I’ve been working with the Great Lakes Association of Astronomy Clubs (GLAAC) on their annual Astronomy at the Beach event – Sept. 25 & 26; we’re holding the event online this year for obvious reasons. We have a fantastic set of speakers for the event, and several astronomers will be live-broadcasting from their observatories and driveways across Michigan and from Arizona!
Our headliners are Br. Guy & Dan Davis – co-authors of Turn Left at Orion, David Levy – comet discoverer extraordinaire and author on the Sacred Space Astronomy site, and Dolores Hill of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission. Several astronomers from GLAAC-member clubs will be giving presentations and participating in panel discussions about astronomy and space science; I will be giving three presentations myself and monitoring the event’s “Ops Channel” over the weekend. Several of the persons giving presentations are volunteer NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassadors – like my wife and I. Many of the presenters have expressed a willingness to do presentations remotely for in-school and at-home schools!
Website and Schedule: https://www.glaac.org/astronomy-at-the-beach-2020/
The multi-month conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter appears in the southern sky after sunset near the constellation Sagittarius – the pair of planets set in the wee hours of the morning.
Saturn and Jupiter appear in the southern sky at midnight this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.I was alerted during the last night’s meeting of the Warren Astronomical Society that there would be some shadow-transits on Jupiter during the Astronomy at the Beach event – as I was writing this post I got to wondering if there would be any this week, and BOY are there ever!
Mars appears in the eastern sky around midnight this week; I heard at last night’s meeting of the Warren Astronomical Society that you may be able to see the planet Uranus from dark sky site with your naked eye!
Mars appears high in the eastern sky at midnight this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.Venus appears in the eastern predawn sky all week, each morning a bit lower towards the horizon; the stars Procyon and Sirius form a temporary asterism with Venus across the east-southeastern sky. I’m told that many of the “UFO calls” the Michigan Science Center gets is because of Venus… well it IS bright!
Venus appears in the eastern predawn sky this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.A waxing crescent Moon appears in the southwestern sky at dusk from Sept. 19-23rd – be sure to look for earthshine!
A waxing crescent Moon appears in the southwestern sky at dusk from Sept. 19-23rd. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The smoke from the western wildfires was a topic of discussion during last night’s meeting of the Warren Astronomical Society.
The Moon is a waning crescent, visible low to the east before sunrise.
The new Moon occurs on Sept. 17th – no annoying moonlight to add to your obscured view because of clouds from the western state’s forest fires.
After Sept. 17th, the Moon will be a waxing crescent, visible to the southwest in the early evening.
The Moon from 2020-09-15 – 2020-09-21-++. 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 the Moon on Sep. 21st. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.Moon News
International Observe the Moon Night – Sept. 26th
A time to come together with fellow Moon enthusiasts and curious people worldwide. Everyone on Earth is invited to learn about lunar science and exploration, take part in celestial observations, and honor cultural and personal connections to the Moon. Note that we encourage you to interpret “observe” broadly.
International Observe the Moon Night this year conveniently falls on the weekend of the Astronomy at the Beach event!
The Sun has not had a spot in 25 days; the northern coronal hole has gone from monstrous to yawning, the coronal hole at the south pole also remain s open and fairly large.
The Sun seen in 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) September 14, 2020:
Lots of prominence activity over the last several days; lots of filament activity too – keep your eye on the face of the Sun in the lower left of the animation below.
The Sun seen in 304 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) September 14, 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 September 14th, 2020 goes to Horváth Attila Róbert Hozé for this awesome prominence image.Congratulations Hoźe and thank you for sharing your work with our group. Details: “The pictures were taken on 12,09,2020 Lunt LS 50 Hydrogen Alpha Filter System integrated into Bresser Messier 127/1200 acromat, 2,5x Televue Powermate 3000mm focus.With ASI290 MM camera. Average of 10% of 3,000 pieces 10 ms frames.”
Solar Corona
Solar wind speed is 368.6 km/sec (↑), with a density of 3.9 protons/cm3 (↓) at 1321 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: 994,936 (+524)
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2020 RA4 |
2020-Sep-15
|
11.3 LD
|
9
|
15
|
| 2020 RJ2 |
2020-Sep-16
|
3.5 LD
|
3.9
|
5
|
| 2020 RW3 |
2020-Sep-16
|
6.7 LD
|
12
|
18
|
| 2020 RN1 |
2020-Sep-17
|
18.5 LD
|
9.8
|
31
|
| 2014 QJ33 |
2020-Sep-17
|
6.7 LD
|
8.7
|
65
|
| 2020 RQ3 |
2020-Sep-19
|
6.2 LD
|
25.4
|
31
|
| 2017 SL16 |
2020-Sep-20
|
8.9 LD
|
6.4
|
25
|
| 2020 RA2 |
2020-Sep-23
|
18.4 LD
|
5.4
|
23
|
| 2020 RO |
2020-Sep-25
|
15.3 LD
|
11.8
|
78
|
| 2020 RF4 |
2020-Sep-26
|
11.7 LD
|
13.8
|
43
|
| 2020 PM7 |
2020-Sep-29
|
7.5 LD
|
8.3
|
122
|
| 2020 RJ3 |
2020-Oct-01
|
15.3 LD
|
15.5
|
68
|
| 2001 GP2 |
2020-Oct-01
|
6.1 LD
|
2.2
|
15
|
| 2020 RZ3 |
2020-Oct-02
|
15.7 LD
|
13.3
|
34
|
| 2010 UC |
2020-Oct-04
|
14.6 LD
|
3.2
|
12
|
| 2020 RV2 |
2020-Oct-05
|
14.8 LD
|
4.2
|
26
|
| 2020 RR2 |
2020-Oct-06
|
16.3 LD
|
4.1
|
29
|
| 2020 RK2 |
2020-Oct-07
|
10.1 LD
|
6.8
|
47
|
| 2019 SB6 |
2020-Oct-07
|
11.9 LD
|
7.6
|
16
|
| 2020 RO1 |
2020-Oct-09
|
17.4 LD
|
3.2
|
32
|
| 2018 GD2 |
2020-Oct-13
|
16.4 LD
|
6.7
|
5
|
| 2017 UH5 |
2020-Oct-20
|
8.9 LD
|
5.9
|
18
|
| 2018 VG |
2020-Oct-21
|
15.1 LD
|
6.7
|
12
|
| 2017 TK6 |
2020-Oct-24
|
17.3 LD
|
12.4
|
41
|
| 2008 GM2 |
2020-Oct-25
|
17.7 LD
|
3.6
|
8
|
| 2020 QD5 |
2020-Oct-26
|
10.1 LD
|
8.6
|
80
|
| 2020 OK5 |
2020-Oct-29
|
6.4 LD
|
1.3
|
27
|
| 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
|
| 2019 XS |
2020-Nov-07
|
15.4 LD
|
9.4
|
51
|
| 2018 VS4 |
2020-Nov-09
|
14.9 LD
|
10.1
|
25
|
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:
On September 14, 2020, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 3 fireballs.
(3 sporadics)
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:
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system.
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, 2020-09-15. 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, 2020-09-15 – the orbit of comet 67P is highlighted. 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 – the orbit of transneptunian object 2007 OR10 is highlighted:
Position of the planets and some transneptunian objects in the outer solar system, 2020-09-15 – the orbit of TNO 2007 OR10 is highlighted. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.Orbit of transneptunian object 2007 OR10 seen from a different angle.
Alternate view of the orbit of TNO 2007 OR10, with the plane of the ecliptic tilted nearly edge-on. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission
International Space Station
NASA Perseverance Mars Rover
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.
Jackson Lake State Park in Colorado gets International Dark Sky Park Designation
“Located about a hour-and-a-half from Denver in western Morgan County, Jackson Lake is the 19th state park in the country to receive the designation but the only state park in Colorado.”
Story: [LINK]
Hubble: Beautiful Universe
And in the BIG NEWS department!
https://twitter.com/JimBridenstine/status/1305598182571810822
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
