solar Probe, I wanted to share this video of a replica Parker Solar Probe, launched in Kerbal Space Program, with callouts from an actual United Launch Alliance systems engineer!

Exoplanets

Confirmed Exoplanets: 3,778 (8/23/2018)
Multi-Planet Systems: 625 (8/23/2018)
Kepler Candidate Exoplanets: 4,496 (8/31/2017)
TESS Candidate Exoplanets: 0
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive


Apps used for this post:

Stellarium: a free open source planetarium app for PC/MAC/Linux. It’s a great tool for planning observing sessions.
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.

NASA 60th Anniversary 2018 is NASA’s 60th anniversary!
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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

110  |  In the Sky This Week – June 26, 2018

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112  |  In the Sky This Week – September 5, 2018

By Robert Trembley  |  5 Sep 2018

113  |  In the Sky This Week – September 11, 2018

By Robert Trembley  |  11 Sep 2018

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