In the Sky This Week – May 14, 2019

The weekend is over, and I’m still having trouble believing my wife and I were Science Co-Guests of Honor at MARCON 54 – a science fiction convention in Ohio. I told the head of programming that I felt like I’d violated some sort of protocol by not having been a “Fan GoH” first.

On Saturday morning, my wife and I, and a couple other convention attendees helped judge participants of the Ohio State Science Fair for awards from the SOLAE Foundation. Some of these middle school and high school students were simply amazing! I was completely stunned at some of the concepts and technologies these students were working with; I seriously felt like a mental midget compared to some of these teens!

Br. Guy Skyped-in to MARCON for a discussion Saturday evening; with a frog in his throat from a cold, he related a hilarious story about his travels and a visa SNAFU, and made us all long to witness the majesty of southern hemisphere skies. Afterwards, a convention attendee told me “that was the COOLEST thing he had ever seen at a science fiction convention!” That was pretty much my impression the first time I heard Br. Guy talk years ago! I’m glad we were able to provide that experience for others.

I set up my virtual reality gear several times over the weekend, and showed a VR fly-over of Saturn’s rings to at least 3 dozen people – David Gerrold was one of them! Everyone was blown away by it! A comment I got on Facebook was “Your knowledge, enthusiasm, and sheer love for astronomy was palpable.” That just makes me want to cry with joy!

Mars appears a bit higher each day in the western sky at dusk; dusk is occurring a bit later each day… I can tell, because my parrot refuses to “go to bed” until it’s dark out…

Mars and the stars Betelgeuse and Procyon in the western sky at dusk on May 14th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

Venus appears very low in the eastern sky just before sunrise; sunrise occurring a bit earlier each day… I can tell, because my parrot is “up at the crack of dawn,” screaming for me to come get her…

Venus very low in the eastern key before sunrise on May 15th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

Saturn and Jupiter continue to be great observing targets in the early morning sky.

Saturn and Jupiter high in the southern sky before sunrise on May 15th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

The waxing gibbous Moon is high in the south-southeastern sky at 10:00 PM on May 14^th, and will rise a bit later each evening as it heads towards the full Moon.

Waxing gibbous Moon high in the south-southeastern sky at 10:00 PM on May 14th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

The Iris Nebula

The Iris Nebula, and star cluster NGC 7023. Credit: Wiki Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

The Iris Nebula, also known as NGC 7023 and Caldwell 4, is a bright reflection nebula and Caldwell object in the constellation Cepheus. NGC 7023 is actually the cluster within the nebula, LBN 487, and the nebula is lit by a magnitude +7 star, SAO 19158. It shines at magnitude +6.8. It is located near the Mira-type variable star T Cephei, and near the bright magnitude +3.23 variable star Beta Cephei (Alphirk). It lies 1,300 light-years away and is six light-years across. – Wikipedia

Location of Iris Nebula at 11:00 PM on May 14, 2019. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

The Moon is a waxing gibbous, visible to the southeast in early evening, and up for most of the night.

The full Moon occurs on Saturday May 18^th, rising at sunset, visible high in the sky around midnight, and visible all night.

After May 18^th, the Moon will be a waning gibbous, rising after sunset, visible high in the sky after midnight, and visible to the southwest after sunrise.

The Moon from May 14-20, 2019. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.

Moon News

Those two sunspots from last week are still there – AR2740 has diminished, but AR2741 is going strong!

In the videos below you can see flares crackling and wild coronal loops above AR2741. SpaceWeather.com says: “MULTIPLE CMEs ARE COMING: Three and possibly four CMEs are en route to Earth following a series of explosions near sunspot AR2741. The most potent so far occurred on May 12th when a filament of magnetism surrounding the sunspot became unstable and erupted. The blast zone was more than 200,000 km in diameter” & “A surprise geomagnetic storm is underway on May 14th. Storm levels are currently at G2 (moderately strong), which means auroras may be visible in northern-tier US states such as Minnesota, Michigan, and upstate New York. The reason for the storm: A crack has opened in Earth’s magnetic field, allowing solar wind to enter the magnetosphere.”

You can see a wave propagating across the face of the Sun from a flare coming out of AR2741.

The solar wind speed is 505.9 km/sec (↑↑), with a density of 5.4 protons/cm³ (↓).

Animated LASCO C2 Coronograph showing the solar corona above the Sun’s limb (the white circle). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Sun News

Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:

Notes: LD means “Lunar Distance.” 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. Table from SpaceWeather.com

On May 13, 2019, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 7 fireballs.
(6 sporadics, 1 eta Aquariids)

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.com

Fireball News: Fireball over Lake Michigan!

This is the position of the planets and a couple bodies in the solar system – images are from NASA’s interactive, real-time orrery at https://solarsystem.nasa.gov:

OSIRIS-REx – Update on the Mission so far

Mars InSight – Dusty Environs

Climate

Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive

Exoplanet Artwork by Bob Trembley

“Near the Crab Nebula” – a hypothetical exomoon orbiting a hypothetical exoplanet near the Crab Nebula. Credit: Space Engine / Bob Trembley

LIGO Detects a Possible Black Hole Merger 7 Billion Light Years Away

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.
Stellarium: a free open source planetarium app for PC/MAC/Linux. It’s a great tool for planning observing sessions.
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.
Space Engine: a free 3D Universe Simulator for the PC. VR support coming soon!

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