Space News Update- November 19, 2013 -
In the News
Story 1: Sun Fires Off Powerful Solar Flare
Story 2:Examining Buzz Aldrin’s roadmap to Mars
Story 3: MAVEN thunders to Space on Journey to Study Red Planet’s Watery
History and Potential for Life
Departments
The Night SkyISS Sighting Opportunities
NASA-TV HighlightsSpace CalendarFood for Thought
Space Image of the Week
Sun Fires Off Powerful Solar Flare
Examining Buzz Aldrin’s roadmap to Mars
MAVEN thunders to Space on Journey to Study Red Planet’s Watery History and
Potential for Life
The Night SkyTuesday, November 19 • After 9 or 10 this evening, you'll find the waning gibbous Moon shining inside a huge quadrilateral: Capella to the Moon's upper left, Aldebaran to the Moon's upper right, Betelgeuse closer to its lower right, and bright Jupiter far to its lower left.
Wednesday, November 20 • By late evening the waning Moon is up in the east. It's now part of a long, ragged, roughly horizontal snake. From right to left: Rigel in Orion's foot in the east-southeast, Orion's Belt, Betelgeuse, the Moon, Jupiter, Pollux, and above Pollux, Castor.
Thursday, November 21 • Jupiter is the bright "star" upper left of the Moon late this evening. Although they look close together, Jupiter is currently 1,660 times farther away. And Pollux and Castor, to Jupiter's left and upper left, are 500,000 and 730,000 times farther than Jupiter! (at 34 and 52 light-years, respectively).
Friday, November 22 • The waning gibbous Moon is up in the east by about 10 p.m., depending on where you live. Look above it for bright Jupiter and (to Jupiter's left) Pollux and Castor. To the Moon's right twinkles Procyon. Much farther to the right, brighter Sirius is rising or soon to rise.
Saturday, November 23 • The eclipsing binary star Algol should be at minimum light, magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.3, for a couple hours centered on 9:06 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. It takes several more hours to fade and to rebrighten.
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
Tue Nov 19, 6:19 AM 2 min 11° 10 above N 10 above NNE
Wed Nov 20, 5:31 AM 1 min 10° 10 above N 10 above NNE
Thu Nov 21, 6:18 AM 3 min 13° 10 above NNW 10 above NE
Fri Nov 22, 5:30 AM 2 min 11° 11 above N 10 above NNE
Sat Nov 23, 6:17 AM 4 min 21° 11 above NNW 14 above ENE
NASA-TV Highlights(all times Eastern Daylight Time)
Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website
•November 19, Tuesday•6:30 p.m. - Live Coverage of the Launch of Student-Built Satellites as Part of the CubeSat Launch Initiative - WFF/HQ (Media and Education Channels) •November 20, Wednesday•2 - 3:30 p.m. - Live Interviews with Expedition 36/37 Flight Engineer Karen Nyberg of NASA - JSC (All Channels)•8 - 9:30 p.m. - Asteroid Initiative Ideas Synthesis Workshop - Opening Plenary Session - HQ/LPI - (All Channels)•November 21, Thursday•9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. - Asteroid Initiative Ideas Synthesis Workshop -- Partnerships & Participatory Engagement - HQ/LPI - (Public and Education Channels)•11 a.m. - Space Station Live - JSC (Media Channel)•2 - 6:30 p.m. - Asteroid Initiative Ideas Synthesis Workshop -- Asteroid Crew Systems - HQ/LPI - (All Channels)•8:30 - 10:30 p.m. - Asteroid Initiative Ideas Synthesis Workshop -- Cosmic Explorations: A Speakers Series - HQ/LPI - (All Channels)•November 22, Friday•9 a.m. - Asteroid Initiative Ideas Synthesis Workshop -- Grand Challenge Panel – Next Generation Engagement - HQ/LPI - (Public and Education Channels)•11 a.m. - Space Station Live - JSC (Media Channel) •10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. - Asteroid Initiative Ideas Synthesis Workshop -- Summary Plenary Session - HQ/LPI - (All Channels)
Space Calendar
JPL Space Calendar
•Nov 19 - [Nov 13] ORS 3/ Vermont Lunar Cubesat/ STPSat 3/ SENSE 1 & 2/ Firefly/ STARE B/ RAMPART/ TetherSat 1 & 2/ NPS-SCAT/ Copper/ CAPE 2/ KYSAT 2/ SwampSat/ Black Knight 1/ Trailblazer 1/ DragonSat 1/ ChargerSat1/ TJ Sat/Prometheus 1-4/CSIP Minotaur 1 Launch •Nov 19 - [Nov 14] Asteroid 2013 VK13 Near-Earth Flyby (0.021 AU) •Nov 19 - Asteroid 7434 Osaka Closest Approach To Earth (1.032 AU) •Nov 19 - Asteroid 341 California Closest Approach To Earth (1.223 AU) •Nov 19 - Asteroid 2046 Leningrad Closest Approach To Earth (1.880 AU) •Nov 19 - Asteroid 6676 Monet Closest Approach To Earth (2.104 AU) •Nov 20 - Comet C/2013 R1 (Lovejoy) Closest Approach To Earth (0.397 AU) •Nov 20 - Asteroid 804 Hispania Closest Approach To Earth (1.870 AU) •Nov 20 - Asteroid 4758 Hermitage Closest Approach To Earth (2.025 AU) •Nov 21 - DubaiSat 2/ STSat 3/ SkySat 1/ WNISAT-1/ Brite-PL 1/ AprizeSat 7 & 8/ UniSat 5/ Delfi-n3Xt/ Dove 4/ Triton 1 & 2/ CINEMA 2 & 3/ GOMX 1/ FUNcube 1/ PUCP-SAT 1/ UWE 3/ Pocket-PUCP/ BPA 3/ I-Cube 1/ eSt@r 2/ Humsat-D/ BeakerSat 1 (Eagle 1)/ QubeScout S1/ Wren Dnepr 1 Launch •Nov 21 - Comet 2P/Encke Perihelion (0.336 AU) •Nov 21 - Comet 100P/Hartley At Opposition (3.646 AU) •Nov 21 - Asteroid 14988 Tryggvason Occults HIP 29696 (4.3 Magnitude Star) •Nov 21 - Asteroid 15845 Bambi Closest Approach To Earth (1.148 AU) •Nov 21 - Asteroid 2598 Merlin Closest Approach To Earth (1.201 AU) •Nov 21 - Asteroid 19620 Auckland Closest Approach To Earth (1.388 AU) •Nov 21 - Asteroid 5053 Chladni Closest Approach To Earth (1.502 AU) •Nov 21 - Asteroid 3767 DiMaggio Closest Approach To Earth (1.912 AU) •Nov 22 - [Nov 19] Swarm A, B & C Rokot KM Launch •Nov 22 - Comet P/2013 T2 (Schwartz) At Opposition (1.181 AU) •Nov 22 - Comet 271P/van Houten-Lemmon Closest Approach To Earth (3.331 AU) •Nov 22 - Asteroid 8553 Bradsmith Closest Approach To Earth (1.443 AU) •Nov 22 - 15th Anniversary (1998), Galileo, Europa 18 Flyby •Nov 23 - Comet P/2012 T3 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (3.914 AU) •Nov 23 - Comet 251P/LINEAR At Opposition (4.254 AU) •Nov 23 - Comet C/2012 U1 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (4.763 AU) •Nov 23 - Asteroid 4547 Massachusetts Closest Approach To Earth (1.531 AU) •Nov 23 - Asteroid 51826 Kalpanachawla Closest Approach To Earth (1.845 AU)
Food for ThoughtTeenaged Space Station Thriving After 15 Years Of Science,
Extreme Construction And Tricky Repairs
Space Image of the Week
Image Credit: Jim Nelson, a museum galaxy guide
MAVEN Launch Cape Canaveral
