Times are interesting for me right now – we’re packing to move out of our home of 22 years; the big stuff is all in storage, and there are only a couple rooms left to go. The house echoes, and my poor parrots are confused… My granddaughter is a month old, and visits frequently, I’ve got a bit yet to do for taxes, and I’m working on a presentation about interstellar travel for the Warren Astronomical Society… and I keep getting distracted by all the cool things I keep finding – like a paper about suspended animation research being done for Mars missions.
The three planets in the early morning southeastern sky are a bit closer than last week – Mars will appear much closer to Jupiter by week’s end.
Saturn, Jupiter and Mars continue to appear across the southeastern predawn sky this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The Moon appears high in the southeastern sky at midnight on March 10th.
The Moon high in the east-southeastern sky at midnight on March 10th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.On March 12th, the Moon appears above the horizon near the star Spica.
Conjunction of the Moon near the star Spica in the southeastern sky at midnight on March 12th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The Moon joins the planets in what I’m calling a “Mega-Conjunction” in the southeastern predawn sky from March 17-19th. This will likely be very distracting to commuters heading eastward on those mornings; drivers are urged to get a good look at this spectacle before they leave for their destinations!
Venus is high in the western sky at sunset, and will continue to be the “evening star” through mid-May.
Venus appears high in the western sky at dusk this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The full Moon occurred on March 9th – the Moon is now a waning gibbous, rising after sunset, visible high in the sky after midnight, and visible to the southwest after sunrise.
The last-quarter Moon occurs on March 16th, rising around midnight, and visible to the south after sunrise.
The Moon from 2020-03-10 – 2020-03-16. 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
The Sun has a spot! However, sunspot AR2758 appears to be disintegrating. The northern coronal hole remains open but small, while the southern coronal hole is enormous!
The Sun seen in 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) Mar. 9, 2020:
Some beautiful large prominences on the Sun’s limb over the last couple days!
The Sun seen in 304 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) Mar. 9, 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=10221464173654655&set=gm.3039179969426660&type=3&theater&ifg=1
Solar Corona
Solar wind speed is 334.9 km/sec (↓), with a density of 6.8 protons/cm3 (↓) at 1913 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: 955,658 (+7396)
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2018 RF6 |
2020-Mar-10
|
11.2 LD
|
12.6
|
36
|
| 2020 EE |
2020-Mar-10
|
4.8 LD
|
7.9
|
14
|
| 2020 CA3 |
2020-Mar-10
|
13.7 LD
|
6.3
|
32
|
| 2020 ED |
2020-Mar-11
|
7.6 LD
|
8.5
|
15
|
| 2008 UB95 |
2020-Mar-11
|
18.5 LD
|
7.6
|
41
|
| 2018 GY |
2020-Mar-15
|
6.2 LD
|
9.5
|
39
|
| 2020 EF |
2020-Mar-19
|
16.8 LD
|
4.5
|
18
|
| 2020 DP4 |
2020-Mar-22
|
3.5 LD
|
8.1
|
33
|
| 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
|
| 2020 DT3 |
2020-Apr-05
|
17.6 LD
|
11.8
|
192
|
| 2019 HM |
2020-Apr-10
|
7.2 LD
|
3.2
|
23
|
| 363599 |
2020-Apr-11
|
19.2 LD
|
24.5
|
224
|
| 2019 HS2 |
2020-Apr-26
|
13.6 LD
|
12.6
|
17
|
| 2019 GF1 |
2020-Apr-27
|
18.7 LD
|
3.2
|
12
|
| 52768 |
2020-Apr-29
|
16.4 LD
|
8.7
|
2457
|
| 2020 DM4 |
2020-May-01
|
18.6 LD
|
6.3
|
161
|
| 438908 |
2020-May-07
|
8.9 LD
|
12.8
|
282
|
| 2016 HP6 |
2020-May-07
|
4.3 LD
|
5.7
|
31
|
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
Asteroid News
On Mar. 9, 2020, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 4 fireballs.
(4 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:
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system – the Parker Solar Probe has crossed the orbit of Venus; from this viewpoint, STEREO Ahead and Kepler appear to be “close,” but they are 1.6 million miles from each other.
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, 2020-03-10. 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, 2020-03-10 – the orbit of asteroid 1998 QE2 is highlighted. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.Position of the planets, dwarf planets, transneptunian objects and far-reaching spacecraft in the outer solar system:
Position of the planets, a few dwarf planets and spacecraft in the outer solar system, 2020-03-10. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.Pioneer 10
Side view of the Pioneer 10 spacecraft. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.Pioneer 10 is an American space probe, launched in 1972 and weighing 258 kilograms (569 pounds), that completed the first mission to the planet Jupiter. Thereafter, Pioneer 10 became the first of five artificial objects to achieve the escape velocity that will allow them to leave the Solar System. This space exploration project was conducted by the NASA Ames Research Center in California, and the space probe was manufactured by TRW Inc.
Pioneer 10 was assembled around a hexagonal bus with a 2.74-meter (9 ft 0 in) diameter parabolic dish high-gain antenna, and the spacecraft was spin stabilized around the axis of the antenna. Its electric power was supplied by four radioisotope thermoelectric generators that provided a combined 155 watts at launch.
It was launched on March 2, 1972, by an Atlas-Centaur expendable vehicle from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Between July 15, 1972, and February 15, 1973, it became the first spacecraft to traverse the asteroid belt. Photography of Jupiter began November 6, 1973, at a range of 25,000,000 kilometers (16,000,000 mi), and about 500 images were transmitted. The closest approach to the planet was on December 4, 1973, at a range of 132,252 kilometers (82,178 mi). During the mission, the on-board instruments were used to study the asteroid belt, the environment around Jupiter, the solar wind, cosmic rays, and eventually the far reaches of the Solar System and heliosphere.
Radio communications were lost with Pioneer 10 on January 23, 2003, because of the loss of electric power for its radio transmitter, with the probe at a distance of 12 billion kilometers (80 AU) from Earth. – Wikipedia
Pioneer 10 spacecraft looking back at the solar system – 2020-03-10. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley. Pioneer 10 spacecraft compared to a human. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission
Juno Mission at Jupiter: Merging Storms
International Space Station
Hubble Space Telescope
Climate
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