Mercury and Mars almost appear to be almost touching low in the west-northwestern sky at dusk on June 18th – don’t miss this conjunction! By next week the two planets will have drifted apart.
Venus appears very low in the east-northeastern sky just before sunrise all week.
Venus low in the east-northeastern sky just before sunrise on June 18th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The Moon appears between Saturn and Jupiter in the southern sky on June 18th; on June 19th, the Moon appears very near Saturn.
Conjunction of Mercury and Mars
As I was writing this, I posted my Mercury-Mars conjunction image from above on Twitter; I noticed a couple different versions of the same image – that kinda settled it as the observing target of the week!
The Moon is a waning gibbous, just past full – rising after sunset, visible high in the sky after midnight, and visible to the southwest after sunrise.
The third quarter Moon occurs on June 25th, rising around midnight, and visible to the south after sunrise.
The Moon from June 18-24, 2019. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.Moon News
Large Mass Detected Under Moon’s South Pole-Aitken Basin
Phys.org reported this story on June 10th – almost immediately memes of 2001: A Space Odyssey started circulating on social media…
Did Monks Witness a Massive Lunar Impact in 1178?
The Sun has been spot-free for 30 days. Coronal holes pepper the Sun’s southern hemisphere, and although both poles have coronal holes, the south pole hole appears to have grown.
SpaceWeather.com says: “Images of the sun look like a big orange billiard ball–utterly blank. This is a sign of Solar Minimum, a phase of the solar cycle that brings extra cosmic rays, long-lasting holes in the sun’s atmosphere, and a possible surplus of noctilucent clouds“
WOW! Look at that monster prominence on the Sun’s limb evolve over several hours !
The solar wind speed is 324.2 km/sec (↑), with a density of 8.1 protons/cm3 (↑).
Animated LASCO C2 Coronograph showing the solar corona above the Sun’s limb (the white circle). Credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechYou 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.
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2019 LU4 |
2019-Jun-18
|
2 LD
|
8.1
|
18
|
| 2019 LA5 |
2019-Jun-18
|
18.3 LD
|
7.7
|
29
|
| 2019 LC1 |
2019-Jun-19
|
19.2 LD
|
9.9
|
26
|
| 2019 LB2 |
2019-Jun-20
|
6.5 LD
|
3.4
|
15
|
| 2019 LM1 |
2019-Jun-23
|
9.8 LD
|
8.7
|
26
|
| 2019 LC5 |
2019-Jun-23
|
13.6 LD
|
11.1
|
42
|
| 441987 |
2019-Jun-24
|
7.7 LD
|
12.6
|
178
|
| 2008 KV2 |
2019-Jun-27
|
17.8 LD
|
11.4
|
195
|
| 2016 NN15 |
2019-Jun-28
|
9.6 LD
|
8.4
|
16
|
| 2019 LR4 |
2019-Jun-29
|
11.3 LD
|
8.3
|
31
|
| 2019 LV1 |
2019-Jun-29
|
5.2 LD
|
6.2
|
26
|
| 2015 XC352 |
2019-Jul-01
|
11.9 LD
|
4.1
|
26
|
| 2016 OF |
2019-Jul-07
|
12.8 LD
|
8.5
|
85
|
| 2016 NO56 |
2019-Jul-07
|
3.4 LD
|
12.2
|
26
|
| 2019 KD3 |
2019-Jul-12
|
15.5 LD
|
8
|
89
|
| 2016 NJ33 |
2019-Jul-12
|
15 LD
|
4.5
|
32
|
| 2015 HM10 |
2019-Jul-24
|
12.2 LD
|
9.5
|
68
|
| 2010 PK9 |
2019-Jul-26
|
8.2 LD
|
16.5
|
155
|
| 2006 QQ23 |
2019-Aug-10
|
19.4 LD
|
4.7
|
339
|
| 454094 |
2019-Aug-12
|
17 LD
|
8.2
|
148
|
Notes: LD means “Lunar Distance.” 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. Table from SpaceWeather.com
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1983 (last updated May 8, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 795,985 (+92)
5th Annual International Asteroid Day – June 30th
I will be lecturing at the Cranbrook Institute of Science on June 29th as part of their AsteroidDay event.
On June 17, 2019, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 1 fireball.
(1 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 & Meteor News:
Michigan astronomer John Jack McGill captures a meteor in northern Michigan.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=264533094284701&set=a.143241556413856&type=3&permPage=1
This is the position of the planets and a couple bodies in the solar system:
Solar System News: Fresh Impact Crater Spotted on Mars!
A new crater on Mars, which appeared sometime between September 2016 and February 2019, shows up as a dark smudge on the landscape in this high-resolution photo. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of ArizonaMars Impact Crater article at Space.com.
OSIRIS-REx
International Space Station
Climate
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
Exoplanet News – 4000 Known Exoplanets Threshold Crossed!
#Exoplanet4k was trending on Twitter on June 13 &14th.
Exoplanet Artwork by Bob Trembley
Artistic representation of exoplanet Kepler-1047 c; exoplanet KOI-2004.03 with a cometary tail appears in the background. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley
Apps used for this post:
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.
Stellarium: a free open source planetarium app for PC/MAC/Linux. It’s a great tool for planning observing sessions.
Universe Sandbox: a space simulator that merges real-time gravity, climate, collision, and material interactions to reveal the beauty of our universe and the fragility of our planet. Includes VR support.
SpaceEngine: a free 3D Universe Simulator for Windows. Steam version with VR support coming soon!
Section header image credits:
The Sky – Stellarium/ Bob Trembley
Observing Target – Turn Left at Orion / M. Skirvin
The Moon – NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Sun – NASA/JPL-Caltech
Asteroids – NASA/JPL-Caltech
Fireballs – Credited to YouTube
Comets – Comet P/Halley, March 8, 1986, W. Liller
The Solar System – NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley
Spacecraft News – NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley
Exoplanets – Space Engine / Bob Trembley
The Universe – Universe Today
2018 is NASA’s 60th Anniversary!
July 20, 2019 is the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon.
