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In the Sky This Week – May 8, 2019 – MARCON 54 Edition

By Robert Trembley  |  8 May 2019

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This entry is part 54 of 253 in the series In the Sky This Week

Juice me up!

My wife and I are Science Co-Guests of Honor at MARCON 54, a science fiction convention this weekend in Worthington, Ohio! The excitement and anticipation is going to make me explode! We’ve been attending midwest SF conventions for decades – I met Br. Guy at one! I became a volunteer NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador and started lecturing at SF cons in 2013; in 2014, I was asked to run the science programming track for DETCON1 – the North American Science Fiction Convention (NASFiC) in Detroit. where I helped arrange to have Br. Guy Skype-in from the Vatican Meteorite Lab for a very well attended panel.

Juice me up! Bob and Connie standing next to a large voltage multiplier stack at Fermilab. The clear tubes contain strings of high voltage diodes immersed in oil. The rounded metal things are corona shields that surround the connections between different components in the system and prevent the air from being ionized when it’s running. Ultimately the thing produces 750,000 volts DC and was used as the first stage in a string of large particle accelerators.

Br. Guy will be Skyping-in to MARCON for a lecture with me, and weather permitting I’ll be setting up my telescopes to see the Moon and Sun – I’m REALLY hoping for clear skies on Sunday when I’m scheduled to have my solar telescopes out, as there are a couple large sunspots right now! Saturday morning my wife and I will be part of a group from the convention who will be helping judge the Ohio State Science Fair – so that ought to be interesting! Saturday May 11th is also International Astronomy Day – so there’s a bit of serendipity there with me expounding about astronomy all weekend!

Venus appears very low in the eastern sky just before sunrise.

Eastern horizon before sunrise Venus very low eastern horizon before sunrise on May 8th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

The waxing crescent Moon is very near the star Tianguan on May 7th, and near the star Alhena on May 8th. On May 9th, the Moon will appear between the stars Pollux and Procyon in the western sky after sunset.

Saturn, Jupiter and the star Antares continue to appear southern sky early in the morning – each morning they appear a little more to the southwest.

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

The star Arcturus and “the Big Dipper” appear in the west-northwestern predawn sky.

Western predawn sky The star Arcturus and “the Big Dipper” in the west-northwestern predawn sky on May 8th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.


The Moon!

This Saturday is International Astronomy Day – find a ‘scope, and spot some craters and mountains on the Moon!


The Moon is a waxing crescent,visible toward the southwest in early evening.

The first quarter Moon occurs on Sunday May 12th, the Moon will be visible high in the southern sky in early evening.

After May 12th, the Moon will be a waxing gibbous,visible to the southeast in early evening, up for most of the night.

Moon The Moon from May 8-13, 2019. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.

Moon News

https://twitter.com/JimBridenstine/status/1125899772739637248


The Sun has 2 spots – and they’re BIG ones!

https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/dailymov/movies_1080/20190507_1080_HMII.mp4

AR2740 and AR 2741 are making their way across the face of the Sun; AR2740 poses a threat for M-class solar flares – you can see them crackling in the video below. SpaceWeather.com says: “A faint CME that left the sun on May 7th could strike Earth’s magnetic field on May 10th or 11th, according to NOAA analysts. The plasma cloud was hurled into space by an explosion in the magnetic canopy of big sunspot AR2740. If the CME does strike, it will likely be a glancing blow sparking only minor geomagnetic storms.”

https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/dailymov/movies_1080/20190507_1080_0193.mp4

The eastern limb of the Sun continues to hog most of the prominences; you can see flare after flare coming out of AR2740.

https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/dailymov/movies_1080/20190507_1080_0304.mp4

The solar wind speed is 326.7 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

This is amazing! AR 12740, which is an old cycle region and I honestly have not expected much, has produced a C9.9 (almost M-class) flare. The flare was very short duration, but note the spectacular large-scale coronal propagating front in the difference movie! pic.twitter.com/LVwMsVdrEq

— Halo CME (@halocme) May 6, 2019


Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:

Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Velocity (km/s)
Diameter (m)
2019 HQ3
2019-May-07
15.7 LD
12.7
30
2019 JM
2019-May-09
3.9 LD
7.6
15
2017 RC
2019-May-09
14.5 LD
10.6
9
2008 HS3
2019-May-09
14.6 LD
5.3
162
2019 JL
2019-May-12
14.3 LD
9.2
18
2018 VX8
2019-May-12
6.2 LD
15.5
118
2019 JG1
2019-May-17
5.6 LD
8.1
16
2012 KT12
2019-May-17
4.2 LD
4
20
2019 GT1
2019-May-17
6.1 LD
3.9
36
2019 JR1
2019-May-18
16.2 LD
10
44
2019 JB1
2019-May-20
16.9 LD
26.2
228
2015 KQ18
2019-May-25
10.7 LD
13.1
30
66391
2019-May-25
13.5 LD
21.5
1780
2003 LH
2019-May-28
15.6 LD
7.4
32
2011 HP
2019-May-30
12.3 LD
8.4
135
2014 MF18
2019-Jun-06
8.8 LD
3
22
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

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: 37, this year: 778 (+86), all time: 20176 (+75)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1983  (+16) (last updated  May 8, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 794,917  (+107)



On May 7, 2019, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 32 fireballs.
(23 sporadics, 9 eta Aquariids)

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

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


OSIRIS-REx – Bennu Temperature Map

This is what I see when the meteorologist says, "And here's what's happening in your neck of the woods…"

This Bennu temperature map is in Kelvin, which means you're looking at -99.67 to 170.33 °F (-73.15 to 76.85 °C) — over a distance of 820 ft (250 m).https://t.co/stUJmEv1I7 pic.twitter.com/YBjgBzHCll

— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) May 7, 2019

Mars InSight – Observing Mars’ Weather

Dust. Wind. Dude.

Dust clearing winds detected by @NASAInSight’s sensors are revealing a lot about #Mars weather: https://t.co/AckawaO0jT pic.twitter.com/Lgcp3afpAh

— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) May 6, 2019

Climate

Are greenhouse gases released by human activities affecting precipitation and drought? Yes, and the answer is in the trees: https://t.co/PeL9qvbDSa pic.twitter.com/p8EK7YA9ge

— NASA Climate (@NASAClimate) May 3, 2019

Exoplanet

All Exoplanets 3949  (+3)
Confirmed Planets with Kepler Light Curves for Stellar Host 2350 
Confirmed Planets Discovered by Kepler 2342
Kepler Project Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed 2421
Confirmed Planets with K2 Light Curves for Stellar Host 393
Confirmed Planets Discovered by K2 360 
K2 Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed 535 
Confirmed Planets Discovered by TESS 11
TESS Project Candidates 616  (+52)
TESS Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed 391  (+42)

Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive

Exoplanet News

A flyby by two rogue stars prevented an exoplanet from being kicked out of its home system, finds new research. https://t.co/hWpU2b5m5K pic.twitter.com/k49EYSxoRc

— Astronomy Magazine (@AstronomyMag) May 8, 2019

Exoplanet Artwork by Bob Trembley

Exoplanet PSR B1257+12 b Exoplanet PSR B1257+12 b. Credit: Space Engine / Bob Trembley

Read more: PSR B1257+B12

Nearly 8,000 light-years away from Earth, astronomers have discovered a black hole that keeps rapidly swinging out jets of plasma clouds into space, according to a new study https://t.co/t3AardLjMN pic.twitter.com/bst7Hw1Ght

— CNN (@CNN) May 4, 2019


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
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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