Venus appears in the eastern predawn sky all week; from my location, the ISS appears with Venus at 5:30 AM on Oct. 23rd. If you’d like to see if the ISS will be over your position, you can use the tracker on the Heavens-Above website, or any number of smartphone apps.
Venus appears in the eastern predawn sky all week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The Moon dances with Saturn and Jupiter from Oct. 20-23 in the southern sky after sunset.
Conjunction of the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn from 10-20 – 10-23 in the southern sky at dusk. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.Here’s a close-up of the conjunction on Oct. 22nd:
Close-up of the conjunction of the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn on Oct. 22nd in the southern sky at dusk. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.Mars is at opposition and very bright in the eastern sky after sunset; Mars is visible all night long, and I’ve seen some spectacular images taken of it! Uranus is almost in the center between Mars and the Pleiades star cluster.
Mars appears high in the eastern sky after sunset. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Moon is a waxing crescent – visible toward the southwest in early evening.
The first quarter Moon occurs on Fri. Oct. 23rd – it will be visible high in the southern sky in early evening.
After Oct. 23rd, the Moon will be a waxing gibbous – visible to the southeast in early evening, up for most of the night.
The Moon from 2020-10-20 – 2020-10-26. 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 Oct. 21st. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.Moon News
I’m sorry, but if I spit my coffee laughing, I’ve got to post it!
Here’s some real Moon news:
The Sun has an active spot – AR2776 is blowing off B-class solar flares. Watching the video below, you can see a flare’s shock wave propagating across the Sun’s face! There is also intense coronal loop activity over the sunspot. Large coronal holes remain are open at both poles – the northen hemisphere has several additional holes.
The Sun seen in 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) October 19, 2020:
WOW! Prominences, prominences, and some more prominences!
The Sun seen in 304 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) October 19, 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
SOLARACTIVITY PICTURE OF THE DAY for Tuesday, October 20th, 2020 goes out to Alessandro Bianconi for this incredible close-up of NOAA AR12766.Alessandro commented: AR12776 2020.10.18 – C14HD edge + Astrosolar 3.8 full aperture, 10micron GM2000HPSII, Celestron Skyris618M, R Astrodon filter, Barlow 2X C.Zeiss.
Solar Corona
Solar wind speed is 368.4 km/sec (↑), with a density of 1.9 protons/cm3 (↓↓) at 1320 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: 1,016,065 (+20,310) – We’ve passed the 1 million known asteroids threshold! And we’ve passed it by a lot!
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2020 UT |
2020-Oct-20
|
19.7 LD
|
7
|
12
|
| 2020 UQ |
2020-Oct-20
|
5.1 LD
|
15.7
|
15
|
| 2020 UC |
2020-Oct-20
|
3.7 LD
|
7.9
|
11
|
| 2017 UH5 |
2020-Oct-20
|
8.9 LD
|
5.9
|
18
|
| 2020 UR |
2020-Oct-20
|
3.5 LD
|
12.6
|
10
|
| 2020 UB |
2020-Oct-20
|
1.9 LD
|
10.6
|
9
|
| 2020 UB1 |
2020-Oct-20
|
8.9 LD
|
8.4
|
44
|
| 2020 TC3 |
2020-Oct-20
|
13.4 LD
|
12.2
|
39
|
| 2020 TW6 |
2020-Oct-20
|
10.8 LD
|
9.6
|
26
|
| 2020 UP1 |
2020-Oct-20
|
16.5 LD
|
17.3
|
27
|
| 2020 SG3 |
2020-Oct-20
|
19.5 LD
|
5.3
|
38
|
| 2020 UA |
2020-Oct-21
|
0.1 LD
|
7.8
|
8
|
| 2020 UY |
2020-Oct-21
|
0.9 LD
|
7
|
5
|
| 2020 US |
2020-Oct-21
|
2.2 LD
|
13.6
|
12
|
| 2020 TM6 |
2020-Oct-21
|
9.5 LD
|
8.6
|
20
|
| 2018 VG |
2020-Oct-21
|
15.1 LD
|
6.7
|
12
|
| 2020 TK6 |
2020-Oct-22
|
4.7 LD
|
7.9
|
18
|
| 2020 UV |
2020-Oct-22
|
1.3 LD
|
8.3
|
12
|
| 2020 TX1 |
2020-Oct-22
|
16.1 LD
|
7.9
|
22
|
| 2020 TG1 |
2020-Oct-22
|
18.4 LD
|
13.7
|
63
|
| 2020 UK1 |
2020-Oct-23
|
13.5 LD
|
9
|
28
|
| 2020 TK4 |
2020-Oct-23
|
8.6 LD
|
8.9
|
18
|
| 2020 TT5 |
2020-Oct-23
|
5.1 LD
|
4.9
|
14
|
| 2020 UG |
2020-Oct-23
|
5.9 LD
|
7.1
|
17
|
| 2017 TK6 |
2020-Oct-24
|
17.4 LD
|
12.5
|
41
|
| 2020 UM1 |
2020-Oct-25
|
10.7 LD
|
15.1
|
24
|
| 2008 GM2 |
2020-Oct-25
|
17.7 LD
|
3.6
|
8
|
| 2020 QD5 |
2020-Oct-26
|
10.1 LD
|
8.6
|
80
|
| 2020 TD8 |
2020-Oct-27
|
1.6 LD
|
7.6
|
14
|
| 2005 UV64 |
2020-Oct-27
|
19.3 LD
|
3.5
|
18
|
| 2020 TQ2 |
2020-Oct-27
|
16.3 LD
|
5.2
|
26
|
| 2020 TR5 |
2020-Oct-28
|
4 LD
|
8.8
|
20
|
| 2020 TS5 |
2020-Oct-28
|
9.4 LD
|
5.8
|
21
|
| 2020 UN1 |
2020-Oct-28
|
4.1 LD
|
10.1
|
29
|
| 2020 TM7 |
2020-Oct-28
|
5.4 LD
|
12.9
|
27
|
| 2020 OK5 |
2020-Oct-29
|
6.4 LD
|
1.3
|
29
|
| 2020 TO8 |
2020-Oct-29
|
14.7 LD
|
8.9
|
26
|
| 2020 TR2 |
2020-Oct-29
|
8.8 LD
|
14.5
|
55
|
| 2018 VP1 |
2020-Nov-02
|
1.1 LD
|
9.7
|
2
|
| 2020 HF4 |
2020-Nov-03
|
16.2 LD
|
2.9
|
11
|
| 2010 JL88 |
2020-Nov-05
|
10.5 LD
|
15.7
|
16
|
| 2020 TY1 |
2020-Nov-07
|
14.7 LD
|
13
|
112
|
| 2019 XS |
2020-Nov-07
|
15.5 LD
|
9.4
|
51
|
| 2018 VS4 |
2020-Nov-09
|
14.9 LD
|
10.1
|
25
|
| 2020 ST1 |
2020-Nov-14
|
19.1 LD
|
8.1
|
156
|
| 2019 VL5 |
2020-Nov-15
|
8.5 LD
|
8.2
|
23
|
| 2017 WJ16 |
2020-Nov-23
|
5 LD
|
4.8
|
49
|
| 2020 TJ8 |
2020-Nov-24
|
16.8 LD
|
4.6
|
32
|
| 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
|
7
|
| 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
|
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: Asteroid Bennu and OSIRIS-REx is all over the news!
Take a tour of asteroid Bennu!
New Minor Planet Center Circular with 2 new named asteroids
(101810) Beiyou = 1999 JA6
Discovered 1999 May 8 by the Beijing Schmidt CCD Asteroid Program atXinglong.
Beiyou (Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications) is a key multidisciplinary research university of China, with programs in engineering, management, humanities and sciences, and information technology.
(120461) Gandhi = 1990 TK9
Discovered 1990 Oct. 10 by F. Börngen and L. D. Schmadel at Tautenburg.
Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) was an Indian lawyer who advocated the complete independence of India. Gandhi believed that nonviolence was the path to liberty, and he became a model for many.
MPC Circular: https://minorplanetcenter.net/iau/ECS/MPCArchive/2020/MPC_20200924.pdf
On October 19, 2020, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 16 fireballs.
(11 sporadics, 4 Orionids, 1 epsilon Geminid)
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
Orionids Meteor Shower:
Position of the planets in the inner solar system:
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, 2020-10-20. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.Position of the planets in the middle solar system:
Position of the planets in the middle solar system, 2020-10-20. 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, 2020-10-20. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission – Sample Collection TODAY!
International Space Station:
Mars HiRISE:
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter:
Climate: Every time I see my grandchild, I worry about her future Earth
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.
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Hubble: Beautiful Universe
Tour of the Local Stellar Neighborhood
Continuing with my visual tour of nearby stars and their systems, we travel to the Gliese 1002 system, about 15.8 light years distant.
Gliese 1002 is about 15 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 1002
Gliese 1002 is a red dwarf star. It is located relatively near our Sun, at a distance of about 15.8 light years, in the constellation Cetus.
This appears to be a relatively quiescent star, and no flare activity has been detected. – Wikipedia
That’s pretty much it – since this system has no actual exoplanets discovered yet, SpaceEngine took the liberty of populating the system with a multitude of exoplanets and moons
Artist Rendering of a Gas Giant Exoplanet Orbiting Gliese 1002
Artistic rendering of a gas giant exoplanet and asteroid moon orbiting red dwarf star Gliese 1002. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.Artist Rendering of a Rocky Exoplanet Orbiting Gliese 1002
Artistic rendering of a rocky exoplanet and red dwarf star Gliese 1002 seen from a tidally-locked moon of the exoplanet – the rear of the exoplanet is illuminated by starshine from the moon. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.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
