In the Sky this Week – May 8, 2018

The Moon, Mars and Saturn are spread across the southern sky before dawn.

Southern sky at 5:00 AM, May 8, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

The Moon is high in the southern sky during the morning, and sets in the southwest shortly before 1:00 PM

Venus continues to play the role of the “evening star“- low in the western sky near sunset.

Western sky at 9:00 PM, May 8, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

Jupiter, at opposition this week, will be bright in the southern sky and visible all evening.

Southern sky at midnight, May 9, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

Cygnus, Lyra and Hercules are low in the eastern sky at midnight.

Eastern sky at midnight, May 9, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

The Moon

The Moon visible in the morning skies as a waning crescent just past third quarter. The Moon rises later each morning, and will look more “crescent-like” over the next few mornings; May 8-10^th would be good days to do some early morning sidewalk astronomy at schools!

The Sun

The Sun has a small spot near the equator that is decaying, and another spot rotating into view along the eastern limb. You can try to find the sunspots in this 4K image: [Link]

Coronal holes at both poles with an occasional hole at the equator seems to be “a thing” the last few months… because that’s what we’ve got going on now! You can see the bright areas of coronal activity where the sunspots are. The new sunspot rotating into view is showing a lot of coronal loop activity.

The solar wind speed is 673 km/sec, with a density of 9.0 protons/cm³. Both of those numbers are the largest I’ve seen them since starting to report them. SpaceWeather.com says: “For the 4th day in a row, a stream of high-speed solar wind is blowing around Earth. The gaseous material is flowing from a wide hole in the sun’s atmosphere–so wide that Earth could remain inside the stream for another 2 or 3 days. NOAA forecasters say there is a 50% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on May 8th as the solar wind speed tops 600 km/s (1.3 million mph).”

There have been some impressive prominences in the Sun’s chromosphere over the last couple days. The sunspot rotating into view is clearly visible and showing a lot of activity.

Asteroids

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

Near-Earth objects (NEOs) discovered this month: 6, this year: 639, all time: 18190.
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1907 (as of May 8, 2018)
Minor Planets discovered: 774,880 (as of May 8, 2018)

Fireballs

On May 7, 2018, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 15 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:

Position of the planets in the inner solar system, May 8, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.

Position of the planets in the inner and middle solar system, May 8, 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

Recent Launchs

The Mars InSight mission launched on Saturday May 5th at 7:05 AM.

InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander designed to give the Red Planet its first thorough checkup since it formed 4.5 billion years ago. It is the first outer space robotic explorer to study in-depth the “inner space” of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core.

Studying Mars’ interior structure answers key questions about the early formation of rocky planets in our inner solar system – Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars – more than 4 billion years ago, as well as rocky exoplanets. InSight also measures tectonic activity and meteorite impacts on Mars today.

The lander uses cutting edge instruments, to delve deep beneath the surface and seek the fingerprints of the processes that formed the terrestrial planets. It does so by measuring the planet’s “vital signs”: its “pulse” (seismology), “temperature” (heat flow), and “reflexes” (precision tracking).

This mission is part of NASA’s Discovery Program for highly focused science missions that ask critical questions in solar system science. – From the InSight website.

Mars InSight on Approach to Mars, Nov. 26, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.

This artist’s concept depicts the InSight lander on Mars after the lander’s robotic arm has deployed a seismometer and a heat probe directly onto the ground. InSight is the first mission dedicated to investigating the deep interior of Mars. The findings will advance understanding of how all rocky planets, including Earth, formed and evolved. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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.