Mars appears high in the eastern sky after sunset, and it appears high in the southern sky at midnight.
Mars appears high in the eastern sky after sunset. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.Mercury appears with Venus in the eastern predawn sky all week – the planets are joined by the waning crescent Moon on the mornings of Nov. 12th and 13th.
Mercury and Venus appear in the eastern predawn sky all week – they are joined by the waning crescent Moon on Nov. 12th and 13th. Credit: Bob Trembley / Stellarium.The conjunction of the two planets, the Moon and the star Spica on the morning of Nov. 13th is likely to be distracting to drivers travelling eastward – drive safe!
Conjunction of Mercury, Venus, the Moon and the star Spica in the eastern predawn on Nov. 13th. Credit: Bob Trembley / Stellarium.Jupiter and Saturn appear in the south-southwestern sky at dusk – still great observing targets, but look quick – you only have a couple hours before they set in the southwest.
Saturn and Jupiter appear in the southwestern sky at dusk. Credit: Bob Trembley / Stellarium.I was wondering what those 2 stars were I was seeing through the skylight as I was making my coffee at 3:00 AM… “I’ll bet they are Castor and Pollux in the constellation Gemini.” Called it! 🙂
Castor and Pollux appear nearly overhead at 3:00 AM. Credit: Bob Trembley / Stellarium.I really miss having people look through my telescope and say “Oh WOW!” or use my virtual reality headset to fly over the rings of Saturn and have their minds completely blown away…
The Moon is a waning crescent – visible low to the east before sunrise.
The new Moon occurs on Nov. 15th.
After Nov. 15th, the Moon will be a waxing crescent, visible toward the southwest in early evening.
The Moon from 2020-11-10 – 2020-11-16. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.If you click on the Moon image above, or click this link, you will go to NASA’s Moon Phase and Libration, 2020 page – it will show you what the Moon looks like right now. If you click the image on that page, you will download a high-rez TIF image annotated with the names of prominent features – helpful for logging your observations!
Annotated close-up of a section of the Moon on Nov. 11th. – showing the play of shadows along the terminator. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.Moon News
Sunspot AR2781 is large and poses a slight threat for M-class solar flares.
AR2781 taken by Alan Friedman on November 8, 2020 @ Buffalo, NYSunspot AR2781 has a lot of coronal activity associated with it – you can see it in the Sun’s southern hemisphere in the video below. Both the northern and southern coronal holes have reduced in size from last week.
The Sun seen in 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) November 9, 2020:
Moderate prominence activity over the last couple days; the region of AR2781 looks like a huge orange wound on the Sun’s face.
The Sun seen in 304 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) November 9, 2020:
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.
Solar Activity on Facebook – Run by Volunteer NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador Pamela Shivak
The SOLARACTIVITY PICTURE OF THE DAY for November 9th, 2020 is this awesome image of AR2781 by Stefano Filzoli. Details: November 07, 2020 – h. 12:35 UT Refractor D.150 f/32 + Combo Quark + Asi174M. https://www.astrodelciel.it/Solar Corona
Solar wind speed is 322.4 km/sec (↓), with a density of 3.7 protons/cm3 (↑) at 1229 UT.
Near real-time animation of the corona and solar wind from the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO):
Animated LASCO C2 Coronograph showing the solar corona above the Sun’s limb (the white circle). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech-SOHOSun News
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2037 (last updated June 2, 2020)
Total Minor Planets discovered (NASA): 1,027,560 (+2,399)
Total Minor Planets discovered (MPC): 993,960
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2020 UN3 |
2020-Nov-10
|
11.6 LD
|
7.6
|
48
|
| 2020 UL3 |
2020-Nov-10
|
15.4 LD
|
11.2
|
76
|
| 2020 VC1 |
2020-Nov-12
|
4.3 LD
|
6.1
|
28
|
| 2020 VC |
2020-Nov-12
|
13.8 LD
|
11.2
|
34
|
| 2020 TB9 |
2020-Nov-14
|
13.1 LD
|
6
|
24
|
| 2020 ST1 |
2020-Nov-14
|
19.1 LD
|
8.1
|
146
|
| 2019 VL5 |
2020-Nov-15
|
8.5 LD
|
8.2
|
23
|
| 2020 UB5 |
2020-Nov-16
|
20 LD
|
4.4
|
34
|
| 2020 VY |
2020-Nov-17
|
16.2 LD
|
11.6
|
38
|
| 2020 VA1 |
2020-Nov-20
|
11.7 LD
|
8.8
|
38
|
| 2017 WJ16 |
2020-Nov-23
|
5 LD
|
4.8
|
49
|
| 2020 TJ8 |
2020-Nov-24
|
16.8 LD
|
4.6
|
33
|
| 2018 RQ4 |
2020-Nov-26
|
8.1 LD
|
7.4
|
15
|
| 2020 KZ2 |
2020-Nov-28
|
5.7 LD
|
3.9
|
10
|
| 153201 |
2020-Nov-29
|
11.2 LD
|
25.1
|
490
|
| 2020 SO |
2020-Dec-01
|
0.1 LD
|
3.9
|
6
|
| 2019 XH2 |
2020-Dec-02
|
16.1 LD
|
6.4
|
6
|
| 2018 PK21 |
2020-Dec-08
|
12.2 LD
|
3.1
|
23
|
| 2019 XQ1 |
2020-Dec-13
|
18.4 LD
|
8.6
|
30
|
| 2017 XQ60 |
2020-Dec-21
|
10.8 LD
|
15.6
|
47
|
| 2011 CL50 |
2020-Dec-24
|
3.1 LD
|
3.4
|
11
|
| 501647 |
2020-Dec-25
|
7.9 LD
|
10
|
123
|
| 2012 XE133 |
2020-Dec-27
|
11.7 LD
|
9.2
|
74
|
| 2016 AF2 |
2020-Dec-27
|
7.3 LD
|
5.3
|
9
|
| 2012 UK171 |
2020-Dec-30
|
15.5 LD
|
4.7
|
47
|
| 2019 YB4 |
2021-Jan-02
|
16.8 LD
|
7.2
|
16
|
| 2003 AF23 |
2021-Jan-03
|
18.3 LD
|
15.8
|
235
|
| 2019 QW2 |
2021-Jan-03
|
8.8 LD
|
4.9
|
39
|
| 2012 BT1 |
2021-Jan-04
|
13.6 LD
|
7.7
|
12
|
| 2016 CO247 |
2021-Jan-06
|
19.3 LD
|
16.7
|
282
|
| 2018 KP1 |
2021-Jan-06
|
8.2 LD
|
4.4
|
34
|
| 332446 |
2021-Jan-06
|
9.6 LD
|
11
|
408
|
Notes: LD means “Lunar Distance.” 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. Red highlighted entries are asteroids that either pass very close, or very large with high relative velocities to the Earth. Table from SpaceWeather.com
On November 9, 2020, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 11 fireballs.
(14 sporadics, 2 Northern Taurids)
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). Credit: SpaceWeather.comFireball News
If you see a bright meteor or a fireball, please REPORT IT to the American Meteor Society!
Position of the planets in the inner solar system:
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, 2020-11-10. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.I created this image and used it in a comment to a post an astronomer buddy made on Facebook.
Artist’s concept of Mars seen from the surface of Phobos. Credit: Bob Trembley / SpaceEnginePosition of the planets in the middle solar system:
Position of the planets in the middle solar system, 2020-11-10. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.Position of the planets, some dwarf planets and some transneptunian objects in the outer solar system.
Position of the planets and some transneptunian objects in the outer solar system, 2020-11-10. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.Solar System News
Voyager 2 Contacted Using Upgraded Radio Antenna
International Space Station: #SpaceStation20th
HiRISE – on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter:
Hubble Space Telescope: ULLYSES program
Climate:
See a list of current NASA missions here: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/?type=current
ex·o·plan·et /ˈeksōˌplanət/, noun: a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun.
Data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive
* Confirmed Planets Discovered by TESS refers to the number planets that have been published in the refereed astronomical literature.
* TESS Project Candidates refers to the total number of transit-like events that appear to be astrophysical in origin, including false positives as identified by the TESS Project.
* TESS Project Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed refers to the number of TESS Project Candidates that have not yet been dispositioned as a Confirmed Planet or False Positive.
Exoplanet News
Hubble: Beautiful Universe
Tour of the Local Stellar Neighborhood
Continuing with my visual tour of nearby stars and their systems, we travel to Gliese 3622 (LHS 292), about 14.9 light years distant.
Gliese 3622 is about 14.9 light years from Sol; the plane (green) is aligned with the orientation of the plane of the Milky Way galaxy. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Gliese 3622 (LHS 292)
LHS 292 is a red dwarf in the constellation Sextans. It is far too faint to be seen with the unaided eye and requires a large amateur telescope to be seen visually. It lies relatively close to our star system at a distance of about 14.9 light years. It is a flare star, which means it can suddenly increase in brightness for short periods of time.. – Wikipedia
Artist Rendering of Hypothetical Exoplanet Orbiting Gliese 3622
Artistic rendering of an exoplanet and asteroid moon orbiting the red dwarf star Gliese 3622. Credit: Bob Trembley / SpaceEngine.What I was listening to when I was editing this:
Stay safe, be well, and look up!
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.
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 available.
Stellarium: a free open source planetarium app for PC/MAC/Linux. It’s a great tool for planning observing sessions. A web-based version of Stellarium is also available.
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
Light Pollution – NASA’s Black Marble
The Universe – Universe Today
