Space News Update- November 28, 2014 -

In the News

Story 1: NASA's Van Allen Probes Spot an Impenetrable Barrier in Space

Story 2:Delaying Death: Mercury Spacecraft Firing Engines To Stay Up Until 2015

Story 3: “Eye of Sauron” Galaxy Used For New Method of Galactic Surveying

Departments

The Night SkyISS Sighting Opportunities

NASA-TV HighlightsSpace CalendarFood for Thought

Space Image of the Week

NASA's Van Allen Probes Spot an Impenetrable Barrier in Space

Delaying Death: Mercury Spacecraft Firing Engines To Stay

Up Until 2015

“Eye of Sauron” Galaxy Used For New Method of Galactic Surveying

The Night Sky

Friday, November 28First-quarter Moon (exactly so at 5:06 a.m. Saturday morning EST). Look for Fomalhaut far to its lower left, and Enif, the nose of Pegasus, almost as far to the Moon's upper right.

Saturday, November 29The Moon stands high in the south soon after nightfall, with the western side of the Great Square of Pegasus pointing down at it from above.By 10 or 11 p.m. now (depending in how far east or west you live in your time zone), the dim Little Dipper hangs straight down from Polaris.

Sky & Telescope

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

Sat Nov 29, 4:45 AM

1 min 24° 24 above SE 11 above SE

Sun Nov 30, 5:31 AM

1 min 15° 15 above SSW 10 above S

NASA-TV Highlights(all times Eastern Daylight Time)

Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

8 p.m., Friday, November 28 - Expedition 42 Crew Profile (TRT- 5:55) (all channels)8:06 p.m., Friday, November 28 - NASA Expedition 42 Flight Engineer and Expedition 43 Commander Terry Virts (TRT- 45:05) (all channels)9 p.m., Friday, November 28 - ESA Expedition 42/43 Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti (TRT- 48:46) (all channels)10 p.m., Friday, November 28 - Roscosmos Expedition 42/43 Flight Engineer Anton Shkaplerov (TRT- 39:49) (all channels)11 p.m., Friday, November 28 - The STS-125 Crew, from SMA-4 -- the Last Mission to Hubble at the Intrepid Museum in New York - Get Ready to Celebrate 25 years of Hubble! (all channels)6 a.m., 9 p.m. Saturday, November 29 - Expedition 42 Crew Profile (TRT- 5:55) (all channels)6:06 a.m., 9:06 p.m. Saturday, November 29 - NASA Expedition 42 Flight Engineer and Expedition 43 Commander Terry Virts (TRT- 45:05) (all channels)7 a.m., 8 p.m. Saturday, November 29 - ESA Expedition 42/43 Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti (TRT- 48:46) (all channels)8 a.m., 7 p.m. Saturday, November 29 - Roscosmos Expedition 42/43 Flight Engineer Anton Shkaplerov (TRT- 39:49) (all channels)9 a.m., 5 p.m. Saturday, November 29 - The STS-125 Crew, from SMA-4 -- the Last Mission to Hubble at the Intrepid Museum in New York - Get Ready to Celebrate 25 years of Hubble! (all channels)6 a.m., Sunday, November 30 - The STS-125 Crew, from SMA-4 -- the Last Mission to Hubble at the Intrepid Museum in New York - Get Ready to Celebrate 25 years of Hubble! (all channels)8 a.m., Sunday, November 30 - Expedition 42 Crew Profile (TRT- 5:55) (undefined, NTV-1 (Public), NTV-2 (Education), NTV-3 (Media))9 a.m., Sunday, November 30 - Roscosmos Expedition 42/43 Flight Engineer Anton Shkaplerov (TRT- 39:49) (all channels)1 p.m., Monday, December 1 - Live Coverage of the Beautiful Earth Program Multimedia Performance and Science Dialogue with GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement) Mission and Kenji William’s Bella Gaia (NTV-2 (Education))7:45 a.m., Tuesday, December 2 - ISS Expedition 42 In-Flight Event for ESA and Italian Media with Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti (interpretation included) (all channels)12 p.m., Tuesday, December 2 - Journey To Mars Briefing (all channels)1 p.m., Tuesday, December 2 - Orion Flight Test Status and Overview Briefing (all channels)

Space Calendar

JPL Space Calendar

Nov 28 - [Nov 21] 50th Anniversary (1964), Mariner 4 Launch (Mars Flyby Mission)Nov 28 - Comet 108P/Ciffreo Closest Approach To Earth (0.793 AU)Nov 28 - [Nov 27] Comet C/2014 W8 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (4.190 AU)Nov 28 - Comet C/2013 V4 (Catalina) Closest Approach To Earth (4.723 AU)Nov 28 - Asteroid 2459 Spellmann Occults HIP 38868 (6.0 Magnitude Star)Nov 28 - Asteroid 3 Juno Occults HIP 43790 (10.1 Magnitude Star)Nov 28 - [Nov 26] Asteroid 2014 WQ201 Near-Earth Flyby (0.097 AU)Nov 28 - Asteroid 3838 Epona Closest Approach To Earth (1.282 AU)Nov 28 - Kuiper Belt Object 229762 (2007 UK126) At Opposition (42.541 AU)Nov 29 - [Nov 27] Asteroid 2014 WU202 Near-Earth Flyby (0.020 AU)Nov 29 - [Nov 23] Asteroid 2014 WE120 Near-Earth Flyby (0.048 AU)Nov 29 - Asteroid 1862 Apollo Closest Approach To Earth (0.620 AU)Nov 29 - Asteroid 34901 Mauna Loa Closest Approach To Earth (1.641 AU)Nov 29 - Asteroid 11334 Rio de Janeiro Closest Approach To Earth (1.692 AU)Nov 29 - Centaur Object 8405 Asbolus At Opposition (17.763 AU)Nov 30 - [Nov 23] Hayabusa 2/ Sinen 2/ Despatch (Artsat 2)/ Procyon H-2A Launch (Japan Asteroid Sample Return Mission)Nov 30 - Comet 306P/LINEAR At Opposition (0.922 AU)Nov 30 - Asteroid 10563 Izhdubar Closest Approach To Earth (0.986 AU)Nov 30 - 60th Anniversary (1954), Sylacauga Meteorite Fall (Hit Woman in Alabama)Dec 01 - Asteroid 2014 UY Near-Earth Flyby (0.035 AU)Dec 01 - Asteroid 14880 Moa Closest Approach To Earth (1.425 AU)Dec 01 - Asteroid 1159 Granada Closest Approach To Earth (1.522 AU)Dec 01 - Kuiper Belt Object 2006 QH181 At Opposition (82.146 AU)Dec 01 - 55th Anniversary (1959), 1st Color Photo of Earth Taken From Space (Thor Missile)Dec 02 - Moon Occults UranusDec 02 - Comet P/2010 B2 (WISE) At Opposition (1.355 AU)Dec 02 - [Nov 22] Comet P/2014 W1 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (1.696 AU)Dec 02 - Comet C/2014 R1 (Borisov) Closest Approach To Earth (1.825 AU)Dec 02 - Comet P/2010 J5 (McNaught) At Opposition (3.398 AU)Dec 02 - [Nov 22] Comet P/2014 W2 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (4.224 AU)Dec 02 - [Nov 25] Asteroid 2014 WC201 Near-Earth Flyby (0.004 AU)Dec 02 - Asteroid 2014 SF145 Near-Earth Flyby (0.061 AU)Dec 02 - Asteroid 4416 Ramses Closest Approach To Earth (0.961 AU)Dec 02 - Asteroid 115561 Frankherbert Closest Approach To Earth (1.986 AU)Dec 02 - [Nov 21] 25th Anniversary (1989), Solar Maximum Mission Reenters Earth's AtmosphereDec 02 - 40th Anniversary (1974), Pioneer 11, Jupiter Flyby

Food for ThoughtDNA may survive suborbital spaceflight, re-entry

Space Image of the Week

Portrait of NGC 281 Image Credit & Copyright: Martin Pugh