News Submission 5

[DaveBowman2001]

Continued from #77

[DaveBowman2001]

@levinli303
HTML: Week 19, 2024 - Massive Solar Storm Hits Earth on May 10, 2024.txt

Week 19, 2024: Massive Solar Storm Hits Earth on May 10, 2024

On the second week of May 2024, a series of coronal mass ejections and solar flares originating from a large sunspot group called AR3663, struck the Earth as a powerful geomagnetic storm, with the strongest one so far erupting on May 10th. As a result, it generated aurorae as far south as Florida, USA and as far north as Australia. It is the first G5-class geomagnetic storm observed since 2003 and possibly the strongest one on record since March 1989

Source: Space Weather Live

Gallery of the May 2024 solar storms

One of the coronal mass ejections that caused the May 2024 geomagnetic storm as observed by SOHO

AR3663 sunspot group, compared with the 1859 sunspot group that generated the Carrington Event

Global aurora forecasts as of May 11, 2024 (Credit: SpaceWeatherLive.com)

Aurorae Photographed by Celestia Discord Members

(Credit: Anthony_B_Russo)

(Credit: arkenar | gnollified)

(Credit: Askaniy)

(Credit: cubicApocalypse)

(Credit: PlutonianEmpire)

(Credit: Xiphosura)

[levinli303]

Week 19, 2024: Massive Solar Storm Hits Earth on May 10, 2024

Posted, FYI, I added a link to Astroweather app in this post.

[DaveBowman2001]

@levinli303
HTML: Week 34, 2024 - Jupiter-bound Spacecraft flies by the Earth and the Moon (August 19–20, 2024).txt

Week 34, 2024: Jupiter-bound Spacecraft flies by the Earth and the Moon (August 19–20, 2024)

On 19–20 August 2024, the European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft flew past both the Earth and the Moon! Launched in April 2023, the flybys were the first of four planned planetary encounters in order for the mission to gain enough delta-v to reach Jupiter and its moons

JUICE is expected to arrive at Jupiter on July 2031, and will study the planet and its moons concurrently with NASA's Europa Clipper mission

The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer is available for download as an addon for Celestia here

Source: European Space Agency

Gallery of JUICE's First Earth-Moon Flyby, 19–20 August 2024

JUICE flyby of the Moon, 2024-Aug-19

JUICE flyby of the Earth, 2024-Aug-20

[levinli303]

Week 34, 2024: Jupiter-bound Spacecraft flies by the Earth and the Moon (August 19–20, 2024)

Posted, should be visible shortly.

[DaveBowman2001]

@levinli303
HTML: Week 35, 2024 - Japan's First Lunar Lander Officially Ends its Historic Mission.txt

Week 35, 2024: Japan's First Lunar Lander Officially Ends its Historic Mission

SLIM about to arrive in lunar orbit, 2023-Dec-25

Around 22:40 JST (13:40 UTC) of 23 August 2024, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has officially terminated operations of the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) mission when it failed to reestablish contact with the probe, three months since its last known transmission with Earth (April 28th)

Launched alongside the XRISM observatory in 6 September 2023, it took more than three months for the probe to arrive on lunar orbit. It made its landing attempt on 19 January 2024 near Shioli Crater, making Japan the fifth country to successfully land on the Moon. Although designed to survive for only one lunar day (14 days), it continued to send back data to Earth for another three months (April 28th) until the spacecraft eventually failed due to the harsh environment of the lunar surface.

The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon mission is available for download as an addon for Celestia here

Source: JAXA

Highlights of the SLIM mission (2023–2024)

Launch of XRISM and SLIM aboard the H-IIA rocket, 6 Sept 2023

Animation of SLIM's trajectory to the Moon, Sept-Dec 2023

Craters on the Moon as seen by SLIM in orbit, 2024-Jan-15

SLIM upside down on the lunar surface as seen by LEV-1, 2024-Jan-25

SLIM landing site (13.316°S 25.251°E) as seen by Chandrayaan-2, 2024-Mar-16

[DaveBowman2001]

@levinli303
HTML: Week 36, 2024 - Asteroid Lights Up as a Bright Fireball over the island of Luzon, Philippines (September 4, 2024).txt

Week 36, 2024: Asteroid Lights Up as a Bright Fireball over the island of Luzon, Philippines (September 4, 2024)

2024 RW₁ lighting up the night sky over Gonzaga, Cagayan (Credit: Allan Madelar)

On September 4, 2024 a small meteoroid only about 1-m in diameter was discovered to be in a direct collision course with Earth. Designated by the Minor Planet Center (MPC) as 2024 RW₁, it was first spotted by Jacqueline Fazekas of the Catalina Sky Survey from Mount Lemnon Observatory in Arizona, USA about 14 hours before impact.

It was the ninth known asteroid discovered on a collision course with Earth since 2008. The meteoroid crashed off the coast of the island of Luzon in the Philippines by 00:39 (UTC+8), and despite the stormy weather at the time caused by the departing Typhoon Yagi (Enteng) and the southwest monsoon, many astronomers, space enthusiasts and skywatchers in the country have managed to observe and record the event as it occurs

The asteroid 2024 RW₁ is available for download as an add-on for Celestia here

Source: Philippine Astronomy Forum, Minor Planet Center, International Meteor Organization

Gallery of the Impact of Asteroid 2024 RW₁

Pamplona, Cagayan (Credit: Marvin Coloma)

Tuguegarao City, Cagayan (Credit: Raymon G. Dullona)

Solana, Cagayan (Credit: Jayrold P. Del Mundo)

Santa Ana, Cagayan (Credit: Karen Bea)

Asteroid 2024 RW₁ in Context

Discovery images by the Catalina Sky Survey

Predicted impact site as reported by the Minor Planet Center

Satellite images of the local weather at the time of impact, 00:40 UTC. Impact site was circled in red

[DaveBowman2001]

@levinli303
HTML File: Week 41, 2024 - Two Comets Might Become the Brightest Seen from Earth since 1965!.txt

Week 41, 2024: Two Comets Might Become the Brightest Seen from Earth since 1965!

The month of October 2024 is an exciting time to be a comet hunter/photographer as there's not only one, but two potentially bright naked eye comets appearing in the night sky!

During the latter half of September 2024, comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) has become a bright naked eye object in the early morning skies, with many people eagerly anticipating its peak by Oct. 12. Then, shortly after passing perihelion on Sept. 27, the same ATLAS team who discovered this comet has spotted another one, C/2024 S1 (ATLAS), which turned out to be an unusually large Kreutz sungrazer, about to approach the Sun by Oct. 28. Calculations and predictions of both comets indicate that both comets could potentially reach peak magnitudes as high as -4.8 and -8.4 respectively, and if both remain intact they could become one of the brightest comets ever seen since Ikeya-Seki in 1965!

Both Tsuchinshan-ATLAS and C/2024 S1 are available for download as add-ons for Celestia

Sources: StarWalk, Sky & Telescope

C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)

San Rafael, Bulacan, Philippines, 2024-Sept-26 (Credit: John Pile)

Auckland, New Zealand, 2024-Sept-28 (Credit: Alex Liang)

Tivoli, Namibia, 2024-Oct-2 (Credit: Michael Jäger)

Llullailaco Volcano, Chile, 2024-Oct-4 (Credit: Paranal Observatory)

C/2024 S1 (ATLAS)

Namibia, 2024-Sept-30 (Credit: Michael Jäger)

Queensland, Australia, 2024-Oct-6 (Credit: Terry Lovejoy)

[DaveBowman2001]

@levinli303
HTML File: Week 17, 2025 - Hubble Celebrates 35 Years in Orbit This Month!.txt

Week 17, 2025: Hubble Celebrates 35 Years in Orbit This Month!

NASA and ESA's Hubble Space Telescope celebrates its 35th anniversary in orbit on 24 April 2025, continuing its operations and changing our understanding of the universe as a whole. Launched in 1990 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery, it then went on to observe countless celestial objects and beam back thousands of images which we could study and admire here back on Earth. Its longevity is made possible by five Shuttle servicing missions between 1993 and 2009, with a sixth being actively proposed by now-current NASA Administrator, Jared Isaacman, since 2022. It is expected to continue its mission to the cosmos until 2028 or 2040, when atmospheric drag becomes great enough to cause the telescope to reenter the Earth's atmosphere uncontrollably

An improved 3D model of the Hubble Space Telescope can be downloaded as an add-on for Celestia here

SOURCE: NASA