Space News Update- January 16, 2015 -

In the News

Story 1: New Horizons Begins First Stages of Pluto Encounter

Story 2: Beagle-2 Lander Found on Mars

Story 3: Astronauts return to US side of space station after leak scare

 Departments

The Night SkyISS Sighting Opportunities

Space CalendarNASA-TV Highlights

Food for ThoughtSpace Image of the Week

New Horizons Begins First Stages of Pluto Encounter

Beagle-2 Lander Found on Mars

Astronauts return to US side of space station after leak scare

The Night Sky

Sky & Telescope

Friday, January 16Bright Capella high overhead, and bright Rigel in Orion’s foot, are at almost the same right ascension – so they cross your sky’s meridian atalmost the same time (around 9:30 p.m., depending on how far east or west you live in your time zone). So whenever Capella passes its very highest, Rigel marks true south over your landscape.(Capella goes exactly through your zenith if you're at latitude 46° north: for instance Portland, Oregon; Montreal; central France; Tokyo.) Saturday, January 17Comet Lovejoy is 8° west-southwest of the Pleiades this evening and tomorrow evening. Finder charts and photos.Sirius twinkles brightly after dinnertime below Orion this week. Around 8 or 9 p.m., depending on your date and location, Sirius shines precisely below fiery Betelgeuse in Orion's shoulder. How accurately can you time this event for your site, perhaps using a plumb bob or the edge of a building? Sirius leads Betelgeuse early in the evening; Betelgeuse leads later. Welcome to pre-telescopic astronomy. Sunday, January 18Orion shines high in the southeast in early evening now. Orion is the showiest constellation, but his main pattern is surprisingly small compared to come of his dimmer neighbors. The biggest of these is Eridanus the River, enormous but hard to trace. Dimmer Fornax the Furnace, to Eridanus's lower right, is almost as big as Orion. Even the main pattern of Lepus, the Hare cowering under Orion's feet, isn't much smaller than he is. Monday, January 19In the next few days, an extremely rare and unlikely self-eclipse by the double star Alpha Comet Berenices should get under way. It's normally magnitude 4.3 and might dim for a day or so enough to for the change to be detectable just by eye. See the "Vigil for a Unique Stellar Eclipse" in the January Sky & Telescope, page 50. Tuesday, January 20Gemini shines high in the east these evenings, off to the left of Orion. In Gemini's center lies R Geminorum, a red long-period variable star with the rare elements zirconium and technetium in its atmosphere. R Gem is brightening toward a February maximum. As of January 14th it was already magnitude 7.0 ahead of schedule.  New Moon (exact at 8:14 a.m. Eastern Standard Time). 

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

Fri Jan 16, 6:34 AM 1 min 10° 10 above N 10 above NNE

Sat Jan 17, 5:43 AM < 1 min 10° 10 above N 10 above N

Sun Jan 18, 6:27 AM 3 min 12° 10 above NNW 10 above NE

Mon Jan 19, 5:37 AM < 1 min 10° 10 above N 10 above NNE

Tue Jan 20, 6:20 AM 4 min 17° 10 above NNW 10 above ENE

NASA-TV Highlights

10 p.m., Friday, January 16 - Replay of ISS Expedition 43 (One-Year Crew) Mission Overview and Science Briefing (all channels)11 p.m., Friday, January 16 - Replay of ISS Expedition 43 (One Year Crew; Kelly, Kornienko, Padalka) Crew News Conference (all channels)8 a.m., 1 p.m., 8 p.m. Saturday, January 17 - Replay of ISS Expedition 43 (One-Year Crew) Mission Overview and Science Briefing (all channels)10 a.m., 2 p.m., 9 p.m. Saturday, January 17 - Replay of ISS Expedition 43 (One Year Crew; Kelly, Kornienko, Padalka) Crew News Conference (all channels)6 a.m., 5 p.m., 10 p.m. Sunday, January 18 - Replay of ISS Expedition 43 (One-Year Crew) Mission Overview and Science Briefing (all channels)7 a.m., 6 p.m., 11 p.m. Sunday, January 18 - Replay of ISS Expedition 43 (One Year Crew; Kelly, Kornienko, Padalka) Crew News Conference (all channels)8 a.m., 1 p.m. Monday, January 19 - Replay of ISS Expedition 43 (One-Year Crew) Mission Overview and Science Briefing (all channels)10 a.m., 2 p.m. Monday, January 19 - Replay of ISS Expedition 43 (One Year Crew; Kelly, Kornienko, Padalka) Crew News Conference (all channels)

Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

(all times Eastern Daylight Time)

Space Calendar

JPL Space Calendar

Jan 16 - Comet 259P/Garradd At Opposition (2.677 AU)Jan 16 - Asteroid 2014 YD Near-Earth Flyby (0.044 AU)Jan 16 - Asteroid 9998 ISO Closest Approach To Earth (1.199 AU)Jan 16 - Asteroid 13606 Bean Closest Approach To Earth (1.651 AU)Jan 16 - Asteroid 27500 Mandelbrot Closest Approach To Earth (2.278 AU)Jan 16 - Lecture: Low Density Supersonic Decelerator, Pasadena, CaliforniaJan 16 - Jean-Baptiste-Gaspard Bochart de Saron's 285th Birthday (1730)Jan 17 - Comet 119P/Parker-Hartley Closest Approach To Earth (2.404 AU)Jan 17 - Comet 189P/NEAT At Opposition (3.702 AU)Jan 17 - Asteroid 90022 Apache Point Closest Approach To Earth (1.291 AU)Jan 17 - Asteroid 8444 Popovich Closest Approach To Earth (1.685 AU)Jan 17 - Asteroid 1065 Amundsenia Closest Approach To Earth (1.975 AU)Jan 17 - Asteroid 14702 Benclark Closest Approach To Earth (2.317 AU)Jan 18 - [Jan 13] Asteroid 2015 AK1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.014 AU)Jan 18 - Asteroid 4969 Lawrence Closest Approach To Earth (1.170 AU)Jan 18 - Asteroid 336698 Melbourne Closest Approach To Earth (2.097 AU)Jan 18 - Kuiper Belt Object 20000 Varuna At Opposition (42.767 AU)Jan 18 - 5th Anniversary (2010), Lorton Meteorite Fall (Hit Doctor's Office in Virginia)Jan 18 - 15th Anniversary (2000), Tagish Lake Meteorite Shower in CanadaJan 18 - Paul Ehrenfest's 135th Birthday (1880)Jan 19 - Mars Passes 0.2 Degrees From NeptuneJan 19 - Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR At Opposition (1.140 AU)Jan 19 - Comet P/2013 R3 (Catalina-PANSTARRS) At Opposition (2.382 AU)Jan 19 - Comet C/2014 B1 (Schwartz) Closest Approach To Earth (10.052 AU)Jan 19 - Asteroid 2244 Tesla Closest Approach To Earth (1.659 AU)Jan 19 - Asteroid 22739 Sikhote-Alin Closest Approach To Earth (1.831 AU)Jan 19 - 35th Anniversary (1980), Voyager 1's Discovery of Saturn Moon JanusJan 19 - 50th Anniversary (1965), Gemini 2 launch (Unmanned Suborbital Flight)Jan 19 - 175th Anniversary (1840), Discovery of AntarcticaJan 20 - [Jan 14] MUOS 3 Atlas 5 LaunchJan 20 - Asteroid 3534 Sax Closest Approach To Earth (1.313 AU)Jan 20 - Buzz Aldrin's 85th Birthday (1930)Jan 20 - Andre-Marie Ampere's 240th Birthday (1775) 

Food for Thought

NASA, NOAA Find 2014 Warmest Year in Modern Record

Space Image of the Week

Falcon 9’s Incredible “Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly” SpaceX / Elon Musk via Twitter /