Space News Update- January 10, 2014 -

In the News

Story 1: Cygnus Heads to Space for First Station Resupply Mission

Story 2: NASA Great Observatories Team Up to Discover Ultra-Bright Galaxies

Story 3: International Space Station Extended Until 2024

 Departments

The Night SkyISS Sighting Opportunities

Space CalendarNASA-TV Highlights

Food for ThoughtSpace Image of the Week

Cygnus Heads to Space for First Station Resupply Mission

NASA Great Observatories Team Up to Discover Ultra-Bright

Galaxies

International Space Station Extended Until 2024

The Night SkyFriday, January 10 •Look left of the Moon at nightfall for the Pleiades, as shown here. The Pleiades are straight above the Moon by about 8 or 9. •Bright Capella high overhead and bright Rigel in Orion's foot, both magnitude 0, have almost the same right ascension — so they cross your sky’s north-south meridian at almost the same time. Capella passes closest to straight overhead around 10 p.m., depending on how far east or west you live in your time zone. (It goes exactly through the zenith if you're at latitude 46° north: Portland, Oregon; Montreal; central France.) So, whenever Capella is passing closest to the zenith, Rigel always marks true south over your landscape.

Saturday, January 11 •Aldebaran shines below the Moon at dusk, as shown here. It swings around to the left of the Moon by about 11 p.m. •Jupiter’s Great Red Spot transits Jupiter’s central meridian around 9:30 p.m. EST. •Venus is at inferior conjunction, passing 5° north of the Sun today.

Sunday, January 12

Sky & Telescope

•The bright gibbous Moon shines in a particularly starry part of the sky. After dinnertime, look upper right of the Moon for Aldebaran, below the Moon for Betelgeuse in Orion's leftmost corner, farther upper left of it for Capella, and far lower left of the Moon for bright Jupiter in the middle of Gemini.

Monday, January 13 •Betelgeuse is lower left of the Moon this evening. Jupiter is to the Moon's lower right, with Pollux on beyond. Look far under the Moon for Procyon.

ISS Sighting Opportunities

Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

ISS For Denver:

Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears

Sat Jan 11, 5:50 AM 4 min 75° 44 above WSW 11 above NE

Sun Jan 12, 5:04 AM 2 min 27° 27 above ENE 10 above ENE

Sun Jan 12, 6:37 AM 5 min 21° 10 above WNW 10 above NNE

Mon Jan 13, 5:51 AM 3 min 29° 29 above NNW 10 above NE

Tue Jan 14, 5:04 AM < 1 min 15° 15 above NE 10 above NE

NASA-TV Highlights

(all times Eastern Daylight Time)

January 12, Sunday5 a.m. - Coverage of the Rendezvous and Grapple of the Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus Cargo Ship to the International Space Station (Grapple scheduled at 6:02 a.m. ET) - JSC (All Channels)7 a.m. - Coverage of the Installation of the Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus Cargo Ship to the International Space Station (Installation begins appx. 7:20 a.m. ET) - JSC (All Channels) January 14, Tuesday6:40 a.m. - ISS Expedition 38 In-Flight Event for JAXA with Wakata for the Young Astronauts Club - JSC (All Channels)

Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar

JPL Space Calendar

Jan 10 - Comet 290P/Jager Closest Approach To Earth (1.281 AU) Jan 10 - Comet 293P/Spacewatch Perihelion (2.112 AU) Jan 10 - Asteroid 2013 AF53 Near-Earth Flyby (0.058 AU) Jan 10 - 45th Anniversary (1969), Venera 6 Launch (USSR Venus Atmospheric Probe) Jan 11 - Comet 261P/Larson At Opposition (2.613 AU) Jan 11 - Asteroid 2102 Tantalus Closest Approach To Earth (0.514 AU) Jan 11 - Space Day 2014, Droitwich, United Kingdom Jan 13 - Comet 48P/Johnson At Opposition (3.602 AU) Jan 13 - Asteroid 64070 NEAT Closest Approach To Earth (1.287 AU) Jan 13 - Asteroid 9249 Yen Closest Approach To Earth (1.475 AU) Jan 13 - Asteroid 7028 Tachikawa Closest Approach To Earth (2.038 AU) Jan 13 - Asteroid 3351 Smith Closest Approach To Earth (2.189 AU) Jan 13 - Asteroid 32605 Lucy Closest Approach To Earth (2.531 AU Jan 14 - Comet 160P/LINEAR At Opposition (2.936 AU) Jan 14 - Comet P/2012 O1 (McNaught) At Opposition (3.295 AU) Jan 14 - Comet 130P/McNaught-Hughes At Opposition (3.824 AU) Jan 14 - Asteroid 2006 AN Near-Earth Flyby (0.084 AU) Jan 14 - Asteroid 5535 Annefrank Closest Approach To Earth (1.093 AU) Jan 14 - Asteroid 15550 Sydney Closest Approach To Earth (2.237 AU) Jan 14 - 5th Anniversary (2009), Stardust-NEXT, Earth Flyby

Food for Thought

SpaceShipTwo Goes Supersonic in Third Rocket-Powered Test Flight

Space Image of the Week

Mars Orbiter Images Rover and Tracks in Gale CraterImage Credit:  NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona