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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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!
Annotated close-up of the Moon on Sep. 5th. 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.
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:
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:
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):
Animated LASCO C2 Coronograph showing the solar corona above the Sun’s limb (the white circle). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech-SOHOSun News
I am reminded of the 1980 SF novel: Sundiver by David Brin.
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)
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:
Meteorite recovered after breaking through bamboo ceiling in Pernambuco, Brazil.
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, 2020-09-01. 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, 2020-09-01. 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:
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:
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
JAXA HAYABUSA2 Asteroid Sample Return Mission
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?
NASA Perseverance Mars Rover
Climate
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.
Utah’s East Canyon State Park Designated as a Dark Sky park
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 674 system, about 15 light years distant.
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 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.
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
