JUICE: Earth? or BUST (14 Apr 2023)

 Jupiter, Planet, Solar System, Spacecraft  No Responses »
Apr 152023
 

The European Space Agency(ESA) launched its JUICE mission to Jupiter on the 14th of April 2023. Its ultimate targets are the icy moons of Jupiter, hence the JUpiter ICy moons Explorer moniker. But its first planetary target is not Jupiter. First off, it is heading for the Earth. In fact, Jupiter will only be its 5th planetary encounter. The space craft will get a velocity boost from Earth in August 2024, Venus in August 2025, another from Earth in September 2026 and the final Earth gravity boost in January 2029. Only then will the JUICE spacecraft have enough energy to make the trek all the way to Jupiter. It will arrive at its final destination in July 2031.

The mission’s purpose is to investigate the possibility of habitable environments on the three Jovian moons that are suspected to have significant amounts of liquid water beneath their surface ice: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. To that end the mission carries a suite of science instruments contributed by Japan, France, the US(NASA), Germany, Italy, the UK, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

This animation is a set of ten 60 second images taken on the evening of the 14th. I hope to get additional imagery of the JUICE spacecraft on each of the 3 Earth gravity assist passes.

 Posted by at 14:24

Here it comes! (2023 DZ2)

 Asteroid, Minor Planet, Solar System  No Responses »
Mar 232023
 

Asteroid 2023 DZ2 is headed towards a close approach to Earth on the afternoon of the 25th of March 2023 at 1451 CDT (1951 UTC). It will pass by at an estimated distance of 108,000 miles or just under half a lunar distance. It is estimated to be about 70 meters in diameter. A light curve shows a 6-minute rotation and about a half a magnitude range in brightness leading to the conclusion that the asteroid is not spherical.

 

This is an animation of 2023 DZ2 as it approaches the Earth. Taken on the morning of the 23rd of March, it is a set of twenty 300 second exposures.

2023 DZ2’s orbit.
(Graphic courtesy of the JPL Small-Body Database Browser)

2023 DZ2 is classified as an Apollo class asteroid. These asteroids orbits have an semi-major axis greater than that of the Earth but their perihelion is less than the Earth’s aphelion. Simply stated, these asteroid’s orbits take them closer to the Sun than the Earth and further from the Sun than the Earth. This means the asteroid’s orbit crosses the Earth’s orbit.

 Posted by at 12:36

X-class flare SID detected (11 Feb 2023)

 General Commentary, Radio Astronomy, Solar System, Sun  No Responses »
Feb 112023
 

It looks like I got the SID detector remounted just in time. The Sun is coming out of a long, low solar minimum. It is now starting to show an increasing level of activity as evidenced by the number of sunspots starting to show up in the Sun’s photosphere.

I originally installed the observatory’s SID detector at the end of 2018 just as solar cycle 24 was winding down. Even at cycle 24’s maximum, the sunspot count was noticeably low with an even lower count of flares. There was some activity but none that effected the ionosphere enough that my equipment noticed any changes. Then at the end of 2020 I had to take the detector offline due to renovations in the observatory office.

With the solar activity finally starting to increase, I made the effort to finish the reinstallation of the SID equipment. This involved moving the antenna outside and dealing with the complications of routing the cables into the office. I finished that effort on the 17th of January. Even with the number of sunspots and associated flares climbing I still didn’t see any response from my equipment. That changed this past week. There was an M class flare on the 8th that just bumped up the signal I was monitoring. Today however, was the first X class flare that I noticed since I originally installed the equipment.

The upper half of the chart shows data reported by the GOES 16 spacecraft as a white line. The same chart shows the signal received by the PTO from the Navy’s NAA VLF transmitter as a blue line. As you can see, even though this was a minimal X class flare (1.1), the impact on the strength of the transmission received immediately increased. A subsequent M class flare resulted in a proportionally smaller increase.

The sunspot count anticipated for cycle 25 is already ahead of prediction. Cycle 25 may be one to pay close attention to. The SID detector data is available using the Observatory->Solar Conditions menu.

 Posted by at 23:14

C/2022 E3 (ZTF) Where is it?

 Comet, Solar System  No Responses »
Jan 302023
 

This is a map of the sky at 2000 CST. It shows the location of the comet at that time and the path shows the location for future dates at 2000 CST. As you can see, the North Celestial Pole is at the bottom as if you were looking North. Right now, with the light pollution in the area, the can be seen using binoculars. You will not be able to see any of the tail. It will appear as a slight smudge of light.

 Posted by at 11:26

Dragon over the Florida panhandle (11 Jan 2023)

 Meteor, Solar System  No Responses »
Jan 122023
 

This is what I get for not checking the meteor camera every morning. According to the American Meteor Association web page there were 39 reports of a Wednesday morning fireball at the same time my camera recorded this object. We can safely assume this is the same event (#185-2023).

My camera recorded this starting at 0411. I haven’t heard any report on the suspected identity of the object but, my guess would be space junk, but that is just a guess.

UPDATE: I was just advised that this was the recent SpaceX Dragon capsule (mission CRS-26) returning from the ISS on its way to a splashdown off the coast of Tampa. The timing lines up so I am willing to accept the ID.

 Posted by at 17:12
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