Night Sky, April 2020: What You Can See This Month [maps] Asteroid April 2020

A clear night sky offers an ever-changing display of fascinating objects to see — stars, constellations, and bright planets, often the moon, and sometimes special events like meteor showers. Observing the night sky can be done with no special equipment, although a  

 

Calendar of Observing Highlights

Wednesday, April 1 at 10:21 GMT—First Quarter Moon

(Image credit: )

During April, Neptune will be shifting away from the morning sun in the eastern pre-dawn sky among the stars of eastern Aquarius. The shallow morning ecliptic will delay Neptune's return to visibility for quite some time. 

Skywatching Terms

Gibbous: Used to describe a planet or moon that is more than 50% illuminated.

Asterism: A noteworthy or striking pattern of stars within a larger constellation.

Degrees (measuring the sky): The sky is 360 degrees all the way around, which means roughly 180 degrees from horizon to horizon. It's easy to measure distances between objects: Your fist on an outstretched arm covers about 10 degrees of sky, while a finger covers about one degree.

Visual Magnitude: This is the astronomer's scale for measuring the brightness of objects in the sky. The dimmest object visible in the night sky under perfectly dark conditions is about magnitude 6.5. Brighter stars are magnitude 2 or 1. The brightest objects get negative numbers. Venus can be as bright as magnitude minus 4.9. The full moon is minus 12.7 and the sun is minus 26.8.

Terminator: The boundary on the moon between sunlight and shadow.

Zenith: The point in the sky directly overhead.

 

Night Sky Observing Tips

Adjust to the dark: If you wish to observe faint objects, such as meteors or dim stars, give your eyes at least 15 minutes to adjust to the darkness.

Light Pollution: Even from a big city, one can see the moon, a handful of bright stars and sometimes the brightest planets. But to fully enjoy the heavens — especially a meteor shower, the constellations, or to see the amazing swath across the sky that represents our view toward the center of the Milky Way Galaxy — rural areas are best for night sky viewing. If you're stuck in a city or suburban area, a building can be used to block ambient light (or moonlight) to help reveal fainter objects. If you're in the suburbs, simply turning off outdoor lights can help.

Prepare for skywatching: If you plan to be out for more than a few minutes, and it's not a warm summer evening, dress warmer than you think necessary. An hour of observing a winter meteor shower can chill you to the bone. A blanket or lounge chair will prove much more comfortable than standing or sitting in a chair and craning your neck to see overhead.

Daytime skywatching: When Venus is visible (that is, not in front of or behind the sun) it can often be spotted during the day. But you'll need to know where to look. A sky map is helpful. When the sun has large sunspots, they can be seen without a telescope. However, it's unsafe to look at the sun without protective eyewear. See our video on how to safely observe the sun, or our safe sunwatching infographic.

Further Reading

ShopYourWay - An Error Has Occurred Asteroids Cheetos

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Whatever Happened To Hot Cheetos Puff Balls/Asteroids!? Asteroids Hot Cheetos

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An Asteroid Will Come Incredibly Close To Earth In 2029 Asteroids Earth

A decade from now, on April 15, 2029,

Coronavirus Jitters Not Enough? Four Near-Earth Asteroids And Huge Rock May Hit Earth's Surface Soon: Report Asteroids Hit Earth

Publish Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2020 01:40 PM IST

New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: While we are already facing a tough situation due to coronavirus, a total of four asteroids are approaching the earth's surface and will fly really close to the planet on March 23 (as per GMT), as per NASA's Center for Near-Earth Objects (CNEOS). The asteroids have been named 2020 FFI, 2020 DP4, 2020 FS, 2020 FK by the CNEOS.

The smallest of them all is 2020 FK, which is the smallest (43 meter in diameter). It is heading towards earth at a speed more than 37,000 km per hour and reportedly will pass at a distance of 1.36 million kilometers.

After FK, 2020 FS is the second largest with a diameter of 48 feet. It's the fastest among all and travels at a speed of 47,000 km per hour. It will be closest to our planet at just around 7,13,000 kilometres away.

Among all four asteroids, DP4 is the biggest. It will fly at a distance of 1.3 million km away from earth at a speed of 29,000 kilometers per hour.

The above asteroid is expected to pass through the planets between 12.04 am and 3.39 am IST (March 24).

What comes as a relief is that the asteroids will not affect the earth. None of the above asteroids will touch the earth's surface. The nearest one will come as close as 7.13 lakh km, which almost twice the distance between the earth and the moon (3.6 lakh kilometer).

A European space agency in September last year had earlier gave a 1/7000 chance of these asteroid impacting earth, but later said that it will miss the earth completely. majority of us are not even aware of these asteroids apart from astrophysicists and professionals.

Besides asteroids, a 390 kg rock is also expected to approach close to earth on March 27, said a report from express.co.uk. Like above asteroids, it will also be many miles away. The rock will pass from a distance of 0.04453 astronomical units. It will be 17,33 times as far as the moon. These asteroids are known as Near-Earth Objects.

Posted By: James Kuanal

Fun Asteroid Belt Facts For Kids Asteroid Belt

Asteroids are made up of rock and metal for the most part, and in different areas of our were formed.

One is called ‘The Asteroid belt’ which is the remains of a planet between Mars and Jupiter that failed to fully form.

The other is called ‘The Kuiper Belt’ which is about 4 billion miles away from the sun!

Billions of asteroids make up both of these belts that are in our solar system. Scientists have identified hundreds of thousands of these asteroids, and have also named thousands of them.

The asteroids that move out of their orbit and end up crashed on Earth are called ‘Meteorites’

These meteorites are mostly made up of rock and iron.

There is a theory that life started on Earth due to a meteorite crash. A meteorite was discovered crashed on Earth from somewhere in the solar system. Traces of Amino Acids were found that are the building blocks for forming proteins. In turn proteins make up life.  

Kids Fun Facts Corner

# 1. More than 100 Asteroids are known to have orbiting moons.

# 2. An Asteroid may have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

# 3. More than 10 unmanned spacecraft have landed on asteroids in the recent past.

Q&A Corner

Q. What are the names of both belts in the solar system?

Q. Between what planets does ‘The Asteroid Belt’ sit?

Q. How many miles away is ‘The Kuiper Belt’ from the sun?

Q. Name two things that asteroids are made of?

Q. How many asteroids make up the asteroid belts?

Download questions about planets here:  (answers are on this page)

Teachers. For more in depth work sheets on asteroids. Click on Kidskonnect.  

For further reading and more information on asteroid belts visit

Key Vocabulary Solar System. Planet. Rock. Metal. Iron. Ice. Amino Acids. Proteins.

Newly-discovered Asteroid Could Strike Earth Within Decades Asteroid 2019

As technology advances, scientists have become more and more skilled at spotting potentially threatening objects in space. This is great news for the human race, but it also means that when we spot a distant space rock, we may not know just how much of a threat it really is for a long time to come.

That’s the case with asteroid 2019 SU3, a newly-discovered space rock that doesn’t appear dangerous at the moment but may end up being a serious problem several decades down the road. The asteroid, which was just added to the , will make a shockingly close pass of our planet in around 65 years.

Based on observations of the asteroid’s trajectory, the risk of collision is still relatively small, with placing the chances of a strike at less than 1%. Still, the fact that the odds aren’t a nice round 0% means that astronomers will need to keep an eye on it.

When the space rock enters our neck of the woods in 2084 it will pass within 6,000 miles of Earth. That might seem like a nice, comfortable distance, but when you consider that Earth’s moon is a whopping 238,000 miles away you get an idea of just how narrow the window truly is.

Generally speaking, mankind has gotten pretty lucky when it comes to asteroids. Humanity hasn’t had to deal with any devastating objects from space, and if we’re lucky we’ll have the technology to deal with those threats before they become a serious problem.

In the coming years, astronomers will be able to increase the certainty of their predictions, and hopefully rule out the possibility that 2019 SU3 poses a threat to our planet. If it does, however, hopefully .

Image Source: NASA

Mike Wehner has reported on technology and video games for the past decade, covering breaking news and trends in VR, wearables, smartphones, and future tech. Most recently, Mike served as Tech Editor at The Daily Dot, and has been featured in USA Today, Time.com, and countless other web and print outlets. His love of reporting is second only to his gaming addiction.