A thin waning crescent Moon departs from the planets spayed across the southern predawn skies and heading towards the new Moon this weekend. I got to see yesterday’s morning crescent Moon through my kitchen window.
Southern predawn sky, Mar. 13, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.Mercury and Venus are low in the western sky at dusk – a bit higher in the sky than last week, but not much.
Western sky shortly after sunset, Mar. 13, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The Moon joins Mercury and Venus in the western sky at dusk on the 18th; Mercury is fading and will vanish by the 22nd.
Western sky shortly after sunset, Mar. 18, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The bright star Vega in the constellation Lyra is almost directly overhead in the sky before dawn.
Overhead before dawn, Mar. 13, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The Moon
The Moon Mar 13-19 2018. Visualizations by Ernie WrightThe Moon is a waning crescent rising in the southeastern sky around 6 AM, and vanishing in the glare of the Sun shortly after sunrise. The new Moon will be on the 17th. The Moon will reappear in the western sky at dusk as a very thin waxing crescent on the 18th.
The Sun
The Sun has been spot-free for 10 days. There is an odd-shaped coronal hole near the Sun’s equator, and a coronal hole at the Sun’s south pole.
The solar wind speed is 375 km/sec, with a density of 5.0 protons/cm3. SpaceWeather.com is reporting a Pi-Day solar wind stream pouring from this coronal hole that will reach the Earth on the 14th.
The Sun’s chromosphere had a few prominences over the last several days – you can faintly see the region where the coronal holes are.
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.
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Asteroids
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2018 EU1 |
2018-Mar-14
|
13.5 LD
|
11.8
|
16
|
| 2018 EU2 |
2018-Mar-14
|
10.1 LD
|
11.3
|
19
|
| 2018 EH |
2018-Mar-15
|
9.2 LD
|
11
|
48
|
| 2018 ET1 |
2018-Mar-18
|
4.4 LD
|
6
|
18
|
| 2018 EC1 |
2018-Mar-18
|
12.6 LD
|
8.7
|
20
|
| 2018 EV1 |
2018-Mar-22
|
7.7 LD
|
11.2
|
29
|
| 2018 DH1 |
2018-Mar-27
|
9.2 LD
|
14.4
|
224
|
| 2016 SR2 |
2018-Mar-28
|
18.7 LD
|
7.3
|
20
|
| 2010 GD35 |
2018-Mar-31
|
15.5 LD
|
11.6
|
45
|
| 2004 FG29 |
2018-Apr-02
|
4 LD
|
14.9
|
22
|
| 2018 ER1 |
2018-Apr-02
|
15.6 LD
|
4
|
26
|
| 2018 EB |
2018-Apr-04
|
10.3 LD
|
15
|
166
|
| 363599 |
2018-Apr-12
|
19.3 LD
|
24.5
|
224
|
| 2014 UR |
2018-Apr-14
|
9.3 LD
|
4.4
|
17
|
| 2016 JP |
2018-Apr-20
|
12 LD
|
12.7
|
214
|
| 2012 XL16 |
2018-Apr-23
|
15.8 LD
|
6.1
|
28
|
| 2013 US3 |
2018-Apr-29
|
10.1 LD
|
7.7
|
214
|
| 2002 JR100 |
2018-Apr-29
|
10.8 LD
|
7.7
|
49
|
| 1999 FN19 |
2018-May-07
|
9.7 LD
|
5.7
|
118
|
| 2016 JQ5 |
2018-May-08
|
6.3 LD
|
10.4
|
9
|
| 388945 |
2018-May-09
|
6.5 LD
|
9
|
295
|
Notes: LD means “Lunar Distance.” 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. Table from SpaceWeather.com
As of March 13, 2018 there are 1882 known potentially hazardous asteroids.
The Solar System
This is the position of the planets in the solar system:
Position of the planets in the solar system, Mar. 13, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets in the solar system – alternate view, Mar. 13, 2018. 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.
