The Moon joins the planets Jupiter, Saturn and Mars in the southern predawn skies for the next week. The Moon will be very near Jupiter on the 7th and between Saturn and Mars on the 10th.
Mercury and Venus reappear this week in the western sky at dusk, separating a little and getting a bit higher each evening.
Winter constellations are lower in the southern sky each day after sunset.
Winter constellations in the southern sky shortly after sunset, Mar. 12, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The Moon
The Moon Mar 6-12 2018. Visualizations by Ernie WrightThe Moon is a waning gibbous visible shortly after midnight and setting around 10:00 AM. The Moon will be at third quarter on the 9th. After the 9th it will be a waning crescent and only visible in the southern predawn sky.
The Sun
Not a sunspot to be seen on the Sun’s photosphere for 4 days now. There is a giant coronal hole at the Sun’s north pole, and a smaller one at the Sun’s south pole.
Solar Wind pouring out from a coronal hole. Credit: SpaceWeather.com/NASA SDOThe solar wind speed is 387 km/sec, with a density of 5.0 protons/cm3. SpaceWeather.com is reporting solar wind pouring from this coronal hole is incoming towards the Earth; Auroras are likely for more northerly regions.
The Sun’s chromosphere had several prominences over the last several days – I like the roiling one at about 4:00 o’clock. There’s also a good example of a filament forming and leaping away from the Sun.
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)
|
| 2003 EM1 |
2018-Mar-07
|
16.6 LD
|
8
|
45
|
| 2017 VR12 |
2018-Mar-07
|
3.8 LD
|
6.3
|
269
|
| 2018 BK7 |
2018-Mar-09
|
10.2 LD
|
8.7
|
74
|
| 2015 DK200 |
2018-Mar-10
|
6.9 LD
|
8
|
27
|
| 2018 DY3 |
2018-Mar-11
|
5.3 LD
|
8
|
21
|
| 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
|
| 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
|
Notes: LD means “Lunar Distance.” 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. Table from SpaceWeather.com
As of March 7, 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. 6. 20, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets in the solar system, Mar. 6. 20, 2018. This zoomed-out view shows Uranus and Neptune. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Extreme zoomed-out view of the solar system, Mar. 6. 20, 2018, showing several of the spacecraft that are on the way outward. 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.
