When it comes to astronomy, asteroids are pretty much my favorite subject; the Sun comes in #2 by a wide margin. I have a presentation about the Sun that I’ve given numerous times – I’m modifying it to present remotely to my wife’s middle-school science students, and creating a worksheet based on my presentation. Here’s me giving my Sun presentation to the Warren Astronomical Society before the total solar eclipse of 2017:
I’ve also suggested to my wife that she show the following videos to her science students:
Mars continues to pull away from Saturn and Jupiter in the southeastern predawn sky; the Moon joins the early morning planets from May 12-15th.
The Moon appears near the planets for several days in the southeastern predawn sky from May 12-15. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.Mercury appears low on the northwestern horizon at sunset this week.
Mercury low on the no northwestern horizon at sunset this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.Venus appears a bit lower each evening on the northwestern horizon after sunset. Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) will be north of Venus and the star Capella, but may require binoculars or a telescope to see.
Comet C/2019 (ATLAS) appears north of Venus above the northwestern horizon after sunset this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
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 May 14th, rising around midnight, and visible to the south after sunrise.
After May 14th, the Moon will be a waning crescent, visible low to the east before sunrise (my favorite).
The Moon from 2020-05-12 – 2020-05-18. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.Moon News
The Sun has been spotless for 9 days. Coronal holes remain open at both poles, and smaller holes pepper the face of the Sun.
The Sun seen in 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) May 11, 2020:
Light prominence on the Sun for the last couple days – a short-lived pyramidal “flame” prominence appears on the Sun’s limb in the video below.
The Sun seen in 304 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) May 11, 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=10222217117797788&set=gm.3187890681222254&type=3&theater&ifg=1
Solar Corona
Solar wind speed is 303.4 km/sec (↑), with a density of 8.4 protons/cm3 (↑) at 1116 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: 2018 (last updated Oct. 1, 2019)
Total Minor Planets discovered: 958,278 (+20)
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2000 KA |
2020-May-12
|
8.9 LD
|
13.5
|
162
|
| 2020 JK |
2020-May-14
|
14.8 LD
|
20.1
|
56
|
| 2020 HS6 |
2020-May-14
|
16 LD
|
23.6
|
131
|
| 478784 |
2020-May-15
|
8.5 LD
|
3.6
|
28
|
| 2020 HA9 |
2020-May-15
|
18.2 LD
|
15.8
|
33
|
| 2020 HG9 |
2020-May-18
|
15.6 LD
|
10.6
|
71
|
| 136795 |
2020-May-21
|
16.1 LD
|
11.7
|
892
|
| 163348 |
2020-Jun-06
|
13.3 LD
|
11.1
|
339
|
| 2013 XA22 |
2020-Jun-09
|
10.6 LD
|
6.5
|
98
|
| 2017 MF7 |
2020-Jun-14
|
3.7 LD
|
10.9
|
23
|
| 2018 PD22 |
2020-Jun-19
|
17.2 LD
|
14.6
|
56
|
| 441987 |
2020-Jun-24
|
9.8 LD
|
12.9
|
186
|
| 2017 FW128 |
2020-Jun-25
|
6.9 LD
|
5.4
|
11
|
| 2019 AC3 |
2020-Jul-01
|
10.5 LD
|
3.4
|
12
|
| 2007 UN12 |
2020-Jul-04
|
16.7 LD
|
2.9
|
6
|
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 May 11, 2020, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 2 fireballs.
(1 sporadic, 1 eta Aquari)
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 & Meteor News
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system.
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, 2020-05-12. 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, 2020-05-12 – the orbit of comet 67P/Churymov-Gerasimenko is highlighted. 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 2020-05-12 – the orbit of transneptunian object 2007 OR10 is highlighted. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
OSIRIS-REx: NASA’s Asteroid Sample Return Mission
International Space Station
Hubble Space Telescope
Mars Insight
Juno Mission at Jupiter
BepiColombo Mission to Mercury
Climate
Kerbal Space Program
While not exactly spacecraft news, the KSP twitter feed has been posting a LOT of educational and space-related news – this one was pretty cool!
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.
Zoom to Star Cluster Terzan 5
This is an optical zoom to the star cluster:
This prompted me to fire up SpaceEngine, and create a virtual fly-to the star cluster:
The Local Stellar Neighborhood
Continuing with my visual tour of nearby stars and their systems, we travel to the 61 Cygni star system, 11.41 light years distant.
Distance to 61 Cygni from Sol; the plane (green) is aligned with the orientation of the plane of the Milky Way galaxy. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.61 Cygni
61 Cygni /ˈsɪɡni/ is a binary star system in the constellation Cygnus, consisting of a pair of K-type dwarf stars that orbit each other in a period of about 659 years. Of apparent magnitude 5.20 and 6.05, respectively, they can be seen with binoculars in city skies or with the naked eye in rural areas without photopollution.
61 Cygni first attracted the attention of astronomers when its large proper motion was first demonstrated by Giuseppe Piazzi in 1804. In 1838, Friedrich Bessel measured its distance from Earth at about 10.4 light-years, very close to the actual value of about 11.4 light-years; this was the first distance estimate for any star other than the Sun, and first star to have its stellar parallax measured. Among all stars or stellar systems listed in the modern Hipparcos Catalogue, 61 Cygni has the seventh-highest proper motion, and the highest among all visible stars or systems.
Over the course of the twentieth century, several different astronomers reported evidence of a massive planet orbiting one of the two stars, but recent high-precision radial velocity observations have shown that all such claims were unfounded. No planets have been confirmed in this stellar system to date.
61 Cygni is relatively dim, so it does not appear on ancient star maps, nor is it given a name in western or Chinese systems. – Wikipedia
61 Cygni System Architecture
61 Cygni system architecture. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.61 Cygni System Orbital Diagram
Top-down view of the orbits of the stars in the 61 Cygni star system – the system barycenter is highlighted. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.61 Cygni Location
Location of the 61 Cygni star system. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.Artist’s view of the 61 Cygni Star System
Artist’s concept of the 61 Cygni star system. SpaceEngine / Bob TrembleyStay 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. A new version of Stellarium has been released:
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
