Winter stars are getting higher and higher in the predawn skies; if you are an early-riser, the Orion Nebula is visible for several hours before dawn in the southern sky.
Orion high in the southern predawn sky – Sept. 26, 2017. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.Regulus, Venus and Mars aligned in the predawn sky on Sept. 26th.
Conjunction in the eastern predawn sky – Sept. 26, 2017. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The waxing crescent Moon will be very close to Saturn after sunset on the 26th; the next few days will be excellent for telescope observing.
Conjunction of the waxing crescent Moon and Saturn after sunset – Sept. 26, 2017. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The first quarter Moon will be on Sept. 27th; the Moon will still be fairly close to Saturn that evening.
First quarter moon and Saturn in the sky after sunset – Sept. 27, 2017. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The Moon will almost be full by the beginning of next week; it should be a great observing target all week long.
Waxing gibbous moon in the southeastern sky – Oct. 2, 2017. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.Venus and Mars will be very close to each other in the predawn on Oct. 2nd.
Conjunction in the eastern predawn sky –Oct. 2, 2017. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.
The Double Cluster is high in the northeastern sky after sunset.
The Double Cluster is high in the northeastern sky after sunset – Sept. 26, 2017. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The Double Cluster (NGC 869 and NGC 884) is two open star clusters which appear close together in the constellation Perseus. Both visible to the naked eye at a dark-sky site.
The Double Cluster. Credit: Creative Commons – CC BY-SA 3.0The large coronal hole from last week has remained, and grown in size!
The Sun’s Corona – Sept. 26, 2017 – Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) 211 angstroms. Image courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.AR2673 has made the 2 week trip around the farside of the Sun, and has returned as AR2683. SpaceWeather.com says: “The formerly potent sunspot decayed while it was gone, and no longer appears to be a threat for strong flares.”
The Sun – Sept. 26, 2017 – Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI). Image courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams. / Bob Trembley.The Solar System:
Inner Solar System, Sept. 26, 2017. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.
Outer Solar System, Sept. 26, 2017. 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.
NASA Eyes on the Solar System: an immersive 3D solar system and space mission app – free for the PC /MAC.
