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In the Sky This Week – September 2, 2020

By Robert Trembley  |  2 Sep 2020

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This entry is part 163 of 253 in the series In the Sky This Week

Conjunction of the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn

My wife is home recuperating from her appendectomy; she’s healing well and starting to feel better – so naturally, she’s overdoing it… She’s been spending a lot of time in the recliner in the basement, with the parrots and I. Andromeda, our Senegal parrot has been simply loving all the time she’s been spending with Connie!

Saturn and Jupiter appear in the southern sky after sunset, moving to the southwest in the late evening and early morning hours; the pair of planets set shortly after 2:00 AM.

Conjunction of the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn The Moon joined Saturn and Jupiter in the southern sky at midnight Sept. 1st. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

The Moon appears in the sky above the bright star Fomalhaut for a good part of the night; Fomalhaut rises in the southeast around 10:00 PM, and sets in the southwest around 5:00 AM.

Moon The Moon appears in the south-southeastern sky with the star Fomalhaut at midnight on Sept. 2nd. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

Mars rises in the east around 10:00 PM, and appears high in the southwestern sky at sunrise. The Moon appears in a very close conjunction with Mars in the early morning hours of Sept. 6th.

Conjunction of the Moon and Mars There will be a very close conjunction of the Moon and Mars in the eastern sky during the early morning hours on Sept. 6th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

Here’s a close-up of the Mars-Moon conjunction:

Conjunction of the Moon and Mars The Moon will be less than 1 degree from Mars in the eastern sky during the early morning hours on Sept. 6th. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

Venus and several stars make a temporary asterism spanning the eastern predawn sky on Sept. 2nd; Venus moves northward and down towards the horizon over the next few days breaking the asterism up.

Eastern predawn sky Venus and several stars make a temporary asterism in the eastern predawn sky on Sept. 2nd. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

 

The Moon is a waxing gibbous, visible to the southeast in early evening, and up for most of the night.

The full Moon occurs on Sept. 3rd, rising at sunset, visible high in the sky around midnight, and visible all night long.

After Sept. 3rd, the Moon will be a waning gibbous, rising after sunset, visible high in the sky after midnight, and visible to the southwest after sunrise.

Moon The Moon from 2020-09-01 – 2020-09-07. 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!

Moon Annotated close-up of the Moon on Sep. 5th. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.

Moon News

NASA's Artemis program is taking humans back to the Moon by 2024. The space agency has confirmed that the next person to set foot on lunar soil will be a woman. These are the possible astronauts. pic.twitter.com/ULYQtZX63J

— Latest in space (@latestinspace) August 28, 2020

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.

    • NASA Night Sky Network
    • Moon.NASA.Gov

 

The Sun remains spot-free; the northern coronal hole is monstrous, with a small friend just to the south. The coronal hole at the Sun’s south pole appears to have diminished.

The Sun seen in 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) September 1, 2020:

https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/dailymov/2020/09/01/20200901_1024_0193.mp4

Several long-lasting large prominences with twists and loops! Just watch this video – WOW!

The Sun seen in 304 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) September 1, 2020:

https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/dailymov/2020/09/01/20200901_1024_0304.mp4
Videos courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.
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 1, 2020 goes out to Chuck Pavlick.
Equipment details: “Proms from this morning 8-31-20. taken with the Lunt 60 and ASI 1600mm camera.”

Solar Corona

Solar wind speed is 510.8 km/sec (↑↑), with a density of 7.5 protons/cm3 (↓) at 1421 UT.

Near real-time animation of the corona and solar wind from the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO):

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-SOHO

Sun News

A novel, highly-reflective coating could one day help spacecraft get within about half a million miles from the Sun — even closer than #ParkerSolarProbe, which will fly about 4 million miles from our star! More about this @NASA_Technology concept: https://t.co/udnd5eP0MM pic.twitter.com/iueGhVgQ71

— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) September 2, 2020

I am reminded of the 1980 SF novel: Sundiver by David Brin.

Near-Earth objects (NEOs) discovered this month: 0, this year: 1741  (+24), all time: 23,586  (+25)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2037  (last updated  June 2, 2020)
Total Minor Planets
discovered: 994,383  (+2197) – closing in on 1 million!

 

Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:

Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Velocity (km/s)
Diameter (m)
2020 QG5
2020-Sep-01
7.8 LD
14.2
27
2011 ES4
2020-Sep-01
0.3 LD
8.2
30
2020 PG6
2020-Sep-02
5.9 LD
6.6
14
465824
2020-Sep-06
19.4 LD
14
162
2020 PT4
2020-Sep-08
4.9 LD
12.6
37
2012 RM15
2020-Sep-12
14.9 LD
9.8
45
2017 US
2020-Sep-13
17.3 LD
5.9
21
2020 QL2
2020-Sep-14
17.9 LD
10.6
71
2014 QJ33
2020-Sep-17
6.7 LD
8.7
65
2017 SL16
2020-Sep-20
8.9 LD
6.4
25
2001 GP2
2020-Oct-01
6.1 LD
2.2
15
2010 UC
2020-Oct-04
14.6 LD
3.2
12
2019 SB6
2020-Oct-07
11.9 LD
7.6
16
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
79
2020 OK5
2020-Oct-29
6.4 LD
1.3
26

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:

I really detest it when major news outlets use asteroids as a scare tactic to get clicks…

https://twitter.com/AstroBalrog/status/1301174282299604993

On September 1, 2020, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 6 fireballs. 
(6 sporadics)

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). Credit: SpaceWeather.com

Fireball News:

Meteorite recovered after breaking through bamboo ceiling in Pernambuco, Brazil.

Vídeo: Explosão misteriosa assusta moradores do sertão pernambucano
Um morador de um dos municípios gravou um vídeo mostrando estragos no telhado da casa da irmã e mostra uma pedra grande que levou o povo a comentar que acha que são estilhaços da queda de um #meteoro. pic.twitter.com/9Gs8MSBtlX

— EXOSS Meteors 🇧🇷 ☄️💫 (@exossorg) August 19, 2020

 

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

Inner Solar System Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, 2020-09-01. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.

Position of the planets in the middle solar system:

Middle Solar System Position of the planets in the middle solar system, 2020-09-01. 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 – dwarf planet Sedna is highlighted:

Outer Solar System Position of the planets and some transneptunian objects in the outer solar system, 2020-09-01 – trans-Neptunian object Sedna is highlighted, currently near its perihelion. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.

Extreme Zoom-out showing Sedna’s Orbit:

Sedna Orbit of trans-Neptunian object Sedna; Sedna has an orbital period of 11,400 years – the second longest orbital period of any known object in the Solar System of comparable size or larger! Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.

 

NASA’s Lucy Mission to the Trojan Asteroids

Lucy has passed Key Decision Point D! We are now officially approved to move on to phase D, where we assemble, test and launch this spacecraft! 🚀https://t.co/KEpns8Gd4o

— Lucy Mission (@LucyMission) August 28, 2020

JAXA HAYABUSA2 Asteroid Sample Return Mission

It's only 100 days before we return to Earth! 🛰🌏 Hayabusa2 is now 50 million km from Earth and it takes ~5.5 mins (round trip) to communicate with the spacecraft. We will continue to modify the trajectory (TCM) to deliver the capsule safely to Woomera, Australia on December 6! pic.twitter.com/x842YUH3iK

— HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) August 28, 2020

International Space Station – Student Payload Opportunity With Citizen Science

WOW! This is SO cool! Students can design and build an experiment that will go to the ISS, stay there for 30 days, and return! I am “bouncing in my chair” excited about this! Do you think I can pass myself off as a K-12 student?

#Artemis Generation collegiate students can fly research to the @Space_Station!🛰

Join us tomorrow, 9/3 at 5pm ET for a webinar to learn about this #STEMonStation opportunity – or visit the SPOCS website!

Session 🔗: https://t.co/2dIRK4Tjh5
Website 🔗: https://t.co/vJ5rgZ93bc pic.twitter.com/R0FvfLQBKX

— NASA STEM (@NASASTEM) September 2, 2020

NASA Perseverance Mars Rover

LIVE NOW 🔴
Come meet our engineer Michelle Colizzi and learn more about the capsule she worked on that keeps @NASAPersevere safe in space. https://t.co/ehcB87Ecss pic.twitter.com/C9m9vdp7dM

— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) August 27, 2020

Climate

Earth-observing instruments on @NASA satellites and aircraft are mapping the current fires in California, providing critical data products to agencies on the ground that are responding to the emergency. https://t.co/B8pP9QwbDH pic.twitter.com/5Xf5DSAQUg

— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) September 1, 2020

As Earth warms, glaciers all over the globe are melting and retreating, forming pools of water called glacial lakes. The volume of these lakes has increased by 50% since 1990, due to climate change. https://t.co/UqPja8IhKQ

— NASA Climate (@NASAClimate) September 1, 2020

The @NASA / @JAXA_en GPM satellite flew over #HurricaneLaura last night at 10pm CT shortly before landfall, capturing this 3D data on the structure and intensity of precipitation within the storm. Learn more: https://t.co/Od3I2HYGvX pic.twitter.com/URACrNKFlU

— NASA Precipitation 🛰️⛈️ (@NASARain) August 27, 2020

Exoplanet
ex·o·plan·et /ˈeksōˌplanət/, noun: a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun.

All Exoplanets 4201
Confirmed Planets with Kepler Light Curves for Stellar Host 2362
Confirmed Planets Discovered by Kepler 2342
Kepler Project Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed 2418
Confirmed Planets with K2 Light Curves for Stellar Host 431
Confirmed Planets Discovered by K2 410
K2 Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed 889
Confirmed Planets Discovered by TESS 67
TESS Project Candidates Integrated into Archive (2020-08-31 13:00:02) 2174
Current date TESS Project Candidates at ExoFOP 2174
TESS Candidates Yet To Be Confirmed 1314  (-4)

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.

Utah’s East Canyon State Park Designated as a Dark Sky park

Congrats to Utah's @east_state for being designated as an IDSPark. Utah now has more IDA-certified state parks than any other U.S. state! East Canyon is located about 20 miles from Salt Lake City, which means it’s readily accessible to millions of people!https://t.co/fQFtWZ5GdF

— DarkSky International (@IDADarkSky) August 28, 2020

 

Hubble: Beautiful Universe

#HubbleClassic The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy is ablaze with star formation.

New stars are born in glowing, pink clouds of gas along the edges of the galaxy's dark, spiraling dust lanes. Also called M83, the galaxy is one of the brightest in our night sky: https://t.co/YxjugEc8jr pic.twitter.com/RzisLFxoQc

— Hubble (@NASAHubble) September 1, 2020

Tour of the Local Stellar Neighborhood

Continuing with my visual tour of nearby stars and their systems, we travel to the Gliese 674 system, about 15 light years distant.

Gliese 674 Gliese 674 is about 14 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 674

Gliese 674 (Gliese–Jahreiß 674) is a pre-main-sequence red dwarf approximately 15 light years away in the southern constellation of Ara. Gliese 674, as is typical for young red dwarfs, is strongly active, with regular ultraviolet flares. As of 2019, the strongest ultraviolet flare detected had a total energy of 5.6*1023 joules and a duration of a few hours. 

On January 7, 2007, Bonfils used the HARPS spectrograph in ESO and found an intermediate mass planet orbiting close to the red dwarf star in an unusually eccentric orbit.- Wikipedia

Gliese 674 System Diagram

Gliese 674 Gliese 674 System Diagram. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.

Gliese 674 Exoplanet Orbital Diagram

Gliese 674 Orbital Diagram. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.

Artist’s Renderings of the Gliese 674 system

Artistic rendering of red dwarf Gliese 674 seen form behind exoplanet Gliese 674 b. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Gliese 674 Artistic rendering of red dwarf Gliese 674 with exoplanet Gliese 674 b seen in the distance on the left. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.

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

 

 

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