Space News Update- July 18, 2011 -
In the News
Story 1: Dawn Exceeds Wildest Expectations as First Ever Spacecraft to Orbit a Protoplanet –
Vesta
Story 2:Two brown dwarfs found in solar neighbourhood
Story 3: Russian satellite on mission to peer inside black holes
Departments
The Night SkyISS Sighting Opportunities
Space CalendarNASA-TV Highlights
Food for ThoughtSpace Image of the Week
Dawn Exceeds Wildest Expectations as First Ever Spacecraft to Orbit a
Protoplanet – Vesta
Two brown dwarfs found in solar neighbourhood
Russian satellite on mission to peer inside black holes
The Night SkyMonday, July 18 · Arcturus is the bright star shining high in the southwest these evenings, far above Saturn and Spica. Arcturus is a yellow-orange giant 37 light-years away and about 150 times as luminous as the Sun. Its pale ginger-ale color is plain to the unaided eye. Compare this to the icy blue-white of Vega overhead, equally bright. Look far to the right of Arcturus, at roughly the same height, for the Big Dipper, oriented about as shown here. Tuesday, July 19 · Mercury is at greatest elongation this evening, 27° east of the Sun, low in the west-northwestern twilight. Wednesday, July 20 · Now's the time of year to work through the rich but low tail of Scorpius with a telescope right after dark. Explore a whole nest of little-known star clusters near M6, the Butterfly Cluster, with Sue French's Deep-Sky Wonders article and chart in the July Sky & Telescope, page 66. Thursday, July 21 · The brightest asteroid, 4 Vesta, has brightened to magnitude 6.0 as it approaches opposition in Capricornus. It's easily visible in binoculars in late evening; use our online finder chart or look in the August 2011 issue of Sky & Telescope, page 53. The Dawn spacecraft has taken up orbit around Vesta and should be starting its science imaging around now!
Friday, July 22 · Last-quarter Moon tonight (exact at 1:02 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time). The Moon rises around the middle of the night with Jupiter below it. By dawn they're very high in the southeast.
The Big Dipper high in the northwest is starting to dip.
ISS Sighting Opportunities
Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information
For Denver:
No Sightings until July 23rd.
NASA-TV Highlights
July 18, Monday10:49 p.m. - Rendezvous Tools Checkout - JSC (All Channels)1:29 p.m. - ISS Crew Sleep Begins - JSC (All Channels)1:59 p.m. - Atlantis Crew Sleep Begins - JSC (All Channels)3 p.m. - “Launching Our Dreams” Video Feature Playback - JSC (All Channels)4 p.m. - Flight Day 11 Highlights (replayed on the hour during crew sleep) - JSC (All Channels)9:29 p.m. - Atlantis/ISS Crew Crew Wake Up (begins FD 12) - JSC (All Channels)
July 19, Tuesday2:28 a.m. - Atlantis undocks from ISS - JSC (All Channels)3:27 a.m. - Atlantis Fly around of ISS - JSC (All Channels)4:18 a.m. - Atlantis Final Separation from ISS - JSC (All Channels)6:34 a.m. - RMS / OBSS late inspection of Atlantis' TPS - JSC (All Channels)7:30 a.m. - Mission Status Briefing - JSC (All Channels)10:49 a.m. - OBSS berth - JSC (All Channels)1 p.m. - MMT Briefing - JSC (All Channels)1:59 p.m. – Atlantis Crew Sleep - JSC (All Channels)2 p.m. - Video file - HQ (All Channels)3 p.m. - Flight day 12 highlights (replayed on the hour during crew sleep) - JSC (All Channels)6:15 p.m. - "The Space Shuttle" narrated by William Shatner - JSC (Media Channel)6:15 p.m. - NASA Celebrates “Spirit”- JSC (Public and Education Channels only)9:59 p.m. - Atlantis crew wake up (begins fd 13) - JSC (All Channels)
July 22, Friday10 – 11 a.m. – NASA Science News Briefing – HQ (Public, HD and Media Channels)
Watch NASA TV on the Net by going to NASA website.
Space Calendar
· Jul 18 - Radio-Astron (Spektr R) Zenit 3F Launch, Successful · Jul 18 - Comet C/2009 P2 (Boattini) Closest Approach To Earth (6.440 AU) · Jul 18 - Asteroid 4255 Spacewatch Closest Approach To Earth (2.435 AU) · Jul 18 - 45th Anniversary (1966), Gemini 10 Launch (John Young & Michael Collins) · Jul 18 - John Glenn's 90th Birthday (1921) · Jul 19 - Comet 27P/Crommelin Closest Approach To Earth (1.586 AU) · Jul 19 - Comet C/2006 S3 (LONEOS) Closest Approach To Earth (4.554 AU) · Jul 19 - Asteroid 90 Antiope Occults HIP 112420 (6.7 Magnitude Star) · Jul 19 - Asteroid 15371 Steward Closest Approach To Earth (1.663 AU) · Jul 19 - Edward Pickering's 165th Birthday (1846) · Jul 20 - Mercury At Its Greatest Eastern Elongation (27 Degrees) · Jul 20 - Comet P/2010 J5 (McNaught) Closest Approach To Earth (3.027 AU) · Jul 20 - Asteroid 11412 (1999 JE19) Occults HIP 104174 (5.2 Magnitude Star) · Jul 20 - Asteroid 51825 Davidbrown Closest Approach To Earth (2.076 AU) · Jul 20 - 35th Anniversary (1976), Viking 1, Mars Landing · Jul 21 - Space Shuttle Atlantis Returns To Earth (STS-135 - Last Shuttle Landing) · Jul 21 - 50th Anniversary (1961), Mercury 4 Launch (Gus Grissom, Liberty Bell 7) · Jul 21 - Asteroid 2575 Bulgaria Occults HIP 17608 (4.2 Magnitude Star) · Jul 21 - Asteroid 2187 La Silla Closest Approach To Earth (1.350 AU) · Jul 21 - Asteroid 46977 Krakow Closest Approach To Earth (2.271 AU) · Jul 22 - Comet 183P/Korlevic-Juric Closest Approach To Earth (3.906 AU) · Jul 22 - Asteroid 2007 RQ17 Near-Earth Flyby (0.034 AU) · Jul 22 - Asteroid 2008 TC Near-Earth Flyby (0.061 AU) · Jul 22 - Asteroid 5450 Sokrates Closest Approach To Earth (2.133 AU)
JPL Space Calendar
Food for Thought
How a Mission to Mars Could Kill You
Space Image of the Week
Awesome Aurora Photographed by Shuttle/ISS Crews
