Space News Update- September 9, 2014 -

In the News

Story 1: Scientists Find Evidence of ‘Diving’ Tectonic Plates on Jupiter’s Moon Europa

Story 2:

NASA's MAVEN Spacecraft Makes Final Preparations for Mars

Story 3: Researchers Discover New Clues to Determining the Solar Cycle

Departments

The Night SkyISS Sighting Opportunities

Space CalendarNASA-TV Highlights

Food for ThoughtSpace Image of the Week

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The NightSky

ISSSightings

NASA-TV

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Image ofthe Week

SpaceCalendar

Scientists Find Evidence of ‘Diving’ Tectonic Plates on Jupiter’s Moon

Europa

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The NightSky

ISSSightings

NASA-TV

Food forThought

Image ofthe Week

SpaceCalendar

NASA's MAVEN Spacecraft Makes Final Preparations for Mars

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The NightSky

ISSSightings

NASA-TV

Food forThought

Image ofthe Week

SpaceCalendar

Researchers Discover New Clues to Determining the Solar Cycle

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The NightSky

ISSSightings

NASA-TV

Food forThought

Image ofthe Week

SpaceCalendar

The Night Sky

Sky & Telescope

Tuesday, September 9• Arcturus is the bright star fairly high due west at nightfall. It's

an orange giant 37 light-years away. Off to its right in the northwest is the Big Dipper, most of whose stars are about 80 light-years away.

Wednesday, September 10• The gibbous Moon, still big, rises in the east in late twilight.

Look well above it for the bottom corner of the up-tilted Great Square of Pegasus.

Thursday, September 11• A winter preview: If you're up before dawn this week, the sky

displays the same starry panorama as it will at dusk early next February: Orion stands high in the southeast, Sirius and Canis Major sparkle to Orion's lower left, Gemini occupies the east to Orion's left, and Jupiter shines far below Gemini's Castor and Pollux. Come February, Jupiter will still be near there.

• Follow the Antares-Mars-Saturn lineup as it changes day by day. On September 17th Mars will pass just ½° above Delta Scorpii.

Friday, September 12• Antares, Mars, and Saturn now form an almost equally spaced

straight line, as shown at right. Mars continues to move east against its starry background. Watch for it to pass 3° north of Antares on September 27th and 28th.

• This evening one of Saturn's moons, 10th-magnitude Rhea, will occult (cover up) a much brighter star, 7.8 magnitude SAO 159034, as seen from North Carolina northward. Telescope users farther south will witness a near miss.

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The NightSky

ISSSightings

NASA-TV

Food forThought

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SpaceCalendar

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

Wed Sep 10, 6:04 AM 3 min 30° 10 above SSW 28 above ESE

Thu Sep 11, 5:16 AM 3 min 17° 10 above S 14 above ESE

Fri Sep 12, 6:03 AM 5 min 87° 10 above SW 31 above NE

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The NightSky

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NASA-TV

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NASA-TV Highlights (all times Eastern Time Zone)

Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013NASAMAVEN Launch November 18, 2013NASAMAVEN Launch November 18, 2013NASA

Tuesday, September 9 • 5:15 p.m. - ISS Expedition 40/41 Change of Command Ceremony (Swanson hands over ISS

command to Suraev) (all channels)Wednesday, September 10• 3:15 p.m. - ISS Expedition 40 Farewells and Hatch Closure Coverage (hatch closure scheduled at

3:35 p.m. ET) (all channels)• 6 p.m - Live Coverage of NEEMO 19 Google+ Hangout with Aquanaut Crew (NTV-2 (Education))• 6:45 p.m. - ISS Expedition 40/Soyuz TMA-12M Undocking Coverage (undocking scheduled at 7:02

p.m. ET) (all channels)• 9:15 p.m. - ISS Expedition 40/Soyuz TMA-12M Deorbit Burn and Landing Coverage (all channels)Thursday, September 11• Midnight - Video File of the ISS Expedition 40/Soyuz TMA-12M Landing and Post-Landing

Activities (all channels)• 12 p.m. - Video File of the ISS Expedition 40/Soyuz TMA-12M Landing and Post-Landing Activities;

scheduled to include a post-landing interview with Expedition 40 Commander Steve Swanson of NASA and the return of Cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev (all channels)

• 10 p.m. - The Theodore von Kármán Lecture Series: Sam Thurman, Deputy Project Manager of the Upcoming SMAP Mission on Measuring Soil Moisture from Space - JPL (all channels)

Friday, September 12• 10 a.m. - Video File of the ISS Expedition 41/42 Crew Departure from Star City, Russia for

Baikonur, Kazakhstan (all channels)• 12 p.m. - NASA News Conference - Space Launch System Opens Vertical Assembly Center at

Michoud (all channels)

 

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Space Calendar

JPL Space Calendar

Sep 09 - Comet P/2014 L2 (NEOWISE) Closest Approach To Earth (1.299 AU) 

Sep 09 - Asteroid 12 Victoria At Opposition (9.0 Magnitude) 

Sep 09 - Asteroid 33 Polyhymnia At Opposition (9.8 Magnitude) 

Sep 09 - Asteroid 2013 RZ53 Near-Earth Flyby (0.005 AU)

Sep 09 - Asteroid 2014 QQ362 Near-Earth Flyby (0.059 AU) 

Sep 09 - Asteroid 20103 de Vico Closest Approach To Earth (1.174 AU) 

Sep 09 - Asteroid 38237 Roche Closest Approach To Earth (1.551 AU) 

Sep 09 - Asteroid 12397 Peterbrown Closest Approach To Earth (2.518 AU) 

Sep 10 - Comet C/2013 G8 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (4.737 AU) 

Sep 10 - Asteroid 253 Mathilde Occults TYC 0014-00668-1 (10.6 Magnitude Star) 

Sep 10 - Asteroid 16809 Galapagos Closest Approach To Earth (1.653 AU) 

Sep 10 - Asteroid 1022 Olympiada Closest Approach To Earth (2.045 AU) 

Sep 11 - MEASAT 3b (Jabiru 2)/ Optus 10 Ariane 5 Launch

Sep 11 - Moon Occults Uranus 

Sep 11 - Comet 284P/McNaught Closest Approach To Earth (1.291 AU) 

Sep 11 - Asteroid 20403 Attenborough Closest Approach To Earth (1.918 AU) 

Sep 11 - Asteroid 6349 Acapulco Closest Approach To Earth (1.958 AU) 

Sep 11 - Asteroid 2191 Uppsala Closest Approach To Earth (1.969 AU) 

Sep 11 - Asteroid 2197 Shanghai Closest Approach To Earth (2.427 AU) 

Sep 12 - Comet 307P/LINEAR Closest Approach To Earth (1.184 AU) 

Sep 12 - Comet P/2006 S6 (Hill) Closest Approach To Earth (1.859 AU) 

Sep 12 - Asteroid 5841 Stone Closest Approach To Earth (0.759 AU) 

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Food for ThoughtFalling on the Moon: How Much Gravity Do

Astronauts Really Need?

New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the ScaleNew Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale

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Space Image of the Week

Cloud, Clusters and Comet Siding Spring Image Credit & Copyright: Rolando Ligustri (CARA Project, CAST)