Space News Update - March 4, In the News Story 1: Methane Snow on Pluto’s Peaks Story 2: Hubble Team Breaks Cosmic Distance Record Story 3: Story 3: Great Tilt Gave Mars a New Face Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

Methane Snow on Pluto’s Peaks

Hubble Team Breaks Cosmic Distance Record

Great Tilt Gave Mars a New Face

east-southeast horizon for Venus to the right or lower right of the thin waning crescent moon. Binoculars will help. Your best chance will be about 30 to 20 minutes before your local sunrise. Monday, March 7 Double shadow on Jupiter. Both Io and Europa will be casting their tiny black shadows onto Jupiter from 7:28 to 8:58 p.m. EST. Jupiter will be well up by then as seen from the Eastern time zone. Not long after, Jupiter's Great Red Spot will rotate into view. It will cross the planet's central meridian around 11:04 p.m. EST. The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Friday, March 4 Leo stands over bright Jupiter at nightfall this week, as shown at right. The Big Dipper glitters high in the northeast these evenings, standing on its handle. You probably know that the two stars forming the front of the Dipper's bowl (currently on top) are the Pointers; they point to Polaris, currently to their left. And, you may know that if you follow the curve of the Dipper's handle out and around by a little more than a Dipper length, you'll arc to Arcturus, now rising in the east. But did you know that if you follow the Pointers backward the opposite way, you'll land in Leo? Draw a line diagonally across the Dipper's bowl from where the handle is attached, continue far on, and you'll go to Gemini. And look at the two stars forming the open top of the Dipper's bowl. Follow this line past the bowl's lip far across the sky, and you crash into Capella. Saturday, March 5 On the traditional divide between the winter and spring sky is dim Cancer. It's between Gemini to its west and Leo to its east. Cancer holds something unique in its middle: the Beehive Star Cluster, M44. The Beehive shows dimly to the naked eye if you have little or no light pollution. With binoculars it's a snap even in a more polluted sky. Look for it a little less than halfway from Pollux in Gemini to Regulus in Leo. Sunday, March 6 As dawn brightens on Monday morning the 7th, look just above the

ISS Sighting Opportunities Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting InformationSatellite Sighting Information ISS For Denver : DateVisibleMax HeightAppearsDisappears Sat Mar 5, 5:14 AM3 min25°11° above S24° above ESE Sun Mar 6, 4:24 AM2 min13°12° above SSE11° above ESE Sun Mar 6, 5:58 AM5 min60°10° above WSW19° above NE Mon Mar 7, 5:07 AM3 min68°23° above SW28° above ENE Tue Mar 8, 4:18 AM< 1 min29°29° above ESE22° above E Tue Mar 8, 5:51 AM5 min28°11° above W11° above NNE

Saturday, March 5 9 a.m., 5 p.m., Replay of Video File of the ISS Expedition 46/Soyuz TMA-18M Landing and Post-Landing Activities (Kelly, Kornienko and Volkov) (all channels) 10 a.m., 6 p.m., Replay of the Return to Ellington Field, Houston of ISS Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly of NASA After A Year in Space (all channels) 11:30 a.m., 3:30 p.m., Replay of “STEM in 30”- Milestones of Flight: The Lindberghs - Exploring the Lindberghs' aviation-related accomplishments (NTV-1 (Public), NTV-2 (Education)) 1 p.m., 8 p.m., Replay of ISS Program Science Briefing on the One-Year Mission of NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly and Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko of Roscosmos (all channels) 2 p.m., Replay of NASA One-Year Crewmember Scott Kelly’s Post-Landing News Conference (all channels) Sunday, March 6 9 a.m., 5 p.m., Replay of ISS Program Science Briefing on the One-Year Mission of NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly and Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko of Roscosmos (all channels) 1 p.m., 8 p.m., Replay of Video File of the ISS Expedition 46/Soyuz TMA-18M Landing and Post-Landing Activities (Kelly, Kornienko and Volkov) (all channels) 2 p.m., 9 p.m., Replay of the Return to Ellington Field, Houston of ISS Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly of NASA After A Year in Space (all channels) 3:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m., Replay of “STEM in 30”- Milestones of Flight: The Lindberghs - Exploring the Lindberghs' aviation-related accomplishments (NTV-1 (Public), NTV-2 (Education)) NASA-TV Highlights Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA websiteNASA website MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013 NASA MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013 NASA MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013 NASA (all times Eastern Time Zone)

Mar 04 - Comet 73P-V/Schwassmann-Wachmann Closest Approach To Earth (1.916 AU)Comet 73P-V/Schwassmann-WachmannClosest Approach To Earth Mar 04 - Asteroid 2245 Hekatostos Occults HIP (6.4 Magnitude Star)Asteroid 2245 Hekatostos Occults HIP Mar 04 - Apollo Asteroid 2015 TJ1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.060 AU)Apollo Asteroid 2015 TJ1Near-Earth Flyby Mar 04 - Apollo Asteroid 2015 WH2 Near-Earth Flyby (0.079 AU)Apollo Asteroid 2015 WH2Near-Earth Flyby Mar 04 - Richard Tolman's 135th Birthday (1881)Richard Tolman's Mar Journey through the Universe (Journey) Week, Hilo, HawaiiJourney through the Universe (Journey) Week Mar 05 - Comet C/2016 C1 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (7.753 AU)Comet C/2016 C1 (PANSTARRS)Closest Approach To Earth Mar 05 - Comet C/2016 C1 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (7.753 AU)Comet C/2016 C1 (PANSTARRS)At Opposition Mar 05 - Asteroid 1612 Hirose Occults HIP (6.8 Magnitude Star)Asteroid 1612 Hirose Occults HIP Mar 05 - [Mar 04] Apollo Asteroid 2016 EG1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.003 AU)Apollo Asteroid 2016 EG1 Mar 05 - [Mar 02] Apollo Asteroid 2016 DN2 Near-Earth Flyby (0.005 AU)Apollo Asteroid 2016 DN2 Mar 05 - Asteroid 6377 Cagney Closest Approach To Earth (1.510 AU)Asteroid 6377 Cagney Mar 05 - Asteroid 4305 Clapton Closest Approach To Earth (1.720 AU)Asteroid 4305 Clapton Mar 06 - Comet 141P-D/Machholz At Opposition (1.534 AU)Comet 141P-D/MachholzAt Opposition Mar 06 - Comet C/2015 YG1 (NEOWISE) At Opposition (1.763 AU)Comet C/2015 YG1 (NEOWISE)At Opposition Mar 06 - Comet P/2015 TO19 (Lemmon-PANSTARRS) Perihelion (2.926 AU)Comet P/2015 TO19 (Lemmon-PANSTARRS)Perihelion Mar 06 - Comet 269P/Jedicke Closest Approach To Earth (3.880 AU)Comet 269P/JedickeClosest Approach To Earth Mar 06 - Comet 181P/Shoemaker-Levy At Opposition (4.190 AU)Comet 181P/Shoemaker-LevyAt Opposition Mar 06 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 CZ193 Near-Earth Flyby (0.084 AU)Apollo Asteroid 2016 CZ193 Mar 06 - [Mar 04] Amor Asteroid 2016 EC1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.088 AU)Amor Asteroid 2016 EC1 Mar 06 - Asteroid 4147 Lennon Closest Approach To Earth (1.293 AU)Asteroid 4147 Lennon Mar 06 - Asteroid 4355 Memphis Closest Approach To Earth (1.543 AU)Asteroid 4355 Memphis Mar 06 - Amor Asteroid 3552 Don Quixote Closest Approach To Earth (4.949 AU)Amor Asteroid 3552 Don QuixoteClosest Approach To Earth Mar 06 - Kuiper Belt Object 2013 FY27 At Opposition ( AU)Kuiper Belt Object 2013 FY27At Opposition Mar th Anniversary (1986), Vega 1, Comet Halley FlybyVega 1 Mar 07 - [Mar 02] Amor Asteroid 2016 DL2 Near-Earth Flyby (0.065 AU)Amor Asteroid 2016 DL2 Mar 07 - Apollo Asteroid 2007 DM41 Near-Earth Flyby (0.083 AU)Apollo Asteroid 2007 DM41Near-Earth Flyby Mar 07 - Asteroid 5945 Roachapproach Closest Approach To Earth (1.521 AU)Asteroid 5945 Roachapproach Mar 07 - Asteroid 6487 Tonyspear Closest Approach To Earth (1.641 AU)Asteroid 6487 Tonyspear Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar

Food for Thought Gemini's First Docking Turns to Wild Ride in Orbit

Space Image of the Week Moons and Jupiter Image Credit & Copyright: Phillip A CrudenCopyrightPhillip A Cruden