Today is my 60th birthday; I was awake for 2 hours before I was reminded of that fact by friends wishing me well on Facebook. My thought process went something like: “Oh yea… Huh… … … I wonder how many rockets I can launch today?” Here’s one of them, with a pilot and 2 orbital tourists:
What did YOU do on your birthday? I launched tourists into space in Kerbal Space Program.
The Moon appears in conjunction with Saturn and Jupiter in the southern predawn sky on June 9th; Mars appears away from the conjunction in the southeastern sky.
The Moon in conjunction with Saturn and Jupiter in the southern predawn sky on June 9th; Mars appears away from the group in the southeastern sky. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The Moon appears near Mars in the southeastern predawn sky on June 12th and 13th.
Mercury appears above west-northwestern horizon at sunset – look for it this week as it will appear lower towards the horizon each day, and be gone by next week.
Mercury appears above the west-northwestern horizon after sunset this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The sky overhead at midnight from my location at 42° north, and from 27° south in the southern hemisphere:
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 June 13th – rising around midnight, and visible to the south after sunrise.
After June 13th, the Moon will be a waning gibbous – visible low to the east before sunrise.
The Moon from 2020-06-09 – 2020-06-15. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.Moon News
Here’s an image of an engineering testbed of the VIPER rover – It isn’t small!
VIPER rover mobility testbed, an engineering model created to evaluate the rover’s mobility system. The testbed includes mobility units, computing and motor controllers. Testing involves evaluating performance of the rover as it drives over various slopes, textures and soils that simulate the lunar environment. Credit: NASA/Johnson Space Center
Not only do we have a spot – sunspot AR2765 has been blowing off B-class flares!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3557487460930061&set=gm.3264157223595599&type=3&theater&ifg=1
The northern and southern coronal holes appears to be about the same size – AR2765’s coronal loops are clearly visible in the video below.
The Sun seen in 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) June 8, 2020:
Several swirling and looping prominences on the Sun’s limb over the last few days!
The Sun seen in 304 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) June 8, 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=10222504557183593&set=gm.3262528470425141&type=3&theater&ifg=1
Solar Corona
Solar wind speed is 442.6 km/sec (↑), with a density of 7.9 protons/cm3 (↓) at 2346 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-SOHO
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2037 (last updated June 2, 2020)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 958,662 (+44)
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2020 KZ3 |
2020-Jun-08
|
3.2 LD
|
6
|
21
|
| 2020 KY |
2020-Jun-10
|
17.3 LD
|
2.4
|
21
|
| 2020 JQ2 |
2020-Jun-11
|
15.2 LD
|
4.5
|
25
|
| 2020 JS1 |
2020-Jun-11
|
9.9 LD
|
5
|
19
|
| 2020 JU1 |
2020-Jun-13
|
19 LD
|
6.6
|
49
|
| 2020 KB3 |
2020-Jun-13
|
3.2 LD
|
7.5
|
46
|
| 2017 MF7 |
2020-Jun-14
|
3.7 LD
|
10.9
|
23
|
| 2020 KP6 |
2020-Jun-16
|
3.6 LD
|
10.8
|
38
|
| 2020 JU3 |
2020-Jun-17
|
6.9 LD
|
10.9
|
55
|
| 2020 KF3 |
2020-Jun-17
|
12.5 LD
|
3.5
|
14
|
| 2018 PD22 |
2020-Jun-19
|
17.2 LD
|
14.6
|
56
|
| 2020 KR1 |
2020-Jun-22
|
11.6 LD
|
6.8
|
42
|
| 441987 |
2020-Jun-24
|
9.8 LD
|
12.9
|
186
|
| 2017 FW128 |
2020-Jun-25
|
6.9 LD
|
5.4
|
11
|
| 2020 KQ7 |
2020-Jun-27
|
10.4 LD
|
2.6
|
17
|
| 2020 JX1 |
2020-Jun-29
|
3.3 LD
|
5
|
60
|
| 2019 AC3 |
2020-Jul-01
|
10.5 LD
|
3.4
|
12
|
| 2007 UN12 |
2020-Jul-04
|
16.7 LD
|
2.9
|
6
|
| 2020 KJ7 |
2020-Jul-13
|
11.9 LD
|
3.4
|
30
|
| 2009 OS5 |
2020-Jul-13
|
17.6 LD
|
2.6
|
45
|
| 2016 DY30 |
2020-Jul-19
|
9 LD
|
15.1
|
3
|
| 2002 BF25 |
2020-Jul-21
|
9.4 LD
|
6.8
|
129
|
| 2018 PY7 |
2020-Jul-31
|
8.9 LD
|
9.5
|
16
|
| 2007 RF1 |
2020-Jul-31
|
10.7 LD
|
5
|
21
|
| 2018 BD |
2020-Aug-03
|
7.6 LD
|
9.4
|
3
|
| 2009 PQ1 |
2020-Aug-05
|
10.8 LD
|
13.5
|
112
|
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 June 8, 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). Credit: SpaceWeather.comFireball News
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system – the Parker Solar Probe has just past perihelion #5.
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, 2020-06-08. 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, 2020-06-08. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.Position of the planets some transneptunian objects in the outer solar system.
Position of the planets in the outer solar system on 2020-06-08 – the orbit of dwarf planet Pluto is highlighted. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.Highlight: Planet Mercury
[iframe src=’https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/gltf_embed/2369′ percent=100 height=450]
I want to briefly highlight each of the planets in my next few “In the Sky” posts – this week is Mercury. Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun – its daytime temperature reaches 460°C, but without an atmosphere, the nighttime temperature can drop to -180°C. There are craters at Mercury’s poles that have not seen sunlight for billions of years – water ice was detected in these craters. Mercury has a HUGE core.
A graphical representation of Mercury’s internal structure. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterSpaceEngine on Steam has some free downloadable content (DLC) featuring ridiculously high resolution images of Mercury from the MESSENGER mission; I was flying over and around Mercury looking for an interesting feature, and this crater practically jumped out at me.
Abedin is a crater on Mercury. It is named after the Bangladeshi painter Zainul Abedin. It exhibits a complex crater structure with a smooth floor, wall terraces, and a central peak complex. The chains of smaller craters surrounding Abedin are secondary craters formed by ejecta from the initial impact. The northwestern section of Abedin’s continuous ejecta blanket appears to have a lower reflectance than the rest of the material adjacent to the crater rim. This pattern suggests that the darker material resided at some depth beneath the northwestern portion of the pre-impact target area and was excavated and redeposited during the crater’s formation. – Wikipedia
Abedin Crater on Mercury. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.Mercury’s eccentric orbit combined with rotational locking (Mercury rotates three times for every two orbits of the Sun) causes the Sun to rise, set, then rise again – when seen from just the right longitude. At sunset, the Sun sets, rises back up, then sets again. 90° away, you would see double noons, with the Sun passing overhead, stopping and reversing, then reversing again and resuming its normal motion westward. I created this time-lapse video simulating Mercury’s double sunrise:
Read more about Mercury on NASA’s Solar System Exploration site: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mercury/overview/
Solar System News
OSIRIS-REx: NASA’s Asteroid Sample Return Mission
SpaceX Falcon 9 10 Year Anniversary
International Space Station
Kerbal Space Program April Fools Tease Transforms into New Content
The big green gas giant planet in KSP is getting a graphic make-over in version 1.10, complete with cloud animations. Time to send another Galileo probe to Jool!
Hubble Space Telescope
Climate
ex·o·plan·et /ˈeksōˌplanət/, noun: a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun.
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
* Confirmed Planets Discovered by TESS refers to the number planets that have been published in the refereed astronomical literature.
* TESS Project Candidates refers to the total number of transit-like events that appear to be astrophysical in origin, including false positives as identified by the TESS Project.
* TESS Project Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed refers to the number of TESS Project Candidates that have not yet been dispositioned as a Confirmed Planet or False Positive.
The Local Stellar Neighborhood
Continuing with my visual tour of nearby stars and their systems, we travel to DX Cancri, about 12 light years distant.
Distance to DX Cancri from Sol; the plane (green) is aligned with the orientation of the plane of the Milky Way galaxy. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.DX Cancri
DX Cancri is the variable star identifier for a small star in the northern zodiac constellation of Cancer the crab. With an apparent visual magnitude of 14.81, it is much too faint to be seen with the naked eye. Visually viewing this star requires a telescope with a minimum aperture of 16 in (41 cm). Based upon parallax measurements, DX Cancri is located at a distance of 11.8 light-years (3.6 parsecs) from Earth. This makes it the 18th closest star (or star system) to the Sun.
This star has a stellar classification of M6.5V, identifying it as a type of main sequence star known as a red dwarf. It has about 9% of the mass of the Sun and 11% of the Sun’s radius. The outer envelope of the star has an effective temperature of 2,840 K,[10] giving it the cool red-orange glow of an M-type star. This is a flare star that has random, intermittent changes in brightness by up to a fivefold increase. This star has been examined for excess emission of infrared radiation caused by cold circumstellar dust, but none was found. It is a proposed member of the Castor Moving Group of stars that share a common trajectory through space. This group has an estimated age of 200 million years. – Wikipedia
Hypothetical DX Cancri System Architecture
Note: at the time of this writing, DX Cancri has no known exoplanets – but it could have some! The planets shown below are procedurally generated in SpaceEngine based on data from similar systems.
Hypothetical system diagram of DX Cancri. NOTE: Planets and moons have been procedurally generated. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.Artist’s view of a hypothetical exoplanet orbiting DX Cancri
Artist’s concept of a hypothetical ringed gas giant planet orbiting DX Cancri, seen from an asteroid moon. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.Stay safe, be well, and look up!
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.
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 available.
Stellarium: a free open source planetarium app for PC/MAC/Linux. It’s a great tool for planning observing sessions. A web-based version of Stellarium is also available.
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
Light Pollution – NASA’s Black Marble
The Universe – Universe Today
