June 25 - Mega Comet Inbound

June 25 Mega Comet Inbound by:

View full-sized image. | The newly discovered mega comet, 2014 UN271, is currently diving from the outer solar system. It'll come close to the orbit of Saturn in 2031. Image via NASA.

Mega comet inbound from the Oort Cloud Don't worry, but a huge comet is headed toward our sun. Scientists found it while studying old images from 2014 to 2018 taken for the Dark Energy Survey. Two University of Pennsylvania astronomers spotted the object heading inward from the Oort Cloud. People have been calling it a mega comet. It's thought to be the largest comet yet discovered, possibly as big as a dwarf planet. It's far away and hard to see, but the current estimate suggests its nucleus, or core, is 62 to 230 miles (100 to 370 km) in diameter. Whoa! That's big, for a comet. It'll make its closest approach to us in 2031, sailing just outside of the orbit of Saturn. Read more. Watch today's spacewalk Two astronauts will venture outside the International Space Station today to install the 2nd of 6 new ISS Roll-Out Solar Arrays (dubbed iROSAs). The aim is to boost the power of the station by 20 to 30% and to give the station at least another 10 years for doing science. Live coverage may already have begun this morning. The spacewalk is expected to last 6+ hours. Details, plus how to watch online. Low-latitude noctilucent clouds this month Seeing noctilucent clouds - aka night-shining clouds - at southerly latitudes is rare. But - this month - we've been seeing photos of these clouds taken from as far south as Spain and even Israel. Learn more about noctilucent clouds, or clouds that shine at night. And watch for them! Find the Summer Triangle It's summer here in the Northern Hemisphere. The days are long. The sun is at its height in the midday sky. And the summer night sky is with us, too. Watch for the famous Summer Triangle, ascending in the eastern sky on these late June and July evenings. Read more.

🔭🌌 Learn about our night sky with an Astronomy Kit! ✨ What do you get in the package?  An 8.5-inch plastic planisphere, adjustable to your latitude.   A sky atlas, or map of the night sky, featuring nearly 200 easy-to-see objects for binoculars and small telescopes. An introductory book containing a simple and thorough introduction to binocular astronomy. A red light, essential for keeping your night vision intact while reading your sky atlas and books in the dark with ease. All EarthSky Store proceeds go toward keeping you updated on your cosmos and world at EarthSky.org! 🚀🙏🏼

Moon, Jupiter, Saturn late night till dawn The waning gibbous moon is past full, rising closer to midnight. Tonight, Saturn will follow the moon into the sky by roughly an hour. Jupiter will follow an hour or so after Saturn. But the moon is moving, always, toward the east in orbit around Earth. So it rises an average of 50 minutes later each night. The moon will catch up to Saturn and then Jupiter. Saturday night and Sunday morning the moon will be near Saturn in the sky. By Sunday night, the moon will be rising between Jupiter and Saturn. Read more.

Heart Nebula, long exposure, from Iraq View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Eyad Khailany in Erbil, Iraq, captured this photo of the Heart Nebula on June 20. Eyad wrote: “The Heart Nebula, IC 1805, Sharpless 2-190, lies some 7,500 light-years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of the galaxy. William Herschel discovered it on November 3, 1787. It is an emission nebula showing glowing ionized hydrogen gas and darker dust lanes.” Thank you, Eyad! Read more and see a comparison of the Heart Nebula taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Submit your photo to EarthSky here! Subscribe & Support Did a friend forward EarthSkyNews to you? Click here to get your own subscription. Want to help support EarthSky? Forward this email to a friend. Share our content via your social media. Consider a donation. Go shopping at the EarthSky Store. Thank you for your support!

by:

update your profile | unsubscribe