Comet in the Clouds

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Bob Riddle

   This morning, July 13^th, the sky was generally overcast with thin status type clouds in most directions, including the northeast where the comet was just starting to appear over the trees marking my local horizon. Fortunately the clouds were still transparent enough for the comet to be just barely visible to the naked-eye, but very visible with time exposure pictures.
   I was hoping to position my camera so that the Baseball player would look as if he were swinging at the comet but the clouds started to thicken in that direction as I moved off the road and into some tall grasses.
   The other planets that were very visible yesterday morning were hidden or blurred by the clouds. Jupiter shined through the clouds but not Saturn or Mars. The Moon light was reflecting off clouds brightening the sky in that direction. And Venus and Aldebaran were somewhat visible but it took a time exposure picture to catch the light from the rest of the stars making the v-shaped part of the Hyades.

: Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE)

: Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE)

: Venus and the Hyades

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to return to bobs-spaces.

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Comet NEOWISE or NEOWOW!!

Posted on July 12, 2020 by Bob Riddle

Could it get much better than this? Five visible planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus, Earth); Moon-Mars conjunction; Venus-Aldebaran conjunction; 2 outer planets and a Dwarf Planet not naked-eye visible, and Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE). Icing on the ‘cake’ would have been to have the ISS orbit through the sky this morning.

: Play Ball!

: Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE)

: Venus and Aldebaran

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to return to bobs-spaces.

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Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE) and Venus-Hyades Transit – Follow up

Posted on July 7, 2020 by Bob Riddle

General location of the comet

Here are pictures of the inner planet Venus in transit across the Hyades open star cluster, and of Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE) as both appeared over the northeastern to eastern horizon.

   Pictures were taken around 5:00 am CDT with a Canon Rebel EOS T7i DSLR using a variety of settings for exposure, shutter speed and so on. Location was near a baseball field at Legacy Park in Lee’s Summit, MO.

: July 7

: July 7

: July 8

: July 8

: July 8

Caution: Objects viewed with an optical aid are further than they appear.

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to return to bobs-spaces.

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Venus, the Bull, and a Comet (yes!)

Posted on July 7, 2020 by Bob Riddle

   The next several days offer some exciting opportunities for viewing: a few of the visible planets; the waning phases of our Moon and a few conjunctions with stars and planets; Venus crossing the stars of the Hyades open star cluster; and Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE).
   Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is one of the many comets discovered by the NASA NEOWISE mission.
   NEOWISE is a space-based telescope used to find and track ‘Near Earth Objects’, comets and asteroids, that may pose a threat to our planet.
   Click on this link to go to the SkyLive web site for viewing information about Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE).

: July7 – 5:30 am CDT

: July 7 – 5:30 am CDT – 7×50 Binoculars

: July 8 – 5:30 am CDT

: July 8 – 5:30 am CDT – 7×50 Binoculars

: July 9 – 5:30 am CDT

: July 9 – 5:30 am CDT – 7×50 Binoculars

: July 10 – 5:30 am CDT

: July 10 – 5:30 am CDT – 7×50 Binoculars

: July 12 – 5:30 am CDT

: July 12 – 5:30 am CT – 7×50 Binoculars

: July 13 – 5:30 am CDT

: July 13 – 5:30 am CDT – 7×50 Binoculars

: July 14 – 5:30 am CDT

: July 14 – 5:30 am CDT – 7x 50 Binoculars

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to return to bobs-spaces.

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A Lunar Eclipse and 2 Planet Conjunction

Posted on July 4, 2020 by Bob Riddle

Our Moon reaches full phase on July 5^th and will be rising around sunset local time. Two of the giant outer planets, Jupiter and Saturn will be passed by the Moon over a two day period. On the 5^th the full Moon will be about 6-7^o to the west from Jupiter. The next day, July 6^th, the waning gibbous Moon will have passed the two planets and the Moon will about 1-2^o from Saturn. Both days should prove to be ‘binocular-worthy’ with the morning of the 6th having the Moon the closest to the planets.
There will also be a partial penumbral lunar eclipse however this type of eclipse has the Moon passing through the faint outer shadow cast by the Earth. Even a total penumbral lunar eclipse is barely noticeable so as a partial do not expect to see much change in the Moon’s brightness.

: July 5 – 5:30 am CDT

: July 6 – 5:30 am CDT

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to return to bobs-spaces.

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Earth at aphelion – 2020

Posted on July 3, 2020 by Bob Riddle

   Saturday July 4^th, as the Earth continues its annual trek around the Sun, the Earth reaches a point in its orbit that is called aphelion. Aphelion is the greatest distance that separates the Earth from the Sun, and we are the furthest from the Sun for the year at this point in the orbit. So, at 12 UT (7 am CDT) on Saturday July 4^th the Earth is 1.0167 AU (94,507,635 miles, 152,095,295 km) from the Sun.
   Approximately one-half year or one-half revolution earlier, on January 5^th 2020, the Earth was at perihelion, its minimum distance from the Sun for this year at 0.9832 AU (91,398,199 miles : 147,091,144 km). This difference, about 3%, in distances is due to the shape of the Earth’s orbit being elliptical rather than circular. However the Earth has a mildly elliptically shaped orbit that is closer to being slightly out-of-round than the incorrect, very elliptical orbit that is often shown – like the illustration used here.
   In Astronomy the shape of a planet’s orbit is called eccentricity, with 0 being a circle and 1 a straight line. Any value between 0 and 1 represents an ellipse. The shape of the Earth’s orbit is so close to being circular that the apparent size of the Sun does not appear to change as this animated graphic shows. The difference between perihelion and aphelion is about 3%.

   Eccentricity for each planet is listed below for comparison.

Planet	   Eccentricity	
Mercury	   0.2056
Venus	   0.0068
Earth	   0.0167
Mars	   0.0934
Jupiter	   0.0484
Saturn	   0.0542
Uranus	   0.0472
Neptune	   0.0086
Pluto	   0.2488

To read more about the Earth’s orbit and get some teaching ideas click here to download a PDF copy of my January 2011 Scope on the Skies column “Solar Explorations“.

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to return to bobs-spaces.

Also Follow me and other great resources at Feedspot.

July Moon at Descending Node

Posted on July 2, 2020 by Bob Riddle

Friday July 3^rd the 11-day old waxing gibbous Moon crosses the plane of the ecliptic moving south. This is known as the descending node, one of two intersections the Moon’s orbital path (dark green line) has with the ecliptic.

On the date of the descending node the waxing gibbous Moon will be over the southern horizon around local time for sunset. Look for the Moon to be about 9-10^o from the heart of Scorpius the Scorpion, the reddish star Antares.

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to return to bobs-spaces.

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June Moon at Perigee

Posted on June 29, 2020 by Bob Riddle

Our Moon reaches perigee, (closest to Earth), for this orbit, on Tuesday June 30^th. At that time the Moon will be at a distance of 28.92 Earth diameters, 229,259 miles (368,958 km) from the Earth.

On the day of the perigee Moon the 10-day old waxing gibbous Moon will be over the southeastern horizon around mid-evening.

Does our Moon actually go around the Earth as this graphic shows? From our perspective on the Earth the Moon appears to circle around the Earth. However, in reality, the Moon orbits the Sun together with the Earth^*
^*Click here to read my 2006 Scope on the Sky column “The Real Shape of the Moon’s Orbit”. (PDF)

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to go to bobs-spaces.

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Virgo Spikes the Moon

Posted on June 27, 2020 by Bob Riddle

Our Moon, after traversing the boundaries of the constellation Leo the Lion, will then do a similiar crossing of the constellation Virgo the Harvest Maiden. Roughly midway across Virgo is the bright blue-white star Spica. From mythologies the star Spica represents a harvested bundle of grasses, maybe wheat or oats.
On the evening of June 28^th the Moon will be about 7^o to the west from Spica, and the next evening, June 29^th the Moon will about 9-10^o to the east from Spica.

: June 28 – 10 pm CDT

: June 29 – 10 pm CDT

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to return to bobs-spaces.

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Leo and the Moon

Posted on June 23, 2020 by Bob Riddle

The next several evenings, as our Moon waxes through its phases, the Moon will pass by some familiar celestial objects – stars, star clusters, and planets. They all have something in common, that being that these objects are near the ecliptic. Our Moon follows the ecliptic in a more or less parallel path assuming that parallel paths may be bent! The Moon’s orbit is inclined or tilted about 6^o from the ecliptic meaning that the Moon will at times be above, below, or on the ecliptic.
So with the above in mind on the evenings of June 24^th and 25^th the 3 to 5-day old waxing crescent Moon will be passing by the heart of Leo the Lion, the bright star Regulus. As you can see from the graphic above Regulus lies nearly on the ecliptic.

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to return to bobs-spaces.

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Bob's Spaces

Earth and Space Sciences Education

Category Archives: Observing

Comet in the Clouds

Comet NEOWISE or NEOWOW!!

Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE) and Venus-Hyades Transit – Follow up

Venus, the Bull, and a Comet (yes!)

A Lunar Eclipse and 2 Planet Conjunction

Earth at aphelion – 2020

July Moon at Descending Node

June Moon at Perigee

Virgo Spikes the Moon

Leo and the Moon

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