Jupiter and Saturn make great observing targets in the southern sky after sunset; Jupiter sets shortly after 1:00 AM.
Saturn and Jupiter in the southern sky after sunset on July 10, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.Mars continues to shine ever brighter as opposition with Earth approaches later this month. Saturn sets in the southwest with the sunrise.
Mars and Saturn in the southwestern sky at 4:30 AM on July 10, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.Venus and Mercury are visible in the western sky after sunset; Venus continues to appear near the star Regulus for the next few days, and Mercury will likely only be visible for a few minutes before setting.
Venus near the star Regulus, and Mercury low in the western sky after sunset, July 10, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The Big Dipper – an asterism in the constellation Ursa Major, is visible in the northern predawn sky.
The Big Dipper asterism around 5:00 AM July 10, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The Moon
The Moon is a waning crescent visible in the eastern predawn sky. The Moon will be new on July 13th, after which it will be a waxing crescent in the western sky shortly after sunset.
The Moon from July 10-16, 2018. Visualizations by Ernie WrightThe waning crescent Moon will appear close to the star Aldebaran in the eastern predawn sky on July 10th.
A thin waning crescent Moon is near the star Aldebaran in the eastern sky before sunrise, July 10, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.A waxing crescent Moon joins Mercury, Venus and the star Regulus in the western sky at dusk on July 15th.
Venus near the Moon, and Mercury low in the western sky after sunset, July 15, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.Observing Target: M16 – The Eagle Nebula
M16 – The Eagle Nebula is a diffuse emission nebula located 7000 light-years from Earth. The nebula is 70 by 55 light-years across, containing an active star-forming region, and an open star cluster with about 8100 stars.
Location of M16 – The Eagle Nebula at 12:30 AM July 10, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.Through a small telescope, M16 appears as a diffuse green-white smudge; dark lanes and regions will be difficult to find in light-polluted skies. From not-so-awfully light-polluted suburban skies, the nebula can be spotted in a 6-8 inch telescope, but the Pillars of Creation are hard to see unless you have very dark skies.
Sketch of M16. Credit: Jeremy Perez / Cloudy Nights ForumUsing the Hubble Space Telescope, Jeff Hester and Paul Scowen made the now famous “Pillars of Creation” image. Hubble revisited the Pillars in 2015 to create a newer high-resolution image seen below.
Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have assembled a bigger and sharper photograph of the iconic Eagle Nebula’s “Pillars of Creation” (right); the original 1995 Hubble image is shown at left. Credits: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)/J. Hester, P. Scowen (Arizona State U.)The Pillars look ghostly when seen in infrared light, but … oh, all the stars!
This image shows the pillars as seen in infrared light, allowing it to pierce through obscuring dust and gas and unveil a more unfamiliar — but just as amazing — view of the pillars. In this ethereal view the entire frame is peppered with bright stars and baby stars are revealed being formed within the pillars themselves. The ghostly outlines of the pillars seem much more delicate, and are silhouetted against an eerie blue haze. Credit:NASA, ESA/Hubble and the Hubble Heritage TeamVideo: Zoom into M16. Although the Pillars of Creation are a prominent feature of M16, they are relatively small compared to the entire nebula. This video begins with a ground-based image of the sky near Serpens and zooms into Hubble’s iconic image.
The Sun
The Sun as been spot-free for 13 days. The large northern coronal hole remains from last week, and although there’s not a sunspot associated with it, there’s something active rotating into view along the equator.
SpaceWeather.com says: “As of today, the sun has been without sunspots for 100 days in 2018. If current trends continue, 2018 will end with a 10-year low in sunspot counts. This is a sign that Solar Minimum is approaching–even more rapidly than forecasters expected. What does this mean for us on Earth? Ironically, low solar activity boosts cosmic rays” The solar wind speed is 379.1 km/sec, with a density of 32.1 protons/cm3.
There have been several medium-sized prominences along on the Sun’s limb over the last couple days. The region of coronal loop activity in the video above can clearly be seen as the bright orange region in the video below.
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 NM |
2018-Jul-17
|
1.4 LD
|
6.7
|
19
|
| 2018 LQ2 |
2018-Aug-27
|
9.4 LD
|
1.5
|
41
|
| 2016 GK135 |
2018-Aug-28
|
16.8 LD
|
2.8
|
9
|
| 2016 NF23 |
2018-Aug-29
|
13.3 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
|
118
|
| 2015 FP118 |
2018-Sep-03
|
12.3 LD
|
9.8
|
490
|
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: 15, this year: 906, all time: 18456.
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1912 (as of July 10, 2018)
Minor Planets discovered: 779,736 (as of July 10, 2018)
Fireballs
On July 9, 2018, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 60 fireballs.
In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point–Earth. Source: Spaceweather.comThe Solar System
This is the position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the solar system:
Position of the planets in the inner solar system, July 10, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Alternate view of the position of the planets in the inner solar system, July 10, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.Exoplanets
Confirmed Exoplanets: 3,735 (6/21/2018 – up 13 from 5/31/2018)
Multi-Planet Systems: 619 (6/21/2018 – up 5 from 5/31/2018)
Kepler Candidate Exoplanets: 4,496 (8/31/2017)
TESS Candidate Exoplanets: 0
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
Exoplanet of the Week: KOI-55c
“Kepler-70c (formerly called KOI-55.02; sometimes listed as KOI-55 c) is a planet discovered orbiting the sdB star Kepler-70. It orbits its host along with another planet, Kepler-70b, both of which orbit very close to their host star. Kepler-70c completes one orbit around its star in just 8.232 hours. It is also the one of the hottest exoplanets as of mid-2013. It has a high density, suggesting that it is largely composed of metals.
Kepler-70b passes 240,000 km away from Kepler-70c during their closest approach. This is currently the closest recorded approach between planets.” ~Wikipedia
Exoplanet KOI-55 c orbiting close to its host star – a type B subdwarf. Sibling exoplanet KOI-55 b can be seen in the distance near its closest approach. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.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.
