Space News Update- December 16, 2014 -

In the News

Story 1: New Horizons Awake for Pluto Encounter

Story 2:MAVEN Finds New Particles, Ion Plume

Story 3: New Map Shows ‘Marsquakes’ Shook Wet Valles Marineris Sand, NASA Says

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

Food forThought

Image ofthe Week

SpaceCalendar

New Horizons Awake for Pluto Encounter

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Story #1

Story #3

The NightSky

ISSSightings

NASA-TV

Food forThought

Image ofthe Week

SpaceCalendar

MAVEN Finds New Particles, Ion Plume

Story #2

Story #1

Story #3

The NightSky

ISSSightings

NASA-TV

Food forThought

Image ofthe Week

SpaceCalendar

New Map Shows ‘Marsquakes’ Shook Wet Valles Marineris Sand,

NASA Says

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The NightSky

ISSSightings

NASA-TV

Food forThought

Image ofthe Week

SpaceCalendar

The Night Sky

Sky & Telescope

Tuesday, December 16

• Maybe you're familiar with the ET Cluster, NGC 457 in Cassiopeia. But what about its neighbor Sharpless 2-173, a faint nebula containing the weak cluster Mayer 1? Use the Queen's Kite asterism to get there, as Sue French shows in her Deep-Sky Wonders chart and column in the December Sky & Telescope, page 56.

• The waning Moon guides the way to Saturn in the eastern dawn on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. (Positions are exact for the middle of North America. The Moon is drawn three times actual size.)

Wednesday, December 17

• Having trouble spotting Saturn in the dawn? On Thursday morning the 18th the waning Moon points down to the spot, as shown here.

Thursday, December 18

• On Friday morning the 19th the Moon hangs closer over Saturn, as shown here.

• Algol is near its minimum light for a couple hours centered on 7:12 p.m. EST Thursday evening.

Friday, December 19

• Have you ever tried to catch Sirius actually rising? If you can find a good view down to the east-southeast horizon, watch for Sirius emerging about two fists at arm's length below Orion's Belt. It now rises sometime around 7:30 or 8 p.m. local time, depending on your location. When a star is very low, it tends to twinkle quite slowly and often in vivid colors. Sirius is bright enough to show these effects well.

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The NightSky

ISSSightings

NASA-TV

Food forThought

Image ofthe Week

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 Dec 17, 5:37 PM 2 min 10° 10 above NNW 10 above N

Thu Dec 18, 6:24 PM < 1 min 10° 10 above NNW 10 above NNW

Fri Dec 19, 5:33 PM 1 min 10° 10 above N 10 above NNE

Sat Dec 20, 6:19 PM < 1 min 12° 11 above NNW 12 above NNW

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The NightSky

ISSSightings

NASA-TV

Food forThought

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SpaceCalendar

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

Thursday, December 18• 10 a.m. - Expedition One-Year Crew News Conference at UNESCO Headquarters in

Paris, France (all channels)

• 11:30 a.m. - Space Station Live (all channels)

• 12 p.m. - Space X Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) -5 Prelaunch News Conference (all channels)

• 1:30 p.m. - NASA ISS Research and Technology Briefing (all channels)

• 3 p.m. - NASA ISS Earth Science Briefing: Cloud Aerosol Transport System (CATS) (all channels)

Friday, December 19• 11:45 a.m. - Video B-Roll of SpaceX/Dragon CRS-5 Processing (all channels)

• 12:15 p.m. - Coverage of the Launch of the SpaceX/Dragon CRS-5 Cargo Ship to the ISS (Launch scheduled at 1:20 p.m. ET) (all channels)

• 3 p.m. - SpaceX/Dragon CRS-5 Post-Launch News Conference – KSC (all channels)

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Space Calendar

JPL Space Calendar

Dec 16 - Yamal 401 Proton-M Briz-M Launch

Dec 16 - Asteroid 2014 WM365 Near-Earth Flyby (0.054 AU)

Dec 16 - Asteroid 3917 Franz Schubert Closest Approach To Earth (1.325 AU)

Dec 16 - Asteroid 15332 CERN Closest Approach To Earth (1.692 AU)

Dec 16 - Asteroid 14827 Hypnos Closest Approach To Earth (1.781 AU)

Dec 16 - Asteroid 14965 Bonk Closest Approach To Earth (1.896 AU)

Dec 16 - 20th Anniversary (1994), Discovery of QUE 94201 Meteorite (Mars Meteorite)

Dec 17 - Comet 191P/McNaught Closest Approach To Earth (1.675 AU)

Dec 17 - Comet 110P/Hartley Perihelion (2.475 AU)

Dec 18 - O3b FM9-12 Soyuz-STB/Fregat Launch

Dec 18 - Kondor E-2 Strela Launch

Dec 18 - Asteroid 702 Alauda Occults HIP 13832 (6.2 Magnitude Star)

Dec 18 - Asteroid 71885 Denning Closest Approach To Earth (1.050 AU)

Dec 18 - Asteroid 763 Cupido Closest Approach To Earth (1.095 AU)

Dec 18 - Asteroid 4513 Louvre Closest Approach To Earth (1.859 AU)

Dec 18 - Asteroid 29470 Higgs Closest Approach To Earth (1.964 AU)

Dec 18 - Gottfried Kirch's 375th Birthday (1639)

Dec 19 - CRS-5 Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS)/ AggieSat 4/ Bevo 2/ SERPENS Falcon 9R Launch (International Space Station)

Dec 19 - Comet 307P/LINEAR Perihelion (1.889 AU)

Dec 19 - Asteroid 38086 Beowolf Closest Approach To Earth (0.484 AU)

Dec 19 - Asteroid 3200 Phaethon Closest Approach To Earth (0.763 AU)

Dec 19 - Asteroid 316020 Linshuhow Closest Approach To Earth (1.720 AU)

Dec 19 - 15th Anniversary (1999), STS-103 Launch (Space Shuttle Discovery, Hubble Servicing Mission)

Dec 20 - Asteroid 5020 Asimov Closest Approach To Earth (1.367 AU)

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NASA-TV

Food forThought

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Food for ThoughtSwarms of Pluto-Size Objects Kick Up Dust around

Adolescent Sun-Like Star

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

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Space Image of the Week

A Stunning Look at the Cliffs of Comet 67P/Churyumov-

GerasimenkoCredits: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM, processing

by Stuart Atkinson