Space News Update- September 5, 2014 -

In the News

Story 1: NASA Instrument aboard European Spacecraft Returns First Science Results

Story 2: Small Asteroid to Safely Pass Close to Earth Sunday

Story 3: RapidScat: Some Assembly Required -- in Space

 Departments

The Night SkyISS Sighting Opportunities

Space CalendarNASA-TV Highlights

Food for ThoughtSpace Image of the Week

NASA Instrument aboard European Spacecraft Returns First

Science Results

Small Asteroid to Safely Pass Close to Earth Sunday

RapidScat: Some Assembly Required -- in Space

Monday, September 8Full Moon (exact at 9:38 p.m. EDT). The Moon shines in dim Aquarius. To its upper left in the evening, the western side of the Great Square of Pegasus points down toward it (more or less). This is another perigean "supermoon," the third in a row.

The Night Sky

Sky & Telescope

Friday, September 5 Saturn, Mars, Delta (δ) Scorpii, and Antares form an equally-spaced ragged line in the southwest at dusk, as shown at right. Delta Scorpii used to be a bit dimmer than Beta above it. Then in July 2000 it doubled in brightness. It has remained bright, with slow fluctuations, ever since.Look high above the Moon this evening for Altair.

Saturday, September 6This is International Observe the Moon night! Zoom in on the map to find an event near you. Or set up your own telescope for the public, and add your event to the map so people can find you! The Moon is waxing gibbous, two days from full. (Just make sure it'll be in view from your site when you tell people to come!) See the article, A Worldwide Night of Moonwatching.Also, look to the right of the Moon, by a little more than a fist-width at arm's length, for two faintish (3rd-magnitude) stars: Alpha and Beta Capricorni, one above the other. Alpha is the one on top. With sharp vision, you can barely see that it's double. Binoculars resolve it easily.

Sunday, September 7Look for bright Vega passing your zenith in late twilight, if you live in the world's mid-northern latitudes. Vega goes right through your zenith if you're at latitude 39° north (near Baltimore, Kansas City, Lake Tahoe, Sendai, Beijing, Athens, Lisbon). How closely can you judge this?

ISS Sighting Opportunities

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

ISS For Denver:

Date VisibleMax

Height Appears Disappears

Mon Sep 8, 6:07 AM 1 min 10° 10 above SE 10 above ESE

NASA-TV Highlights

(all times Eastern Daylight Time)

Monday, September 8 5:30 a.m. - Video B-Roll Feed of Training for Expedition 41 Flight Engineer Barry Wilmore of NASA (all channels) 6 a.m. - Live Interviews with Expedition 41 Flight Engineer Barry Wilmore of NASA from the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia (all channels) 10:55 a.m. - ISS Expedition 40 Interviews with KOA Radio, Denver and the Wall Street Journal’s “Off Duty” Feature Reporter with Commander Steve Swanson of NASA, Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman of NASA and Flight Engineer Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency (all channels) 1 p.m. - NASA Science Briefing, Studying Earth from the International Space Station - HQ (all channels)

Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar

JPL Space Calendar

Sep 05 - Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) Closest Approach To Earth (0.891 AU) Sep 05 - Comet 95P/Chiron Closest Approach To Earth (16.913 AU) Sep 05 - [Aug 29] Asteroid 2014 QT295 Near-Earth Flyby (0.017 AU) Sep 05 - Asteroid 2014 QP33 Near-Earth Flyby (0.096 AU) Sep 05 - Asteroid 84882 Table Mountain Closest Approach To Earth (0.968 AU) Sep 05 - Kuiper Belt Object 2010 RF43 At Opposition (51.977 AU) Sep 05 - 50th Anniversary (1964), Orbiting Geophysical Observatory (OGO-1) Launch Sep 06 - [Sep 04] AsiaSat 6 (Thaicom 7) Falcon 9 Launch Sep 06 - Comet 79P/du Toit-Hartley At Opposition (2.491 AU) Sep 06 - Comet 147P/Kushida-Muramatsu Closest Approach To Earth (2.759 AU) Sep 06 - Comet P/2012 G1 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (3.875 AU) Sep 06 - Comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina) At Opposition (4.641 AU) Sep 06 - Asteroid 3043 San Diego Closest Approach To Earth (0.771 AU) Sep 06 - Asteroid 165347 Philplait Closest Approach To Earth (1.698 AU) Sep 06 - Asteroid 78905 Seanokeefe Closest Approach To Earth (2.050 AU) Sep 06 - Asteroid 7092 Cadmus Closest Approach To Earth (3.275 AU) Sep 06 - International Observe the Moon Night Sep 07 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #390 (OTM-390) Sep 07 - Comet P/2009 Q4 (Boattini) Closest Approach To Earth (1.953 AU) Sep 07 - Comet 204P/LINEAR-NEAT At Opposition (2.714 AU) Sep 07 - [Sep 04] Asteroid 2014 RC Near-Earth Flyby (0.010 AU) Sep 08 - Comet 206P/Barnard-Boattini Closest Approach To Earth (0.928 AU) Sep 08 - Comet P/2006 F4 At Opposition (2.971 AU) Sep 08 - [Aug 29] Comet C/2014 Q1 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (3.733 AU) Sep 08 - Comet 95P/Chiron At Opposition (16.915 AU) Sep 08 - [Aug 29] Asteroid 2014 QV295 Near-Earth Flyby (0.066 AU) Sep 08 - Asteroid 4660 Nereus Closest Approach To Earth (1.505 AU) Sep 08 - Asteroid 3197 Weissman Closest Approach To Earth (1.557 AU) Sep 08 - Asteroid 10183 Ampere Closest Approach To Earth (1.568 AU) Sep 08 - Asteroid 13677 Alvin Closest Approach To Earth (1.899 AU) Sep 08 - Asteroid 4169 Celsius Closest Approach To Earth (1.921 AU) Sep 08 - 10th Anniversary (2004), Genesis, Return To Earth

Food for ThoughtMineral Exploration in Space to Return Results in 2020

Space Image of the Week

Holometer: A Microscope into Space and Time