The southern predawn sky hasn’t changed much in the last week; Saturn, Mars, Jupiter, Antares and Spica are splashed across the sky, with Mars getting a little closer to Saturn each morning.
Southern predawn sky, Feb. 27, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.On Mar. 1st, the Moon will be 0° 5′ from Regulus in the constellation Leo.
The Moon in Leo, Mar. 1, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.This would make an excellent conjunction to view through binoculars!
The Moon and Regulus, Mar. 1, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The Moon plows through the star and planet party in the southern predawn sky from Mar. 4-12
Southern predawn sky, Mar. 3, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.Winter constellations are still in the southern sky after sunset, but they are setting earlier each day as spring approaches.
Southern sky after sunset, Feb. 27, 2018. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The Moon
The Moon this week. Moon visualizations by Ernie Wright, Moon orbit from NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.The Moon is a waxing gibbous visible in the eastern sky during the afternoon and setting shortly after 5:00 AM. The Moon will be full on Mar. 2nd, and will be a waning gibbous afterwards.
The Sun
A small new sunspot group, named AR2700 (AR=Active Region) is crossing the face of the Sun; while flare-free, it is showing a lot of coronal loop activity. SpaceWeather.com says: “New sunspot AR2700 has a simple, stable magnetic field that poses little threat for solar flares.”
The Sun with different views of AR2700, Feb. 27, 2018. Images courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams / edited by Bob Trembley.This video shows the Sun’s corona for the last 48 hours; you’ll note the rather large coronal holes at both poles, and the coronal looping activity over sunspot AR2700.
The solar wind speed is 513 km/sec, with a density of 8.0 protons/cm3– the highest solar wind density I’ve seen it since I started reporting it. SpaceWeather.com is reporting a G1-class geomagnetic storm happening right now as Earth enters this fast-moving stream of solar wind. Aurora have been photographed from several northerly locations:
Aurora images from SpaceWeather.com’s Realtime Aurora Gallery, Feb. 27, 2018Again, there are several prominences in the Sun’s chromosphere over the last several days – I especially like the rotating pillar at the 8:00 o’clock position. AR2700 shows some visible activity in this frequency, but does not show off the spectacular coronal loops as in the SDO video above.
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.
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Asteroids
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2014 EY24 |
2018-Feb-27
|
14.8 LD
|
8
|
54
|
| 2018 DT |
2018-Feb-27
|
4.2 LD
|
2.6
|
13
|
| 2018 CU14 |
2018-Feb-27
|
5.5 LD
|
4.4
|
10
|
| 2015 BF511 |
2018-Feb-28
|
11.7 LD
|
5.7
|
39
|
| 2018 DE1 |
2018-Mar-01
|
15.3 LD
|
6.5
|
29
|
| 2018 DC |
2018-Mar-03
|
9.3 LD
|
8.2
|
40
|
| 2003 EM1 |
2018-Mar-07
|
16.6 LD
|
8
|
45
|
| 2017 VR12 |
2018-Mar-07
|
3.8 LD
|
6.3
|
287
|
| 2018 BK7 |
2018-Mar-09
|
10.2 LD
|
8.7
|
73
|
| 2015 DK200 |
2018-Mar-10
|
6.9 LD
|
8
|
27
|
| 2018 DH1 |
2018-Mar-27
|
9.2 LD
|
14.3
|
218
|
| 2016 SR2 |
2018-Mar-28
|
18.7 LD
|
7.3
|
20
|
| 2010 GD35 |
2018-Mar-31
|
15.5 LD
|
11.6
|
45
|
| 2004 FG29 |
2018-Apr-02
|
4 LD
|
14.9
|
22
|
| 363599 |
2018-Apr-12
|
19.3 LD
|
24.5
|
224
|
| 2014 UR |
2018-Apr-14
|
9.3 LD
|
4.4
|
17
|
| 2016 JP |
2018-Apr-20
|
12 LD
|
12.7
|
204
|
| 2012 XL16 |
2018-Apr-23
|
15.8 LD
|
6.1
|
28
|
Notes: LD means “Lunar Distance.” 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. Table from SpaceWeather.com
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The Solar System
This is the position of the planets in the solar system:
Position of the planets in the solar system, Feb. 27, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Position of the planets in the solar system (side view), Feb. 27, 2018. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.Apps used for this post:
Stellarium: a free open source planetarium app for PC/MAC/Linux. It’s a great tool for planning observing sessions.
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.
