In the Sky This Week – November 26, 2019

Last week I had students in my after-school astronomy and space science club build and fly rockets in Kerbal Space Program. I had them launch and recover a small pre-made rocket, and build-from-scratch a sub-orbital crewed rocket, similar to a Mercury Redstone. The very next day, I gave the “In the News” report at the meeting of the Warren Astronomical Society – I shamelessly pulled material from my previous “In the Sky” post; I included a slide about the Europa Clipper mission, and a couple about mid-ocean rift ecosystems and extremophiles.

There will be a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter low on the southwestern horizon all week; Saturn continues to appear high above the southwestern horizon, and makes for an excellent observing target after Jupiter and Venus have set.

Saturn is high, and Venus and Jupiter are both very low and near each other above the the southwestern horizon after sunset this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley

Kerbal Space Program has been posting bits of astronomy news and space history on their social media feeds lately – I approve!

A very thin waxing crescent Moon joins the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter on November 28^th.

The Moon appears near Venus low above the southwestern horizon after sunset on Nov. 28th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob TrembleyOn Nov. 29^th, the Moon appears near Saturn; Jupiter and Venus will have moved away from each other.

The Moon appears near Saturn high above the southwestern horizon after sunset on Nov. 29th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley

Mercury appears above the southeastern horizon before sunrise this week, with Mars and the star Spica  lining up with each other. I actually went outside to see if I could see Mercury this morning, but there was so much haze in the air that I could barely see Mars – the horizon was completely obscured.

Mercury, Mars and the star Spica appear in a line above the southeastern horizon before dawn this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley

What’s that bright star in the southern sky after sunset? Fomalhaut.

The star Fomalhaut is the bright star to the south after sunset this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley

The constellation Canis Major and Sirius, the brightest star in our skies, rises in the southeastern sky at midnight.

The constellation Canis Major rising in the southeastern horizon at midnight on Nov. 26, 2019. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley

As I was writing this post, I wondered what the sky from the south pole would look like, so I set Stellarium’s location there, and had a eye-blink moment when I saw “north” as the only cardinal coordinate all the way around me.

M 41

Messier 41 (also known as M41 or NGC 2287) is an open cluster in the constellation Canis Major. It was discovered by Giovanni Batista Hodierna before 1654 and was perhaps known to Aristotle about 325 BC. M41 lies about four degrees almost exactly south of Sirius, and forms a triangle with it and Nu² Canis Majoris—all three can be seen in the same field in binoculars. The cluster itself covers an area around the size of the full moon. It contains about 100 stars including several red giants, the brightest being a spectral type K3 giant of apparent magnitude 6.3 near the cluster’s center, and a number of white dwarfs. The cluster is estimated to be moving away from us at 23.3 km/s. The diameter of the cluster is between 25 and 26 light years. It is estimated to be 190 million years old, and cluster properties and dynamics suggest a total life expectancy of 500 million years for this cluster, before it will have disintegrated. – Wikipedia

Messier 41. Credit: WikiSky

Location of M 41 in the constellation Canis Major. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley

The new Moon occurs on Nov. 26^th, and will not be visible for a couple days.

After Nov. 26^th, the Moon will be a waxing crescent, visible toward the southwest in early evening.

The Moon from Nov. 26-Dec. 2, 2019. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.

Moon News

OK… this would completely creep-out my arachnophobic wife, but I can see why multi-legged insect-like robot designs would have a lot of potential for planetary exploration.

The Sun has been spot-free for 13 days; the northern coronal hole seems to have enlarged from last week, and there is a large southern hole this week. A smaller coronal hole appears below the equator – where there is also a region of coronal loop activity.

Sun in 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) Nov. 19, 2019. Image courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.

A rather large set of prominences on one limb of the Sun today! I’m going to have to crack out my solar telescope when I finish this post!

Sun in 304 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) Nov. 19, 2019. Image courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.

Facebook: SolarActivity

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10218381540523602&set=gm.2804986646179328&type=3&theater&ifg=1

The solar wind speed is 412.1 km/sec (↑), with a density of 4.4 protons/cm³ (↓) at 1550 UT.

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

Sun News

Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:

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

Asteroid News: Possible Asteroid Impact Ejecta Blanket on Mars

On Nov. 25, 2019, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 25 fireballs.
(20 sporadics, 3 omicron Eridanids, 1 Leonids, 1 Nov. omega Orionid)

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

Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system:

Position of the planets and some spacecraft in the inner solar system, Nov. 26, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.

Position of the planets and a couple bodies in the middle solar system:

Position of the planets in the middle solar system, Nov. 26, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.

Position of the planets and a several bodies in the outer solar system:

Position of the planets in the outer solar system, Nov. 26, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.

Position of binary transneptunian object (TNO) and possible dwarf planet 38628 Huya and its satellite in the outer solar system:

Orbit of transneptunian object Huya. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.

38628 Huya (/huːˈjɑː/ hoo-YAH), provisional designation 2000 EB₁₇₃, is a trans-Neptunian object with a large satellite. It is located in the Kuiper belt, a region of icy objects orbiting beyond Neptune in the outer Solar System. Huya is classfied as a plutino, a dynamical class of trans-Neptunian objects with orbits in a 3:2 orbital resonance with Neptune. It was discovered by the Quasar Equatorial Survey Team and was identified by Venezuelan astronomer Ignacio Ferrín in March 2000. It is named after Juyá, the mythological rain god of the Wayuu people native to South America.

Huya’s surface is moderately red in color due to the presence of complex organic compounds on its surface. Water ice has been suspected to be also present on its surface, although water ice has not been directly detected on Huya. Huya is considered as a mid-sized trans-Neptunian object, with an estimated diameter of about 400 km (250 mi). Huya was considered to be a possible dwarf planet, though its relatively small size and dark surface imply that it never collapsed into a truly solid body and thus may never have been in hydrostatic equilibrium. – Wikipedia

Like Pluto and Charon, Huya and its satellite orbit around a barycenter; the Huya system’s barycenter is just below the surface of Huya:

Artist conception of the Huya System: the orbit of its satellite S/2012(38628) 1 is shown in red – the system’s barycenter also shown in red. Credit: SpaceEngi