Space News Update- April 27, 2012 -

In the News

Story 1: Cassini Finds Saturn Moon has Planet-Like Qualities

Story 2:SpaceX flight preps continue with fueling, engine hotfire

Story 3: Expedition 30 Lands in Kazakhstan

Departments

The Night SkyISS Sighting Opportunities

NASA-TV HighlightsSpace CalendarFood for Thought

Space Image of the Week

Cassini Finds Saturn Moon has Planet-Like Qualities

SpaceX flight preps continue with fueling, engine hotfire

Expedition 30 Lands in Kazakhstan

The Night SkyFriday, April 27· Look for Pollux and Castor, the not-quite-twin stars of Gemini, upper right of the Moon this evening. Lower left of the Moon shines Procyon.· This evening a 9.7-magnitude star in Virgo will be occulted by the small asteroid 1030 Vitja along a path from the New York City area though the northern Great Lakes. The occultation will happen within a few minutes of 9:57 p.m. EDT and will last for up to 6 seconds. Maps and details.Saturday, April 28· Evenings this week sport three planet-and-star pairs. High in the south, Mars shines with Regulus to its right at dusk, lower right later. Down in the southeast, Saturn shines with Spica to its lower right. Both these pairs are now about 5° wide.Meanwhile in the west, dazzling Venus is approaching much fainter Beta Tauri (El Nath) above it. Tonight Venus and Beta Tauri are 3.5° apart. By Saturday May 5th their separation is just 0.9°.Sunday, April 29· The Moon shines near the Leo-Cancer border, forming a roughly straight line with, running to its left or upper left: 4th-magnitude Omicron Leonis, 1st-magnitude Regulus, and zero-magnitude Mars. Monday, April 30· The Moon shines below Mars, Regulus, and Gamma Leonis (Algieba) this evening, as shown here.· Venus is at its "greatest illuminated extent" — showing the most sunlit apparent area (in square arcseconds) that it's going to this apparition.

ISS Sighting Opportunities

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

For Denver:

SATELLITE LOCAL DURATIONMAX ELEV

APPROACH DEPARTURE

DATE/TIME (MIN) (DEG) (DEG-DIR) (DEG-DIR)

ISS Fri Apr 27/09:03 PM 3 50 32 above W 25 above SSE

ISS Sat Apr 28/09:44 PM 1 10 10 above WSW 10 above SW

ISS Sun Apr 29/08:49 PM 4 22 19 above WSW 10 above S

ISS Tue May 01/08:34 PM 1 10 10 above WSW 10 above SW

NASA-TV Highlights

Watch NASA TV on the Net by going to NASA website.

April 27, Friday9:30 a.m. - 7 p.m. - FIRST 2012 Championship - St. Louis - Ames/HQ – (Education Channel)7 p.m. - Video File of the ISS Expedition 30/Soyuz TMA-22 Landing and Post-Landing Activities; includes post-landing interview with Expedition 30 Commander Dan Burbank of NASA and the return of Cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin to Chkalovsky Airfield near Star City, Russia - JSC (Public and Media Channels)

April 28, Saturday9 a.m. - 7 p.m. - FIRST 2012 Championship - St. Louis - Ames/HQ - (Public and Education Channels)

Space Calendar

Apr 27 - [Apr 23] Soyuz TMA-22 Return To Earth (International Space Station)Apr 27 - Asteroid 5594 Jimmiller Occults 2UCAC 35401744 (6.6 Magnitude Star)Apr 27 - [Apr 25] Asteroid 2012 HP13 Near-Earth Flyby (0.005 AU)Apr 27 - Asteroid 13606 Bean Closest Approach To Earth (1.238 AU)Apr 27 - Asteroid 19034 Santorini Closest Approach To Earth (3.908 AU)Apr 28 - [Apr 21] Astronomy DayApr 28 - Asteroid 2012 HM Near-Earth Flyby (0.004 AU)Apr 28 - Asteroid 2011 WV134 Near-Earth Flyby (0.099 AU)Apr 28 - Asteroid 990 Yerkes Closest Approach To Earth (2.121 AU)Apr 28 - Asteroid 2315 Czechoslovakia Closest Approach To Earth (2.322 AU)Apr 29 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #319 (OTM-319)Apr 29 - Asteroid 2008 UC202 Near-Earth Flyby (0.026 AU)Apr 29 - Asteroid 9997 COBE Closest Approach To Earth (1.789 AU)Apr 29 - Asteroid 8250 Cornell Closest Approach To Earth (2.211 AU)Apr 30 - Soyuz Return To Earth (International Space Station)Apr 30 - Comet 171P/Spahr Perihelion (1.765 AU)Apr 30 - Asteroid 1388 Aphrodite Closest Approach To Earth (2.013 AU)Apr 30 - Asteroid 6984 Lewiscarroll Closest Approach To Earth (3.360 AU)Apr 30 - Kuiper Belt Object 90568 (2004 GV9) At Opposition (38.273 AU)Apr 30 - Carl Friedrich Gauss' 235th Birthday (1777)

JPL Space Calendar

Food for ThoughtThe Mystery of Venus’ Ashen

Light

Space Image of the Week

Image Credit: ESO