Bob Trembley’s granddaughter, Alayanora Lee Festian, at 1 week old on 2020-02-16 – note the Star Wars blanket. Credit: Amanda Festian.Remember how last week I mentioned that “Things have been a little exciting for me the last couple days?” Adding to the excitement of having a new granddaughter, our house sold the day after it went on the market! The inspector has come and gone, the appraisal takes place tomorrow, and now we’re looking for a new home – whew!
My granddaughter, Alayanora Lee Festian, got to meet her aunt Rachel (my eldest) and her great-grandparents (my wife Connie’s parents) last weekend – great grandma and grandpa were in heaven! Rachel left her niece a Star Wars blanket – which is awesome, but I would have expected something Harry Potter-themed from Rachel…
The planets splashed across the southeastern horizon before dawn are joined by the Moon for the next several mornings – the Moon will appear near Mars on Feb. 18th, Jupiter on Feb. 19th, and Saturn on Feb. 20th.
The Moon actually occulted the planet Mars at dawn on Feb. 18th – it was cloudy where I was…
There will be an occultation of Mars by the Moon shortly after 7:00 AM on Feb. 18, 2020 – but (as luck would have it) the event may be lost in the glare of the Sun. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.This astrophysicist and astrophotographer tweeted a video of the Mars occultation:
https://twitter.com/AntonioParis/status/1229738703184113673
Venus is high and BRIGHT in the west-southwestern sky a dusk; I’ve been seeing a lot of “what is that?” posts on social media. Mercury appears very low on the western horizon at dusk, and will leave the evening sky by the end of the week.
Venus high and bright in the western sky at dusk this week – Mercury is very low and will be gone by week’s end . Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon is a waning crescent, visible low to the east before sunrise. Be sure to watch for earthshine!
The new Moon occurs on Feb. 23rd.
After Feb. 23rd, the Moon will be a waxing crescent, visible toward the southwest in early evening.
The Moon from 2020-02-18 – 2020-02-24. 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
Not sure how I missed this one:
The Sun has been spot-free for 16 days. The northern coronal hole remains open but appears diminished – it is much smaller than the southern coronal hole, which is large and wide open.
The Sun seen in 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) Feb. 17, 2020:
Some nice but short-lived prominences on the Sun’s limb over the last several days – enough for some good photos tho!
The Sun seen in 304 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) Feb. 17, 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=2471897496392537&set=gm.2993709537307037&type=3&theater&ifg=1
Solar Corona
Solar wind speed is 380.7 km/sec (↑), with a density of 10.6 protons/cm3 (↑↑) at 1431 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: 934,142 (+39)
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2020 DB |
2020-Feb-18
|
3.8 LD
|
21.7
|
16
|
| 2020 BA10 |
2020-Feb-18
|
12.3 LD
|
9
|
29
|
| 2020 DD |
2020-Feb-18
|
2.5 LD
|
38.6
|
71
|
| 2020 CX1 |
2020-Feb-19
|
14.1 LD
|
7.9
|
53
|
| 2020 DA |
2020-Feb-19
|
7.9 LD
|
10.3
|
54
|
| 2020 BL7 |
2020-Feb-19
|
13.9 LD
|
8.5
|
36
|
| 2020 CO2 |
2020-Feb-19
|
3.9 LD
|
15.3
|
16
|
| 2020 CU2 |
2020-Feb-19
|
13.2 LD
|
8.3
|
12
|
| 2020 BC9 |
2020-Feb-20
|
13.9 LD
|
9.3
|
77
|
| 2020 DE |
2020-Feb-20
|
3.5 LD
|
9.7
|
14
|
| 2019 BE5 |
2020-Feb-20
|
13.7 LD
|
14.8
|
34
|
| 2020 DC |
2020-Feb-20
|
5.9 LD
|
5
|
15
|
| 2020 CP2 |
2020-Feb-20
|
5 LD
|
21
|
27
|
| 2011 DR |
2020-Feb-23
|
14.7 LD
|
5.8
|
25
|
| 2016 CO246 |
2020-Feb-23
|
18.4 LD
|
5.9
|
25
|
| 2020 CY2 |
2020-Feb-23
|
11.1 LD
|
3.8
|
11
|
| 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
|
10.5 LD
|
13.8
|
148
|
| 2019 HM |
2020-Apr-10
|
7.2 LD
|
3.2
|
23
|
| 363599 |
2020-Apr-11
|
19.2 LD
|
24.5
|
224
|
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. 17, 2020, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 5 fireballs.
(5 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
I’ve seen reports ALL OVER Twitter about a “meteorite striking a factory in India;” the only video I’ve seen is one from a security cam showing a bolide in the air. I have NOT seen any pictures of the unfortunately located factory, or the alleged “twenty foot crater” left by this this impact. I’ll wait to post anything about this until I see something more convincing.
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, 2020-02-18. 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, 2020-02-18. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.Position of the planets in the outer solar system:
Position of the planets in the outer solar system, 2020-02-18 – the New Horizons spacecraft is about 1.25 billion miles from Pluto. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.I chose to highlight Neptune’s moon Triton this week:
Global color mosaic of Triton, taken in 1989 by Voyager 2 during its flyby of the Neptune system. Credit: NASA/JPL/USGSTriton is the largest of Neptune’s 13 moons. It is unusual because it is the only large moon in our solar system that orbits in the opposite direction of its planet’s rotation―a retrograde orbit. – NASA
Retrograde orbit of Neptune’s moon Triton compared to Neptune’s inner moons. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.Scientists think Triton is a Kuiper Belt Object captured by Neptune’s gravity millions of years ago. It shares many similarities with Pluto, the best known world of the Kuiper Belt. – NASA
Comparison of Triton, Pluto and the Earth’s Moon. Credit: Universe Sandbox / Bob TrembleyNote: In the image above, the Moon and Pluto are represented accurately in Universe Sandbox – Triton is not. I used a randomly generated cold moon, with colors picked from a Voyager image of Triton. I was mainly going for a size comparison here anyway…
Like our own moon, Triton is locked in synchronous rotation with Neptune―one side faces the pla
