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In the Sky This Week – September 3, 2019

By Robert Trembley  |  3 Sep 2019

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This entry is part 30 of 246 in the series In the Sky This Week

Moon

The school year is starting back up, and my wife and I will again be running an after-school astronomy and space science club: the Endeavour Space Academy. This year, I’m going to concentrate on different bodies in the solar system, and the science of how astronomy is done. Students will also be required to log some observing sessions. During the first few minutes, I take the students through my latest “In the Sky” post for current events, and what to look for in the sky.

Saturn, Jupiter and the Moon grace the southern sky all week, making this a great time to do early evening sidewalk astronomy!

Saturn, Jupiter and the Moon Saturn, Jupiter and the Moon in the south-southwestern sky at 10:00 PM from Sep. 3-8, 2019. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

Before sunrise the constellation Orion can be seen in the southeastern sky.

Orion Orion in the southeastern predawn sky this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

Ursa Major appears in the north-northwestern sky at 10:00 PM this week

Big Dipper pointing to Polaris The “Big Dipper” asterism of Ursa Major with a red line showing how to star-hop to Polaris “the North Star” in the north-northwestern sky at 10:00 PM this week. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.

M 20 – The Trifid Nebula

M 20 - The Trifid Nebula Trifid Nebula (Messier 20). Image: Subaru Telescope (NAOJ), Hubble Space Telescope, Martin Pugh; Processing: Robert Gendler.

“Messier 20 (M20), also known as the Trifid Nebula, is a famous star-forming region located in the constellation Sagittarius.

The nebula’s designation in the New General Catalogue is NGC 6514. The name Trifid refers to its three-lobed appearance. Messier 20 consists of several different objects: an emission nebula, a reflection nebula, a dark nebula and an open star cluster.

The dark nebula, catalogued as Barnard 85, consists of dust clouds that absorb and block light from the bright objects behind them. It is responsible for the apparent gaps in the larger emission nebula that give M20 its trifurcated look.

The other two types of nebulae – emission and reflection – make M20 glow in different colours in images.

Emission nebulae are energised by the ultraviolet light of nearby stars and usually appear red in photographs. These nebulae are clouds of extremely hot hydrogen gas and usually regions where new stars are being formed. The light of the stars illuminates the surrounding clouds, ionizing photons in large portions of the clouds.

Reflection nebulae, which typically appear blue in images, consist mostly of clouds of interstellar dust. They are also usually star-forming regions, but unlike emission nebulae, which emit spectral line radiation from ionized hydrogen, reflection nebulae do not emit any light of their own, but simply reflect the light of nearby stars.

Messier 20 is a popular target for amateur astronomers as it is quite bright, even when seen through a small telescope. It has an apparent magnitude of 6.3 and lies at an approximate distance of 5,200 light years, or 1,600 parsecs, from Earth. M20 has a linear diameter of over 40 light years and is only 300,000 years old. – messier-objects.com

As a child of the 1960’s, I remember the first time I learned about the Trifid Nebula – it was after having seen the movie “The Day Of The Triffids;” I am unable to think about M 20 without thinking about the monster movie… Oh to see a meteor shower like the one in the beginning of that movie! Although meteors don’t typically come from all different directions like in the movie tho…
https://youtu.be/QXOikSqJ83k

The Moon is a waxing crescent, visible toward the southwest in early evening.

The first-quarter Moon occurs on Friday September 6th, it will be visible high in the southern sky in early evening.

After September 6th, the Moon will be a waxing gibbous, visible to the southeast in early evening, and up for most of the night.

Moon The Moon from Sep. 3-9, 2019. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.

Moon News

India's Chandrayaan-2 Moon Orbiter Releases Vikram Lunar Lander https://t.co/RkWbYSLL5m pic.twitter.com/9H0eZvtjUC

— SPACE.com (@SPACEdotcom) September 2, 2019

China's Lunar Rover Has Found Something Weird on the Far Side of the Moon https://t.co/yo3lPYKkP1 pic.twitter.com/BKaQAX5pwd

— SPACE.com (@SPACEdotcom) August 30, 2019

The Sun has a very small spot – Spaceweather.com says that “AR2748 has a magnetic polarity that identifies it as a member of old Solar Cycle 24. It poses no threat for strong solar flares.”

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10217705493782856

The north pole coronal hole continues to be enormous, while it appears that the hole at the south pole has diminished greatly. Several smaller coronal holes pepper the Sun’s face.

https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/dailymov/2019/09/02/20190902_1024_0193.mp4

Some excellent prominences for photographs over the last couple days. The location of sunspot AR2748 can be seen as the bright area just above the equator.

https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/dailymov/2019/09/02/20190902_1024_0304.mp4

The solar wind speed is 625.3 km/sec (↑), with a density of  0.6 protons/cm3 (↓) at 1300 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

Plasma Tornado on the Sun
Credit: NASA pic.twitter.com/RpR96bafGM

— Universal Curiosity (@UniverCurious) August 28, 2019

Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters::

Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Velocity (km/s)
Diameter (m)
2019 QA5
2019-Sep-02
5.7 LD
13.5
21
2019 QX1
2019-Sep-02
18.9 LD
16.8
30
2019 OF2
2019-Sep-03
18.3 LD
10.7
53
2018 DE1
2019-Sep-03
12.7 LD
6.6
28
2019 QX3
2019-Sep-04
11.2 LD
17.8
32
2019 QE1
2019-Sep-05
13.2 LD
6.6
34
2019 GT3
2019-Sep-06
19.5 LD
13.6
218
2019 QZ
2019-Sep-08
15.7 LD
4.3
21
2019 QZ3
2019-Sep-09
9.7 LD
7.5
40
2019 QY4
2019-Sep-10
2.5 LD
7.8
9
2010 RM82
2019-Sep-13
18.2 LD
14.6
23
2013 CV83
2019-Sep-13
16.1 LD
13.1
62
504800
2019-Sep-14
13.9 LD
14.4
155
467317
2019-Sep-14
13.9 LD
6.4
389
2019 JF1
2019-Sep-16
11.2 LD
4.3
62
2018 FU1
2019-Sep-16
18.4 LD
4.7
16
2017 SL16
2019-Sep-21
7.9 LD
6.5
25
2017 SM21
2019-Sep-21
11.5 LD
9.6
20
2019 QZ1
2019-Sep-22
12.5 LD
8.2
77
523934
2019-Sep-24
10.9 LD
22.3
257
2019 QY3
2019-Sep-26
13.9 LD
8.4
41
2017 KP27
2019-Sep-26
6.2 LD
4.8
25
2006 QV89
2019-Sep-27
18.1 LD
4.1
31
2018 FK5
2019-Oct-01
13.3 LD
10.5
8
2018 LG4
2019-Oct-02
13.8 LD
8.1
12
2017 TJ4
2019-Oct-05
13.5 LD
8.9
32
162082
2019-Oct-25
16.2 LD
11.2
589
2017 TG5
2019-Oct-25
14.4 LD
11.9
34

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: 0, this year: 1941  (+654), all time: 20777 (+63)
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 1983  (last updated  May 8, 2019)
Minor Planets discovered: 796,802 (+116)


On Aug. 26, 2019, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 35 fireballs.
(34 sporadics, 1 alpha Aurigid)

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

FIREBALL ALERT

Possible meteor-dropping fireball spotted last night ~22:30 MDT over Alberta.

If you saw this event, please report it here: https://t.co/6WrVfuI28I

Map & reports: https://t.co/4leWgaL4OK pic.twitter.com/nILRvRo70e

— AMSMETEORS (@amsmeteors) September 1, 2019

Position of the planets and a couple bodies in the inner solar system – I highlighted the Parker Solar Probe, which has passed perihelion #3 on September 1st.

Inner Solar System Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, Sep. 3, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.

Position of the planets and a couple bodies in the middle solar system:

Middle Solar System Position of the planets in the middle solar system, Sep. 3, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.

Position of the planets and a couple bodies in the outer solar system – I highlighted dwarf planet Eris:

Outer Solar System Position of the planets in the outer solar system, Sep. 3, 2019. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.

This pic is a hypothetical view of the dwarf planet Eris looking back at the planets; I kept the orbit line (red) to show its inclination to the plane of the ecliptic.

Hypothetical view of dwarf planet Eris. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.
Eris Hypothetical view from the surface of Eris. Credit: SpaceEngine / Bob Trembley.

NASA’s Interactive Real-Time Web-based Orrery:

[iframe src=’https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/orrery/’ height=600 percent=100 style=””]

Solar System News

In this month's sky, look for lovely crescent Moons at the start and end of the month. ? And the September equinox brings the beginning of fall in the Northern Hemisphere. https://t.co/ZS3eQzbWaJ pic.twitter.com/5vZ5MLxgaG

— Cassini (@CassiniSaturn) September 1, 2019

OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission

This is dusk on Bennu, which is why the rocks cast such long shadows. While it looks dramatic, these shadows help the team understand the heights of Bennu’s surface features. And here, they also highlight the depth of the cracks on that big boulder.https://t.co/kN3cecFrFe pic.twitter.com/Tn6c9EEVVq

— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) August 30, 2019

Parker Solar Probe

Our #ParkerSolarProbe is about to make its third close pass by the Sun. As the spacecraft reaches the closest point, it will be traveling at the astounding speed of about 213,000 mph (343,000 kilometers per hour) relative to the Sun! https://t.co/VtKqaNR9A1 pic.twitter.com/Au6ifYRrGJ

— Cassini (@CassiniSaturn) September 1, 2019

Earth Weather Monitoring

Cameras outside the station captured views at 11:27 a.m. ET on Sept. 2 of #HurricaneDorian over the northwestern Bahamas. The @NWSNHC said Dorian was almost stationary, moving toward the west at just 1 mile an hour just over 100 miles east of West Palm Beach, Florida. pic.twitter.com/b6ph2teoIZ

— International Space Station (@Space_Station) September 2, 2019

NOAA's #GOES16 continues to track #HurricanDorian, edging slowly toward the U.S., as day fades to night. For the latest on Cat. 4 #Dorian, including #hurricane watches and warnings: @NHC_Atlantic #flwx #gawx #scwx #ncwx pic.twitter.com/ujIJ9O3vJ6

— NOAA Satellites – Public Affairs (@NOAASatellitePA) September 3, 2019

The destructive eyewall of #HurricaneDorian continues to lash #GrandBahamaIsland as the now Cat. 4 storm inches slowly toward the west-northwest near 1 mph. Find the latest updates on #Dorian at https://t.co/ScLdyBac9D. More: https://t.co/BCKaEWkGgg pic.twitter.com/Q4heq00Ohc

— NOAA Satellites (@NOAASatellites) September 2, 2019

The eye of #HurricaneDorain. You can feel the power of the storm when you stare into its eye from above. Stay safe everyone! pic.twitter.com/yN3MGidY3N

— Nick Hague (@AstroHague) September 2, 2019

Exoplanet

All Exoplanets 4044  (+1)
Confirmed Planets with Kepler Light Curves for Stellar Host 2354
Confirmed Planets Discovered by Kepler 2345  
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More Posts in this Series:
"In the Sky This Week"

78  |  What Do We Lose When We Sacrifice Science?

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69  |  To err is human… to admit it, is science

By Br. Guy Consolmagno  |  25 Mar 2021  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

29  |  In the Sky This Week – August 6, 2019

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31  |  In the Sky This Week – November 12, 2019

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By Robert Trembley  |  14 Jan 2020

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