Things have been a little exciting for me the last couple days – I’m a grandpa! My daughter Amanda and her husband Sam delivered Alayanora Lee Festian at home on Sunday Feb. 9th – under the full Moon. All are doing well – astronomy-related baby clothes suggestions are welcome! 🙂
Bob Trembley’s granddaughter, Alayanora Lee Festian – daughter of Sam and Amanda Festian, born Feb. 9, 2020 under the full Moon.The day after my granddaughter was born we put our house back on the market – calls for showings started pouring in while we were visiting our granddaughter.
When you show your house, you have to be away from the premises when prospective buyers are at a showing – and the house has to be cleaned… have I ever mentioned that I own parrots?
I also work from home, and I have a new granddaughter… I may have been a bit distracted the last couple days.
Jupiter and Mars nearly align with the star Antares above the southeastern horizon before dawn – follow those three to find Saturn, still low above the eastern horizon this week.
Saturn low on the horizon, with Jupiter and Mars above the south-southeastern horizon at dawn this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.Here’s the same patch of sky seen from Ushuaia, Argentina:
Seen from Ushuaia, Argentina, Saturn is low on the eastern horizon before dawn – Jupiter, Mars and the star Antares are aligned in the opposite direction as seen from the continental U.S. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The waning gibbous Moon appears near the star Spica before dawn on Thursday Jan. 13th.
The Moon appears near the star Spica before dawn on Jan. 13th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.Mercury appears low on the eastern horizon this week, joining Venus at dusk.
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 Feb. 15th, rising around midnight, and visible to the south after sunrise.
After Feb. 15th, the Moon will be a waning crescent, visible low to the east before sunrise.
The Moon from 2020-02-11 – 2020-02-17. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.Click this image to go to the NASA 2020 Moon Phase and Libration site. Click the image of the Moon on that site to download a high-rez image of the current Moon phase with the names of craters and other features shown – many along the terminator.
Moon News
The Sun has been spot-free for 9 days.
Colored HMI Intensitygram of the Sun from Feb. 11, 2020.
The northern coronal hole has reopened, and the southern hole remains wide open.
The Sun seen in 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) Feb. 11, 2020:
Prominences galore on the Sun’s limb over the last several days! Very impressive!
The Sun seen in 304 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) Feb. 10, 2020:
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=10221171680422507&set=gm.2973598465984811&type=3&theater&ifg=1
Solar Corona
Solar wind speed is 359.4 km/sec (↑), with a density of 3.7 protons/cm3 (↓) at 1257 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-SOHOSun News
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2018 (last updated Oct. 1, 2019)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 934,103 (+2069)
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2020 CH |
2020-Feb-12
|
11.6 LD
|
9.4
|
31
|
| 2020 CF |
2020-Feb-12
|
14.8 LD
|
5.3
|
12
|
| 163373 |
2020-Feb-15
|
15.1 LD
|
15.2
|
589
|
| 2020 BL14 |
2020-Feb-16
|
18 LD
|
8.8
|
33
|
| 2020 CK1 |
2020-Feb-17
|
8.6 LD
|
8.1
|
16
|
| 2018 CW2 |
2020-Feb-17
|
6 LD
|
10.2
|
28
|
| 2020 BA10 |
2020-Feb-18
|
12.3 LD
|
9
|
28
|
| 2020 CX1 |
2020-Feb-19
|
14.1 LD
|
7.9
|
53
|
| 2020 BL7 |
2020-Feb-19
|
13.9 LD
|
8.5
|
36
|
| 2020 BC9 |
2020-Feb-20
|
13.9 LD
|
9.3
|
77
|
| 2019 BE5 |
2020-Feb-20
|
13.7 LD
|
14.8
|
34
|
| 2011 DR |
2020-Feb-23
|
14.7 LD
|
5.8
|
25
|
| 2016 CO246 |
2020-Feb-23
|
18.4 LD
|
5.9
|
25
|
| 2020 BR10 |
2020-Feb-23
|
15.4 LD
|
15.1
|
101
|
| 2020 BW13 |
2020-Feb-24
|
9.1 LD
|
2.4
|
12
|
| 2012 DS30 |
2020-Feb-26
|
12.3 LD
|
5.4
|
22
|
| 2015 BK509 |
2020-Feb-29
|
18.7 LD
|
12.5
|
118
|
| 2017 BM123 |
2020-Mar-01
|
10.5 LD
|
8.1
|
65
|
| 2018 RF6 |
2020-Mar-10
|
11.2 LD
|
12.6
|
36
|
| 2008 UB95 |
2020-Mar-11
|
18.5 LD
|
7.6
|
41
|
| 2018 GY |
2020-Mar-15
|
6.2 LD
|
9.5
|
39
|
| 2012 XA133 |
2020-Mar-27
|
17.4 LD
|
23.7
|
235
|
| 2010 GD35 |
2020-Mar-29
|
15.3 LD
|
12
|
43
|
| 2006 FH36 |
2020-Mar-30
|
11.3 LD
|
5.1
|
93
|
| 2019 GM1 |
2020-Apr-02
|
9 LD
|
4.2
|
14
|
| 2015 FC35 |
2020-Apr-04
|
10.4 LD
|
13.8
|
148
|
| 2019 HM |
2020-Apr-10
|
7.2 LD
|
3.2
|
23
|
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 Feb. 10, 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). From: Spaceweather.comFireball News
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, 2020-02-11. 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, 2020-02-11. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.Position of the planets in the outer solar system – the orbit of transneptunian object (307261) 2002 MS4 is highlighted:
Outer Solar System 2002-02-11, orbit of transneptunian object (307261) 2002 MS4 highlighted in red. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.(307261) 2002 MS4
(307261) 2002 MS4 is a large classical Kuiper belt object and a possible dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a region of icy planetesimals beyond Neptune. It was discovered in 2002 by Chad Trujillo and Michael Brown. (307261) 2002 MS4 has been observed 74 times, with precovery images back to 8 April 1954.
As of 2019, 2002 MS4 is 46.5 AU from the Sun. It will reach perihelion, its closest point to the Sun, in 2122. – Wikipedia
Artist’s Conception of transneptunian object (307261) 2002 MS4 eclipsing the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission
International Space Station
Hubble Space Telescope
https://twitter.com/NASAHubble/status/1227246162207559681/photo/1
