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In the Sky This Week – October 22, 2019

By Robert Trembley  |  22 Oct 2019

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This entry is part 50 of 246 in the series In the Sky This Week

Southwestern sky

Saturn and Jupiter continue to be excellent observing targets in the southern sky after sunset; this last weekend. The Warren Astronomical Society hosted a boatload of girl and boy scouts at their Stargate Observatory this last weekend – I was with the girl scouts before dusk showing them a virtual reality fly-over of Saturn, another member was talking to the girls about meteorites.

Southwestern sky Saturn and Jupiter in the southwestern sky after sunset on Oct. 22, 2019 – the teapot asterism in the constellation Sagittarius is highlighted. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley

Mars appears low in the eastern sky just before sunrise.

Eastern horizon before dawn. The planet Mars low on the eastern horizon before dawn. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley

The Moon passes through the constellations Cancer and Leo in the mornings of Oct. 22-24th.

The Moon Oct. 22-24 2019 The Moon passing through the constellations Cancer and Leo from Oct. 22-24, 2019. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley

A very VERY thin waning crescent Moon appears near to Mars above the eastern horizon before dawn on Oct. 26th.

A very thin waning crescent Moon near(ish) Mars above the eastern horizon before dawn on Oct. 26th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley

Venus and Mercury appear very close to each other in the southwestern sky at dusk on Oct. 22nd – if you use binoculars, and get Venus in your right field-of-view, Mercury will be in your left. Observing this may be a challenge if you have anything obscuring your view of the horizon.

Venus and Mercury Venus and Mercury appear very near each other before sunset on Oct. 22nd. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley

The constellations Cygnus and Lyra are directly overhead after sunset this week.

Cygnus and Lyra Constellation Lines Constellation lines for Cygnus and Lyra. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley

Cygnus (the swan) is occasionally referred to as the “northern cross,” and Lyra (the lyre) is host to M57 – the Ring Nebula, this weeks observing target.

The Swan and the Lyre Western artwork for the constellations Cygnus and Lyra. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley

M57 – The Ring Nebula

The Ring Nebula (also catalogued as Messier 57, M57 or NGC 6720) is a planetary nebula in the northern constellation of Lyra. Such objects are formed when a shell of ionized gas is expelled into the surrounding interstellar medium by a star at in the last stages of its evolution before becoming a white dwarf.

M57 is an example of the class of planetary nebulae known as bipolar nebulae, whose thick equatorial rings visibly extend the structure through its main axis of symmetry. It appears to be a prolate spheroid with strong concentrations of material along its equator. From Earth, the symmetrical axis is viewed at about 30°. Overall, the observed nebulosity has been currently estimated to be expanding for approximately 1,610 ± 240 years.- Wikipedia

M57 The Ring Nebula M57, The Ring Nebula in Lyra. Image Credit: NASA/Hubble Heritage

Here’s the location of the Ring Nebula in Lyra – I’ve found it fairly easily with my 8″ Dobsonian telescope by just scanning around the middle area between the two stars in Lyra.

Constellation Lyra and M57 Constellation Lyra with the location of M57 highlighted. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley

Here’s the Ring Nebula seen in multiple frequencies:

In this composite image, visible-light observations by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope are combined with infrared data from the ground-based Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona to assemble a dramatic view of the well-known Ring Nebula. Credit: NASA, ESA, C.R. O’Dell (Vanderbilt University), and D. Thompson (Large Binocular Telescope Observatory)

 

The Moon is a waning crescent, visible low to the east before sunrise.

The new Moon occurs on Oct. 28th.

Moon The Moon from Oct. 22-28, 2019. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.

The sun has not had a spot for 19 days; the northern coronal hole remains huge, the southern hole has diminished and appears almost closed. There is a large and almost cross-shaped coronal hole in the middle of the Sun’s face.

Sun in 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) Oct. 22, 2019. Image courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.

Again there have been some impressive prominences on the Sun’s limb over the last couple days.

https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/dailymov/2019/10/21/20191021_1024_0094.mp4

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10220117290783425&set=gm.2729176887093638&type=3&theater&ifg=1

The solar wind speed is 357.4 km/sec (↓), with a density of 3.1 protons/cm3 (↑) at 1539 UT.

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

Today marks 11 years in space for our IBEX mission, which maps our solar system’s boundary to interstellar space! ? A new mission IMAP will launch in 2024 to continue the work IBEX began years ago: understanding this boundary that shields and protects us https://t.co/b3VgGyDvUG

— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) October 19, 2019

Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:

Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Velocity (km/s)
Diameter (m)
2019 UG1
2019-Oct-22
5.7 LD
8.9
20
2019 UT
2019-Oct-22
2.4 LD
11.2
9
2019 UF1
2019-Oct-22
6.5 LD
16.8
25
2019 UJ1
2019-Oct-23
4.5 LD
12
11
2019 UZ
2019-Oct-23
5.7 LD
9.6
9
2019 UH
2019-Oct-24
5 LD
13.2
25
2019 UD
2019-Oct-24
8.6 LD
3.1
15
2019 UA2
2019-Oct-25
9.3 LD
8.7
16
2019 TQ2
2019-Oct-25
12.8 LD
12.4
35
2019 UQ
2019-Oct-25
4.3 LD
13
21
162082
2019-Oct-25
16.2 LD
11.2
589
2017 TG5
2019-Oct-25
14.4 LD
11.9
34
2019 UC2
2019-Oct-27
16.6 LD
6.6
15
2019 UT1
2019-Oct-28
4.7 LD
8.8
11
2019 UE1
2019-Oct-28
8.6 LD
6.8
24
2019 UC
2019-Oct-29
2.9 LD
8.9
53
2019 TR2
2019-Oct-29
19.4 LD
13.8
75
2019 UB2
2019-Oct-29
15.1 LD
8.4
23
2015 JD1
2019-Nov-03
12.9 LD
11.9
269
2010 JG
2019-Nov-12
19.6 LD
14.9
235
2019 UH1
2019-Nov-13
9.5 LD
9.1
47
481394
2019-Nov-21
11.3 LD
7.9
372
2008 EA9
2019-Nov-23
10.5 LD
2.2
10
2017 AP4
2019-Dec-03
8.5 LD
7.5
15
2018 XW2
2019-Dec-07
17.4 LD
13
28

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

Near-Earth objects (NEOs) discovered this month: 118 (+62) , this year: 2309 (+57), all time: 21200 (+31)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2018  (last updated  Oct. 1, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 829,442 (+108)

Asteroid News

One step closer to launch ?Our upcoming Lucy mission has passed a major milestone, and the team is now ready to begin building hardware. Lucy will be the first space mission to study the Trojan asteroids, which orbit the Sun at the distance of Jupiter: https://t.co/R0w5joddoW pic.twitter.com/Gr7igbOHvF

— Cassini (@CassiniSaturn) October 21, 2019


On Oct. 21, 2019, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 44 fireballs.
(21 sporadics, 19 Orionids, 2 epsilon Geminids, 1 southern Taurid, 1 Leonis Minorid)

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

Fireball News – Orinid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight

The Orionid Meteor Shower peaks tonight. We will be LIVE streaming the shower from 3 of our All Sky stations starting at sun set local time.

Hawley TX :https://t.co/BCmsHYr4CL

Prescott AZ:https://t.co/4QD1YKEXrr

El Cajon, CAhttps://t.co/INDxtpsOfO

— AMSMETEORS (@amsmeteors) October 21, 2019

Comet C/2019 Q4

#2IBorisov is a severely C2-depleted interstellar comet, from WHT & INT spectra Sep 30 & Oct 13. CN production and dust coma colours are consistent through time. Starting to limit how far from its origin star 2I formed…
Opitom et al, A&A Letters sub'd https://t.co/RsnkKtqAcO pic.twitter.com/eTLhfCuN6H

— Michele Bannister (@astrokiwi) October 22, 2019

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

Inner Solar System Position of the planets and some spacecraft in the inner solar system, Oct. 22 2019 – the orbit of asteroid 101955 Bennu is highlighted. 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, Oct. 22, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley

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

Outer Solar System Position of the planets in the outer solar system, Oct. 22, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley

Orbit of asteroid (and possible dwarf planet) 28978 Ixion:

Orbit of 28978 Ixion Orbit of 28978 Ixion (red). Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley

28978 Ixion (/ɪkˈsaɪ.ən/ ik-SY-ən), provisional designation 2001 KX76, is a plutino (an object that has a 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune). Brown and Tancredi calculate that it is very likely to be a dwarf planet, although the 

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"In the Sky This Week"

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By Robert Trembley  |  14 Jul 2020

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