Armchair Observations

[fealeybob14]

SOHO (C3) movie theater shows Venus as it approaches inferior conjunction ...
https://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/Theater/

[fealeybob14]

Today's SOHO LASCO C3 image shows two planets (Venus and Mars) in superior conjunction in the constellation Leo.

[Luka]

That's a neat image!

[fealeybob14]

Thanks Luka!  Had to post again as Mercury has now entered the fov of C3 SOHO's camera.

[fealeybob14]

Now go to the SOHO Movie Theater https://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/Theater/ and choose the C3 image at 512 image resolution, the dates Aug 30 to Sept 1 and generate the images, and watch the neat celestial (solar system) orbital mechanics of Venus, Mars and Mercury.  Notable is the faster orbital motion of Mercury (than Venus) as it swings into superior conjunction and the slower motion of dim Mars (with respect to the background star Regulus on the far right) as Earth overtakes it and Mars moves towards conjunction with the sun.  (No need to download the 250+ images generated; just use the buttons below the first image to play the sequence)!

[fealeybob14]

SOHO images (C3) from early Jan 2020 show conjuctions of planets Saturn, Mercury and Jupiter as well as a possible coronal mass ejection (CME).  Selected images are below, but also run the SOHO Movie Theater https://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/Theater/ (with C3, 512 resolution and dates Jan 6 thru Jan 8th) for a nice video of the events.

[fealeybob14]

Almost missed this small sunspot group!
 

[fealeybob14]

While the evening star Venus has sunken from view Mercury is still (barely) visible in the NW after sunset.  SOHO image from today (left) shows Venus approaching inferior conjunction in Taurus.  A screenshot image from several weeks ago using a moon filter on my 10 inch SCT is attached.

[fealeybob14]

One cannot rest when it comes to the "quiet sun"; today's SOHO image shows a new sunspot group!  I am also sure there were others (maybe one or two) that were wondering how close was Venus to making a transit of the sun during its recent inferior conjunction.  Well check out the C2 SOHO movie theater from June 2nd to June 5th to find out! https://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/Theater/

[fealeybob14]

The latest SOHO C3 image shows what appears to be a comet (?new);https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/c3/512/
Using the SOHO movie theater with C3 and dates 6-23 and 6-24 shows the probable comet approaching the sun (right lower C3 fov).
The Sungrazer Project https://sungrazer.nrl.navy.mil/index.php?p=FAQs seems to mention a left upper fov comet thats visible in SOHO C2 and C3??

[Jeff Newland]

Bob, yes, there is a comet there:  Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3).
They do mention it here on spaceweather.com:  https://spaceweather.com/
Scroll done a bit to see it mentioned, has the SOHO image.

[fealeybob14]

Awesome Jeff!  Thanks so much!  Would be great if that comet would get brighter and visible on the outbound journey!

[Jeff Newland]

Yeah, it would be nice if it is visible here at a mag 3 or so when it emerges on the other side. 

[fealeybob14]

A good site to follow this comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) here: https://theskylive.com/c2020f3-tracker

[fealeybob14]

This site is excellent and now my favorite for following (and hopefully getting out to see and photograph) comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) https://theskylive.com/c2020f3-info#position