Space News Update- August 5, 2011 -

In the News

Story 1: NASA's Juno Spacecraft Launches to Jupiter

Story 2: Liquid Water on Mars Might Taste Salty

Story 3: Second Moon May Have Orbited Earth Billions of Years Ago

 Departments

The Night SkyISS Sighting Opportunities

Space CalendarNASA-TV Highlights

Food for ThoughtSpace Image of the Week

NASA's Juno Spacecraft Launches to Jupiter

Liquid Water on Mars Might Taste Salty

Second Moon May Have Orbited Earth Billions of Years Ago

The Night Sky

Friday, August 5· The Moon shines in the southwest as twilight fades. Look to its right as the stars come out for Spica and, farther on, yellower Saturn.· Mars, low in the east-northeast just before the first light of dawn, is passing less than 1° south (lower right) of the star cluster M35 in Gemini on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Use binoculars or a telescope.Saturday, August 6· First-quarter Moon (exact at 7:08 a.m. EDT). The Moon is in the middle of Libra, to the right of the stars of upper Scorpius.Sunday, August 7· The Moon shines in the head of Scorpius this evening, near Antares.· In the southeastern sky after dusk, about a third of the way from the horizon to overhead, are the dim but distinctive stars of the western end of Capricornus. The scene is shown magnified at right, roughly as if in binoculars (but brighter). Alpha Capricorni is a wide pair, wide enough that you can probably resolve its two components with the unaided eye if you look carefully.

The Night Sky

Monday, August 8· This evening the Moon shines between the head of Scorpius to its right and the top of the Sagittarius Teapot to its left.· The brightest asteroid, 4 Vesta, is just past opposition this week, shining at magnitude 5.7 in Capricornus. It's an easy find in binoculars in late evening and can be seen with the unaided eye from a dark site once the Moon sets. Use the finder chart in the August Sky & Telescope, page 53, or our Vesta and Ceres finder charts online. The Dawn spacecraft is orbiting Vesta and sending back high-res pictures. Dawn will spiral down to a much lower orbit for closeup imaging by early 2012.Meanwhile, 1 Ceres lurks two constellations farther east in Cetus. It's magnitude 8.3 and brightening. After Dawn departs Vesta in summer 2012, it will fly on to take up orbit around Ceres in February 2015.

ISS Sighting Opportunities

SATELLITE LOCAL DURATIONMAX ELEV

APPROACH DEPARTURE

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

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

For Denver:

For Denver: No ISS Sighting OpportunitiesFor Denver: No ISS Sighting Opportunities

ISS Sat Aug 06/02:48 AM < 1 11 11 above N 11 above N

ISS Sat Aug 06/04:25 AM < 1 10 10 above N 10 above N

ISS Sun Aug 07/05:02 AM 2 16 10 above NNW 16 above NNE

ISS Mon Aug 08/04:04 AM 1 11 10 above N 11 above NNE

ISS Mon Aug 08/05:39 AM 3 38 10 above NW 38 above NE

NASA-TV Highlights

(all times Eastern Daylight Time)

Watch NASA TV on the Net by going to NASA website

August 5, FridayNET 2:30 p.m. - Juno Post-Launch News Conference KSC (All Channels)

August 9, Tuesday12:55 - 1:15 p.m. - ISS Expedition 28 Educational Event with the Boy Scouts of America in St. Paul, MN - JSC (All Channels)

Space Calendar

Aug 05 - [Aug 05] Juno Atlas 5 Launch, SuccessfulAug 05 - [Aug 01] Astra 1N/ B-Sat 3C (JC-Sat 110R) Ariane 5 LaunchAug 05 - Asteroid 4 Vesta At Opposition (5.6 Magnitude)Aug 05 - Asteroid 96193 Edmonton Closest Approach To Earth (1.524 AU)Aug 05 - Asteroid 6758 Jesseowens Closest Approach To Earth (1.570 AU)Aug 05 - Asteroid 3808 Tempel Closest Approach To Earth (1.583 AU)Aug 06 - Southern Iota Aquarids Meteor Shower PeakAug 06 - [Aug 05] Asteroid 2011 OB26 Near-Earth Flyby (0.028 AU)Aug 06 - Asteroid 4769 Castalia Closest Approach To Earth (0.463 AU)Aug 06 - Asteroid 2597 Arthur Closest Approach To Earth (1.888 AU)Aug 06 - 10th Anniversary (2001), Galileo, Io 31 FlybyAug 06 - 50th Anniversary (1961), Vostok 2 Launch (Gherman Titov - 2nd Man in Space)Aug 06 - 830th Anniversary (1181), Discovery of Supernova CassiopeiaAug 07 - Asteroid 951 Gaspra Occults TYC 6259-01179-1 (9.9 Magnitude Star)Aug 07 - Asteroid 1566 Icarus Closest Approach To Earth (0.909 AU)Aug 07 - Asteroid 9770 Discovery Closest Approach To Earth (1.370 AU)Aug 07 - 15th Anniversary (1996), Announcement of Possible Microfossils Found in ALH84001 Martian MeteoriteAug 07 - 35th Anniversary (1976), Viking 2, Mars Orbit InsertionAug 08 - Asteroid 1718 Namibia Closest Approach To Earth (0.755 AU)Aug 08 - Teachers Touch the Sky: An Astronomy Workshop, Pasadena, CaliforniaAug 08 - 10th Anniversary (2001), Genesis Launch (Solar Particle Sample Return)

JPL Space Calendar

Food for Thought

3 small, icy worlds found orbiting near Pluto

Space Image of the Week

Strong Solar Activity

Source: SpaceWeather