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In the Sky this Week – March 7, 2018

By Robert Trembley  |  7 Mar 2018

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This entry is part 88 of 246 in the series In the Sky This Week

Southern sky shortly after sunset, Mar. 12, 2018

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.

Southern sky shortly after sunset, Mar. 12, 2018 Winter constellations in the southern sky shortly after sunset, Mar. 12, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

The Moon

The Moon Mar 6-12 2018 The Moon Mar 6-12 2018. Visualizations by Ernie Wright

The 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.

https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/dailymov/2018/03/06/20180306_1024_0193.mp4
Solar Wind pouring out from a coronal hole Solar Wind pouring out from a coronal hole. Credit: SpaceWeather.com/NASA SDO

The 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.

https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/dailymov/2018/03/06/20180306_1024_0304.mp4
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.

[widget_area area=’space-weather-twitter’ area_style=’’ class=’’ style=’’]

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 Position of the planets in the solar system, Mar. 6. 20, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
zoomed-out view of the Solar System, Mar. 6. 20, 2018 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 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.

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More Posts in this Series:
"In the Sky This Week"

78  |  What Do We Lose When We Sacrifice Science?

By Br. Guy Consolmagno  |  27 May 2021  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

69  |  To err is human… to admit it, is science

By Br. Guy Consolmagno  |  25 Mar 2021  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

87  |  In the Sky this Week – February 27, 2018

By Robert Trembley  |  27 Feb 2018

89  |  In the Sky this Week – March 13, 2018

By Robert Trembley  |  13 Mar 2018

90  |  In the Sky this Week – March 20, 2018

By Robert Trembley  |  20 Mar 2018

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