In the southern predawn sky, Mars and Jupiter continue to separate after their recent conjunction; Mars will slowly make its way southeast towards Saturn over the next several weeks. Saturn will get higher in the southeastern predawn sky with each passing morning.
Southeastern sky before dawn, Jan. 23, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The Moon
The Moon is a waxing crescent, visible in the southwestern sky at dusk, and setting around midnight.
Southern sky after sunset, Jan. 23, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
First Quarter Moon on Jan. 24, 2018. Visualization by NASA/Ernie Wright
Total Lunar Eclipse (~90%) Oct. 26, 2004. Image credit: Bob TrembleyThe Moon will be at first-quarter on the 24th, and will be a waxing gibbous for the rest of the week, heading toward full on the 31st. The Moon will be a great observing target this week.
On January 31st there will be a total lunar eclipse – this will be the first Blue Moon eclipse in 150 years!
The Sun
The Sun, Jan. 23, 2018 – HMI Intensitygram – colored. Image credit: NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.The Sun is spot-free, which was a shame last weekend – I set up my telescopes at ConFusion – a Science Fiction convention in the Metro-Detroit area. I’ve been bringing my telescopes to these conventions for several years now, and for the last 2 years, every weekend has been cloudy… or raining. This time, finally, the skies were clear and I got to set up my telescopes!
Annnnnnd there were absolutely zero sunspots to be seen through my 8″ Dobsonian telescope. Nothing but a featureless white disk.
However, my 40mm PST (a solar telescope) showed an impressive triangular prominence, and a tall pillar prominence that several people got to see Saturday morning at the convention! There are several prominences on the limb of the Sun this morning too!
The Sun in 304 angstroms, Jan. 23, 2018. Note the prominences all along the limb. Image credit: NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.There is a large coronal hole in the Sun’s southern polar region, and a smaller one in the north polar region. SpaceWeather.com says that the Earth has been inside a stream of solar wind coming from a coronal hole that now seems to have closed up in the last day (lower right of image). The solar wind speed is 495 km/sec, with a density of 6 protons/cm3.
The Sun in 193 angstroms – Jan. 23, 2018 – Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA). Image courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.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.
Meteors
Seeing a meteor or fireball can be a thrilling experience. Having one explode overhead, releasing enough energy to light up the entire sky, and a shock-wave so strong it rattled windows and shook houses… thrilling is not quite the right word for it! That’s exactly what happened over southeastern Michigan last week! See my stories on the Michigan fireball and meteorites found here: https://www.vaticanobservatory.org/series/michigan-meteor/
If you see a fireball or bolide, please REPORT IT to the American Meteor Society!
The next major meteor shower will be the Lyrids from Apr.18-Apr.25, peaking on Apr. 22. The alpha Centaurids (a minor meteor shower) lasts from Jan. 28-Feb. 21, peaking on Feb. 8 with a max of 6 meteors/hour.
The Solar System
Position of the planets in the solar system, Jan. 23, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.This is the position of the planets in the solar system simulated using NASA Eyes on the Solar System.
Apps used for this post:
Stellarium: a free open source planetarium app for PC/MAC/Linux.
NASA Eyes on the Solar System: an immersive 3D solar system and space mission app – free for the PC /MAC.
Moon at Confusion – taken with smartphone held up to telescope. Jan.20, 2018. Credit: Bob Trembley