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In the Sky This Week – May 28, 2019

By Robert Trembley  |  29 May 2019

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This entry is part 39 of 246 in the series In the Sky This Week

West-Northwestern sky at dusk

Starlink Satellites Cause a Stir

SpaceX has launched the first 60 of a planned 12,000 Starlink satellites, intended to provide global broadband internet service. Despite assurances to the contrary, a train of bright lights has been seen crossing the night sky, along with some reports of Iridium-like flares. Astronomers and observatories are understandably concerned, with some expressing concern that this could “ruin the night sky.”

I’m more concerned about any effect this might have on asteroid discovery and planetary defense; needless to say, I’ll be following this developing story closely.

Mars will soon be lost on the glare of the sunset in the west-northwestern sky.

West-Northwestern sky at dusk Mars may be behind trees and buildings in the west-northwestern sky at sunset. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

Saturn and Jupiter continue to be visible in the southern predawn sky all week; Jupiter rises in the southeast around 10:00 PM.

Southern predawn sky Saturn and Jupiter are high in the southern predawn sky all week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

A thin waning crescent Moon appears low in the eastern predawn sky for the next few days; I saw this out my kitchen window while making coffee this morning.

Eastern predawn sky A waning crescent Moon appears in the eastern predawn sky on May 29th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

Video: Asteroid Discovery

I first became aware of Scott Manley when I ran across his Asteroid Discovery video on YouTube in 2012; it completely blew me away; I show this every time I give my asteroids lecture – near the end, someone in the audience always says “Wooh!”

Scott has updated his Asteroid Discovery video several times, but I prefer his narrated version; the latest version with music is here:


The Moon is a waning crescent, visible low to the east before sunrise.

The new Moon occurs on June 3rd.

Moon The Moon from May 28-June 3, 2019. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.

Moon News

#Moon2024 News: While at @FloridaTech today, I will announce the commercial partner we selected to develop and build the first segment of @NASA’s Gateway outpost – the power and propulsion element. Here’s how you can watch starting at 1pm ET: https://t.co/YVCNIeUfDs pic.twitter.com/IVhCvFOiqf

— Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) May 23, 2019

#NASA #NAC #HEO Some of the science that can be collected by going to the Moon, just because we have been there before does not mean we know everything about it. Its the closest place to visit to understand what the Solar System was like billions of yrs ago. pic.twitter.com/UR8fGvbR3g

— Gene J. Mikulka (@genejm29) May 28, 2019


The Sun is once again spot-free, and has been for 9 days. Coronal holes remain open at both poles, and disperse holes stretch from the south pole up past the equator.

SpaceWeather.com says: “A minor interplanetary shock wave hit Earth on May 26th at approximately 22:00 UT. The CME-like disturbance was unexpected. It caused the density of the solar wind around Earth to abruptly quadruple, while the interplanetary magnetic field doubled in strength. Earth’s magnetosphere was rattled by the impact, but it did not spark a geomagnetic storm.”

https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/dailymov/movies_1080/20190527_1080_0193.mp4

A couple long-lived prominences appeared on the Sun’s northern hemisphere, and a fountain-like prominence appeared on the southern hemisphere yesterday!

https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/dailymov/movies_1080/20190527_1080_0304.mp4

The solar wind speed is 375.7 km/sec (↓), with a density of 9.1 protons/cm3 (↑).

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

Sun News

Eclipses let us study the Sun & Earth — and the fundamental physics of the universe! 100 years ago tomorrow, scientists made measurements that supported Einstein's theory of general relativity, providing evidence that light is bent by very massive objects. https://t.co/iRLLldulL3 pic.twitter.com/PZj3ZuBpLA

— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) May 28, 2019

How do you trace the solar wind back to its source on the Sun? ☀️? You need a magnetic map ? of the Sun's surface, a computer model ? of the magnetic field in the corona, and spacecraft measurements ? of the solar wind as it speeds towards Earth. https://t.co/E7r0pexGzY pic.twitter.com/cXklZMh4x7

— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) May 24, 2019


Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:

Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Velocity (km/s)
Diameter (m)
2019 KT
2019-May-28
0.8 LD
11.6
17
2003 LH
2019-May-28
15.6 LD
7.4
32
2019 JH8
2019-May-28
9.1 LD
6.9
18
2019 KV
2019-May-29
7.1 LD
5.6
20
2019 KH
2019-May-29
15.4 LD
9.8
53
2011 HP
2019-May-30
12.3 LD
8.4
135
2019 KU
2019-Jun-01
16.1 LD
6.1
16
2019 KY
2019-Jun-04
5.5 LD
6.2
20
2019 KS
2019-Jun-04
12.3 LD
17.6
30
2019 JX2
2019-Jun-06
13.8 LD
7
43
2014 MF18
2019-Jun-06
8.8 LD
3
22
2019 KJ
2019-Jun-14
12.6 LD
8.1
68
441987
2019-Jun-24
7.7 LD
12.6
178
2008 KV2
2019-Jun-27
17.8 LD
11.4
195
2016 NN15
2019-Jun-28
9.6 LD
8.4
16
2015 XC352
2019-Jul-01
11.9 LD
4.1
26
2016 OF
2019-Jul-07
12.8 LD
8.5
85
2016 NO56
2019-Jul-07
3.4 LD
12.2
26
2016 NJ33
2019-Jul-12
15 LD
4.5
32
2015 HM10
2019-Jul-24
12.2 LD
9.5
68

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: 117 (+17), this year: 1269 (+10), all time: 20240 (-1)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1983  (last updated  May 8, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 795,139  (+68)

Asteroid News

Congratulations to Scott Manley for having an asteroid named after him!

Asteroid (33434) Scottmanley = 1999 FU
Discovered 1999 Mar. 17 by ODAS at Caussols.
Scott Manley (b. 1972) is a popular science communicator, best known for his videos on youtube combining science and games. Formerly an astrophysicist, he studied asteroid collisions at Armagh Observatory and created visualizations of the main belt and near earth asteroids.

Here’s a recent example of Scott’s video work:

Look at this fantastic recreation of @virgingalactic's SpaceShipTwo built by @DJSnM using the new robotics features from Breaking Ground DLC. ? pic.twitter.com/ICpT3OtWOG

— Kerbal Space Program (@KerbalSpaceP) May 28, 2019

Scott’s video tutorials have taught countless numbers of Kerbal Space Program players how to build and fly rockets – myself included!


On May 27, 2019, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 12 fireballs.
(11 sporadics, 1 eta Aquariid)

Fireball Orbits 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: WOW! Indeed!

WOW!!! Impressive view of the very bright #fireball over Southern Australia last week 21st of May….Have you ever seen anything like it??? Video ?by Rodolfo Martin Vrenes Salvatierra #severeweather #ExtremeWeather pic.twitter.com/jUSvHX9WJV

— WEATHER/ METEO WORLD (@StormchaserUKEU) May 27, 2019

This is the position of the planets and a couple bodies in the solar system:

Br. Guy Consolmagno, S.J.

Solar System News: 10+ Things: Tour of Storms Across the Solar System

Magnetic tornadoes on Mercury. Dust storms on Mars. Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. Earth is not the only planet that has extreme weather. ?️Take a tour of storms across the solar system & prepare your #askNASA questions for #NASAScience Live at 3pm ET: https://t.co/z02apivnNR pic.twitter.com/0ktf4H4uPI

— NASA (@NASA) May 22, 2019


OSIRIS-REx: Rocks along Bennu’s Spine

This image shows the end of the boulder spine that runs from Bennu's equator down to the south pole.

Mostly, though, I just wanted to point out that lil white spot in the middle of the rock at the bottom. That rock's feeling cute.

More details: https://t.co/doB4L5vjOn pic.twitter.com/zYtefRV4nW

— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) May 24, 2019

Mars 2020 Rover: Send Your Name to Mars!

Want to join us on an interplanetary adventure? ?

Our #Mars2020 Rover is gearing up for its seven-month journey to the Red Planet and you can send your name along for the ride. Get your boarding pass: https://t.co/mX7bZ5Ev6g pic.twitter.com/FkUTR7tGqf

— NASA (@NASA) May 27, 2019

Landsat: Utah as Art

@AmericaView state member @UTView, has developed an "Utah as Art" exhibit that will travel around the state of #Utah to teach students about the diverse Utah landscape and #RemoteSensing. The project is funded by @USGS and uses @USGSLandsat data. pic.twitter.com/1hEnBImBBA

— AmericaView (@AmericaView) May 22, 2019

I haven’t posted a “Something as Art” post in a while… I need to fix that!

Climate

Study: NASA’s estimate of Earth's long-term temperature rise in recent decades is accurate to within less than a tenth of a degree Fahrenheit, providing confidence that past and future research is correctly capturing rising surface temperatures. https://t.co/4FrQ20LNuY pic.twitter.com/8OWAGZbK0M

— NASA Climate (@NASAClimate) May 23, 2019

Exoplanet

All Exoplanets 3972
Confirmed Planets with Kepler Light Curves for Stellar Host 2350 
Confirmed Planets Discovered by Kepler 2343  
Kepler Project Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed 2421
Confirmed Planets with K2 Light Curves for Stellar Host 395 
Confirmed Planets Discovered by K2 362 
K2 Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed 534 
Confirmed Planets Discovered by TESS 15 
TESS Project Candidates 662  
TESS Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed 406 

Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive

Exoplanet Highlight: Kepler-11 g

SpaceEngine on Steam – Soon!

SpaceEngine Steam store page is live now! Follow the news, release is very soon! https://t.co/1xuLdwp51y

— Vladimir Romanyuk (@SpaceEngineSim) May 27, 2019

Calling SpaceEngine “a game” does it no justice! I’ve created stunning imagery with SpaceEngine – which I’ve recently started including in this post every week. I’ve shown SpaceEngine to astronomy clubs, and at science fiction conventions; I showed SpaceEngine during a lecture to the Warren Astronomical Society, and (completely unintentionally) showed Mercury’s double-sunrise! I recently gave a presentation at a Science Fiction Convention – using SpaceEngine I gave a tour of the Solar System, and a few well-known locations within the Milky Way galaxy.

Kerbal Space Program – New DLC with Robotics and Deployable Science!

Check out the official gameplay trailer for #KSP #BreakingGroundExpansion, launching 30th May on PC! ??? pic.twitter.com/pXb2vYDhMQ

— Kerbal Space Program (@KerbalSpaceP) May 24, 2019

I’m excited beyond reason about this expansion for KSP! Robotics has been available in KSP as a community MOD for a while, but this DLC will be supported by the developers; I could see a “virtual” robotics for beginners class being taught using this.


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.
SpaceEngine: a free 3D Universe Simulator for Windows. Steam version with 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
Exoplanets – Space Engine / Bob Trembley
The Universe – Universe Today


2018 is NASA’s 60th Anniversary!
APOLLO 50th Anniversary July 20, 2019 is the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon.
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More Posts in this Series:
"In the Sky This Week"

78  |  What Do We Lose When We Sacrifice Science?

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