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In the Sky This Week – May 15, 2018

By Robert Trembley  |  15 May 2018

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This entry is part 95 of 246 in the series In the Sky This Week

Southern sky at 5:00 AM, May 15, 2018

Mars and Saturn agree that they rather like the early morning sky, and have decided to stay there forever… or so it seems…

Southern sky at 5:00 AM, May 15, 2018 Southern sky at 5:00 AM, May 15, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

Jupiter just past opposition, is slowly leaving the morning planets and making its way towards being visible only in the evenings.

Southeastern sky at 10:00 PM, May 15, 2018 Southeastern sky at 10:00 PM, May 15, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

I was playing with the equatorial grid feature of Stellarium and noticed how close Polaris was to the North Celestial Pole.

North Celestial Pole at 10:00 PM, May 15, 2018 North Celestial Pole at 10:00 PM, May 15, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

So, of course, I HAD to see how the South Celestial Pole looked… and I noticed the the southern hemisphere doesn’t have a convenient star near the pole – which led me to find this article on the One-Minute Astronomer about how to find the South Celestial Pole.

South Celestial Pole at 5:00 PM, May 15, 2018 South Celestial Pole at 5:00 PM, May 15, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

The Moon

The Moon from May 15-21, 2018 The Moon from May 15-21, 2018. Visualizations by Ernie Wright

The Moon is new on the 15th, and joins Venus in the western sky near sunset as a thin waxing crescent on the 17th. The Moon will be high in the western sky after sunset on the 20th &21st.

The Sun

Although there is some impressive coronal loop activity along the Sun’s equator, the Sun has been spot-free for a day. Coronal holes remain at both poles with a diffuse hole along the equator. The solar wind speed is 357 km/sec, with a density of 4.0 protons/cm3. SpaceWeather.com says: “NOAA forecasters estimate a 60% chance of G1-class geomagnetic storms on May 17th when a stream of solar wind hits Earth’s magnetic field. The gaseous material is flowing from a southern hole in the sun’s atmosphere. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras and, of course, STEVE.”

https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/dailymov/2018/05/14/20180514_1024_0193.mp4

Compared to the last few weeks, there have been only a few prominences in the Sun’s chromosphere over the last couple days.

https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/dailymov/2018/05/14/20180514_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.

Asteroids

Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:

We have a close shave on the 15th, as 2010 WC9 passes by the Earth at half the distance of the Moon!

Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Velocity (km/s)
Diameter (m)
1999 LK1
2018-May-15
13.3 LD
10
141
2018 JX1
2018-May-15
9.4 LD
7.7
18
2010 WC9
2018-May-15
0.5 LD
12.8
71
2018 JX
2018-May-16
3.9 LD
13
77
2018 JC
2018-May-17
17.7 LD
9.4
77
2018 GL1
2018-May-18
14.3 LD
5.2
69
2018 JL2
2018-May-19
10.9 LD
13.5
40
2018 JG1
2018-May-20
5.3 LD
8.3
44
2018 JK
2018-May-22
16.3 LD
12.5
81
2018 JG2
2018-May-25
18.5 LD
6.9
62
68347
2018-May-29
9.5 LD
13.3
389
2013 LE7
2018-May-31
17.8 LD
1.7
12
2018 EJ4
2018-Jun-10
5.6 LD
6.2
195
2015 DP155
2018-Jun-11
9 LD
4.4
170
2017 YE5
2018-Jun-21
15.6 LD
15.5
513
467309
2018-Jun-23
17.9 LD
14
355
441987
2018-Jun-24
7.3 LD
12.6
178

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

Near-Earth objects (NEOs) discovered this month: 48, this year: 681, all time: 18234.
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1907 (as of May 15, 2018)
Minor Planets discovered: 774,880 (as of May 15, 2018)

Fireballs

On May 14, 2018, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 7 fireballs.

In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point–Earth. Source: Spaceweather.com

The Solar System

This is the position of the planets in the solar system:

Inner Solar System May 15 2018 Position of the planets in the inner solar system, May. 15, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.

You may note the mess of text where the Earth should be – this is because of the InSight and MarCO A&B spacecraft.

MarCO and InSight Spacecraft- May 15 2018 Position of the MarCO A & B and the InSight spacecraft, May. 15, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.

The MarCO A&B are cubesats that are flying in tandem with the InSight spacecraft.

MarCO A & B and InSight - May 15 2018 Closer view showing spread of the MarCO A & B and the InSight spacecraft, May. 15, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.

The MarCo spacecraft are technology demonstrations; they will transmit telemetry back to Earth as the InSight lander descends towards Mars’ surface.

MarCO B satellite MarCO B satellite. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Middle Solar System May 15 2018 Position of the planets in the middle solar system, May. 15, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Outer Solar System May 15 2018 Position of the planets in the outer solar system, May. 15, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
How Far We've Been - May 15 2018 How far mankind has traveled, May. 15, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Voyager 1 - May 15 2018 Voyager 1, looking back towards the Sun, May. 15, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.

Exoplanets

Confirmed Exoplanets: 3,725 (4/26/2018)
Multi-Planet Systems: 613 (4/26/2018)
Kepler Candidate Exoplanets: 4,496 (8/31/2017)
TESS Candidate Exoplanets: 0
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive


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

94  |  In the Sky this Week – May 8, 2018

By Robert Trembley  |  8 May 2018

96  |  In the Sky This Week – May 22, 2018

By Robert Trembley  |  22 May 2018

97  |  In the Sky This Week – May 29, 2018

By Robert Trembley  |  29 May 2018

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