One of the more positive aspects of 2020 has been several successful sample return missions: the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) HAYABUSA2 mission has successfully returned 5.4 grams of rocks and dust from the asteroid Ryugu, the China National Space Administration’s ChangE5 mission returned 1,731 grams of lunar regolith, and NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission’s sample head was overflowing with material taken from the surface of asteroid Bennu. OSIRIS-REx is due back at Earth in 2023. These missions have me seriously excited, and I hope they are the beginning of a near-future filled with sample return missions!
After yesterday’s “Great Conjunction,” Jupiter and Saturn will move slightly away from each other every night – they’ll be great observing targets for that new telescope you got for Christmas! When I created this image, I saw a pattern of stars above Jupiter and Saturn that I did not recognize – I clicked on one and found it was a string of #Starlink satellites.
Jupiter and Saturn appear in the southwestern sky at dusk. This image is from Dec 25th at 6:03 PM – several Starlink satellites are visible high in the sky. Credit: Bob Trembley / Stellarium.Mars, Uranus, the Pleiades star cluster and the bright star Aldebaran appear in the east-southeastern sky after sunset this week; the Moon appears near Mars on Dec. 23rd.
The Moon and Mars appear high in the southeastern sky after sunset; over in the eastern sky are the constellation Taurus, with the bright star Aldebaran and the Pleiades star cluster. Credit: Bob Trembley / Stellarium.At midnight, the Moon and Mars will appear above the western horizon.
The Moon and Mars appear above the western horizon at midnight. Credit: Bob Trembley / Stellarium.Venus appears in the southeastern predawn sky all week.
Venus appears in the southeastern predawn sky. Credit: Bob Trembley / Stellarium.The constellation Ursa Major appears in the northeastern sky at midnight; the handle of the “Big Dipper” asterism points down toward the horizon.
The constellation Ursa Major appears in the northeastern sky at midnight. Credit: Bob Trembley / Stellarium.
The Moon is a waxing gibbous– visible to the southeast in early evening, and up for most of the night. This is also the perfect observing target for that new telescope!
The full Moon occurs on Dec, 30th – rising at sunset, visible high in the sky around midnight, and visible all night.
The Moon from 2020-12-22 – 2020-12-28. 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 a section of the Moon on Dec. 25th. – showing the play of shadows along the terminator. Visualizations by Ernie Wright / NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.Moon News
The Sun has 1 spot; sunspot AR2794 is not very energetic and currently poses no threat for strong solar flares.
Sunspot AR2794 is large but magnetically simple. It does not appear to pose a threat for strong flares. Credit: SDO/HMI/Spaceweather.comThe limb of the Sun where the sunspot is rotating into view has quite a bit of coronal activity – there are a couple other regions with a lot of coronal activity, but are not associated with a sunspot. Both the northern and southern coronal holes remain open – the northern hole as a very large tendril reaching down towards the equator.
The Sun seen in 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) December 21, 2020:
Relatively light prominence activity over the last couple days – much less than the last couple weeks.
The Sun seen in 304 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) December 21, 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
The SOLARACTIVITY picture of the day for December 22nd, 2020 is this amazing presentation showing the locations of sunrise done over a year by Zaid M. Al-Abbadi and was featured as APOD. Image Credit & Copyright: Zaid M. Al-AbbadiSolar Corona
Solar wind speed is 556.3 km/sec, with a density of 9.7 protons/cm3 at 1250 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
Potentially hazardous asteroids: 2037 (last updated June 2, 2020)
Total Minor Planets discovered (NASA): 1,040,315
Total Minor Planets discovered (MPC): 1,026,572
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT)
|
Miss Distance
|
Velocity (km/s)
|
Diameter (m)
|
| 2020 XH6 |
2020-Dec-22
|
6.4 LD
|
9.1
|
15
|
| 2020 YP |
2020-Dec-22
|
15.1 LD
|
10.5
|
43
|
| 2020 XJ3 |
2020-Dec-23
|
5.1 LD
|
6.2
|
26
|
| 2020 YB1 |
2020-Dec-23
|
7.9 LD
|
12.4
|
15
|
| 2020 YE |
2020-Dec-23
|
10.2 LD
|
20.1
|
53
|
| 2011 CL50 |
2020-Dec-24
|
3.1 LD
|
3.4
|
11
|
| 2020 YM1 |
2020-Dec-25
|
1.7 LD
|
3.2
|
4
|
| 2020 XY |
2020-Dec-25
|
15.7 LD
|
5.7
|
26
|
| 501647 |
2020-Dec-25
|
7.9 LD
|
10
|
123
|
| 2018 XE4 |
2020-Dec-26
|
5.6 LD
|
9.4
|
19
|
| 2020 YC |
2020-Dec-26
|
14.2 LD
|
6.5
|
22
|
| 2020 YH1 |
2020-Dec-26
|
10.4 LD
|
6.6
|
13
|
| 2020 XT2 |
2020-Dec-26
|
13.1 LD
|
5.2
|
40
|
| 2012 XE133 |
2020-Dec-26
|
12.1 LD
|
9.1
|
74
|
| 2016 AF2 |
2020-Dec-27
|
7.3 LD
|
5.3
|
9
|
| 2020 XZ4 |
2020-Dec-29
|
5.4 LD
|
8.7
|
38
|
| 2012 UK171 |
2020-Dec-30
|
15.5 LD
|
4.7
|
47
|
| 2019 YB4 |
2021-Jan-02
|
16.8 LD
|
7.2
|
16
|
| 2020 YA1 |
2021-Jan-03
|
4.1 LD
|
3.7
|
16
|
| 2003 AF23 |
2021-Jan-03
|
18.3 LD
|
15.8
|
235
|
| 2019 QW2 |
2021-Jan-03
|
8.8 LD
|
4.9
|
39
|
| 2012 BT1 |
2021-Jan-04
|
13.6 LD
|
7.7
|
12
|
| 2016 CO247 |
2021-Jan-06
|
19.3 LD
|
16.7
|
282
|
| 2018 KP1 |
2021-Jan-06
|
8.2 LD
|
4.4
|
34
|
| 332446 |
2021-Jan-06
|
9.6 LD
|
11
|
408
|
| 2015 NU13 |
2021-Jan-09
|
14.8 LD
|
15.1
|
408
|
| 2020 RO6 |
2021-Jan-11
|
19.5 LD
|
7.9
|
107
|
| 2013 YS2 |
2021-Jan-11
|
18.2 LD
|
3.7
|
78
|
| 2017 QW1 |
2021-Jan-15
|
17.8 LD
|
4
|
20
|
| 65717 |
2021-Jan-17
|
18.5 LD
|
3.6
|
246
|
| 2020 WT5 |
2021-Jan-20
|
19.6 LD
|
8.6
|
133
|
| 2020 XB7 |
2021-Jan-22
|
7.2 LD
|
8.4
|
50
|
| 2018 BX |
2021-Jan-22
|
8.9 LD
|
6.1
|
5
|
| 2020 PP |
2021-Jan-23
|
18.2 LD
|
8.4
|
218
|
| 2018 BA3 |
2021-Jan-25
|
1.5 LD
|
8.1
|
20
|
| 468727 |
2021-Jan-25
|
15.8 LD
|
14.9
|
257
|
| 2020 TB12 |
2021-Feb-01
|
6.8 LD
|
8.9
|
158
|
| 2016 CL136 |
2021-Feb-01
|
13.8 LD
|
18.1
|
186
|
| 2020 SO |
2021-Feb-02
|
0.6 LD
|
1.8
|
7
|
| 2018 PN22 |
2021-Feb-05
|
12.8 LD
|
2.5
|
11
|
| 2018 CH2 |
2021-Feb-05
|
14.6 LD
|
9.9
|
9
|
| 2018 RB |
2021-Feb-07
|
18.3 LD
|
22.5
|
155
|
| 2008 DB |
2021-Feb-10
|
13.1 LD
|
6
|
25
|
| 2019 YP5 |
2021-Feb-10
|
8.2 LD
|
13.5
|
123
|
| 2020 CX1 |
2021-Feb-18
|
4.9 LD
|
8.3
|
54
|
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
On December 21, 2020, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 7 fireballs!
(7 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
If you see a bright meteor or a fireball, please REPORT IT to the American Meteor Society!
Position of the planets and several spacecraft in the inner solar system:
Position of the planets and a couple spacecraft in the inner solar system, 2020-12-22. Credit: Bob Trembley / NASA Eyes on the Solar System.Position of the planets in the middle solar system:
Position of the planets in the middle solar system, 2020-12-22.Position of the planets, some dwarf planets and some transneptunian objects in the outer solar system:
Position of the planets and some transneptunian objects in the outer solar system, 2020-12-22. Credit: Bob Trembley / NASA Eyes on the Solar System.Solar System News
Mars Persevere Rover:
International Space Station:
HiRISE – on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter:
Hubble Space Telescope #Hubble30
Landsat:
Climate:
See a list of current NASA missions here: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/?type=current
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.
Exoplanet News
More Dark Sky Parks!
Hubble: Beautiful Universe
Spiral galaxy M74. Credits: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration; Acknowledgment: R. Chandar (University of Toledo) and J. Miller (University of Michigan)Resembling festive lights on a holiday wreath, this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of the nearby spiral galaxy M74 is an iconic reminder of the impending season. Bright knots of glowing gas light up the spiral arms, indicating a rich environment of star formation.
Messier 74, also called NGC 628, is a stunning example of a “grand-design” spiral galaxy that is viewed by Earth observers nearly face-on. Its perfectly symmetrical spiral arms emanate from the central nucleus and are dotted with clusters of young blue stars and glowing pink regions of ionized hydrogen (hydrogen atoms that have lost their electrons). These regions of star formation show an excess of light at ultraviolet wavelengths. Tracing along the spiral arms are winding dust lanes that also begin very near the galaxy’s nucleus and follow along the length of the spiral arms.
M74 is located roughly 32 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Pisces, the Fish. It is the dominant member of a small group of about half a dozen galaxies, the M74 galaxy group. In its entirety, it is estimated that M74 is home to about 100 billion stars, making it slightly smaller than our Milky Way.
The spiral galaxy was first discovered by the French astronomer Pierre Méchain in 1780. Weeks later it was added to Charles Messier’s famous catalog of deep-sky objects.
This Hubble image of M74 is a composite of Advanced Camera for Surveys data taken in 2003 and 2005. The filters used to create the color image isolate light from blue, visible, and infrared portions of the spectrum, as well as emission from ionized hydrogen (known as HII regions).
A small segment of this image used data from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope and the Gemini Observatory to fill in a region that Hubble did not image. – NASA/JPL-Caltech
Happy Holidays Everyone!
Around early October, we asked our friend Jennifer Skwarski if she would be willing to make me a Victorian Santa outfit. It will be my granddaughter Alayanora’s first Christmas, and she won’t be able to go see Santa. When we picked the costume up, we were completely blown away by the beauty and craftmanship of this robe! My wife Connie modded a staff we got from the Michigan Renaissance Festival, and I got white gloves and a couple different glasses. I played Santa for my granddaughter last weekend; I need to work on my Santa chuckle.
Bob’s vintage Santa outfit – custom made by Jennifer Skwarski. Staff modded by Bob’s wife Connie.What I was listening to when I was editing this:
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
