Space News Update - June 21, In the News Story 1: ‘Electric Wind’ Can Strip Earth-like Planets of Oceans, Atmospheres Story 2: Detection of Methanol Shows Comets Are Forming in Distant Solar System Story 3: Story 3: Cygnus Leaves Space Station and Conducts NASA Fire Experiment in Microgravity Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

‘Electric Wind’ Can Strip Earth-like Planets of Oceans, Atmospheres

Detection of Methanol Shows Comets Are Forming in Distant Solar System

Cygnus Leaves Space Station and Conducts NASA Fire Experiment in Microgravity

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, June 21  Vega is the brightest star very high in the east. Barely to its lower left after dark is one of the best-known multiple stars in the sky: 4th-magnitude Epsilon (ε) Lyrae, the Double-Double. It forms one corner of a roughly equilateral triangle with Vega and Zeta (ζ) Lyrae. The triangle is less than 2° on a side, hardly the width of your thumb at arm's length.  Binoculars easily resolve Epsilon, and a 4-inch telescope at 100× or more should resolve each of Epsilon's wide components into a tight pair.  Zeta Lyrae is also a double star for binoculars; much tougher, but easily split with any telescope. Delta (δ) Lyrae, below Zeta, is much wider and easier. Wednesday, June 22  As evening grows late, even the lowest star of the Summer Triangle climbs fairly high in the east. That would be Altair, a good three or four fists at arm's length below or lower right of bright Vega.  Look left of Altair, by hardly more than one fist, for the compact little constellation Delphinus, the Dolphin. Thursday, June 23  Now that there's a long dark spell between the end of twilight and moonrise, tear your telescope away from Mars and Saturn and take a tour of the faint globular clusters swarming nearby, east of Antares. Credit: EarthSky.org

ISS Sighting Opportunities Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting InformationSatellite Sighting Information ISS For Denver : No Sighting Opportunities at Denver through Sunday Jul 3, 2016

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 Thursday, June 23  1 p.m. - ISS Expedition 48 In-Flight Event with Motherboard and the CBS Radio Network with ISS Commander Jeff Williams of NASA (Starts at 12:55 p.m.) (all channels) Friday, June 24  10 a.m. - Video File of the ISS Expedition Crew’s Departure from the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia for the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (Ivanishin, Rubins, Onishi) (all channels) (all times Eastern Time Zone)

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar  Jun 21 - Cartosat 2C PSLV Launch  Jun 21 - Comet P/2004 T1 (LINEAR-NEAT) Closest Approach To Earth (2.843 AU)Comet P/2004 T1 (LINEAR-NEAT)  Jun 21 - Comet 198P/ODAS At Opposition (3.894 AU)Comet 198P/ODAS  Jun 21 - Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell At Opposition (4.250 AU)Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell  Jun 21 - Aten Asteroid 2013 ND15 (Venus Trojan) Near-Earth Flyby (0.076 AU)Aten Asteroid 2013 ND15 (Venus Trojan)  Jun 21 - Amor Asteroid 2016 LR1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.095 AU)Amor Asteroid 2016 LR1  Jun 21 - Asteroid 3953 Perth Closest Approach To Earth (1.272 AU)Asteroid 3953 Perth  Jun 21 - Asteroid Matterhorn Closest Approach To Earth (1.699 AU)Asteroid Matterhorn  Jun 21 - Asteroid Taipei Closest Approach To Earth (1.870 AU)Asteroid Taipei  Jun 21 - Asteroid 3259 Brownlee Closest Approach To Earth (2.043 AU)Asteroid 3259 Brownlee  Jun 21 - Herbert Friedman's 100th Birthday (1916)Herbert Friedman's  Jun 22 - Comet C/2013 X1 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (0.640 AU)Comet C/2013 X1 (PANSTARRS)  Jun 22 - Comet C/2015 WZ (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (1.110 AU)Comet C/2015 WZ (PANSTARRS)  Jun 22 - Asteroid 87 Sylvia (2 Moons) Occults TYC (11.7 Magnitude Star)Asteroid 87 Sylvia (2 Moons) Occults TYC  Jun 22 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 LH10 Near-Earth Flyby (0.057 AU)Apollo Asteroid 2016 LH10  Jun 22 - Amor Asteroid 2016 LR9 Near-Earth Flyby (0.068 AU)Amor Asteroid 2016 LR9  Jun 22 - Amor Asteroid 2016 LV9 Near-Earth Flyby (0.089 AU)Amor Asteroid 2016 LV9  Jun 22 - Apollo Asteroid Izhdubar Closest Approach To Earth (0.642 AU)Apollo Asteroid Izhdubar  Jun 22 - Asteroid Winnecke Closest Approach To Earth (1.034 AU)Asteroid Winnecke  Jun 22 - Asteroid Pandabear Closest Approach To Earth (1.186 AU)Asteroid Pandabear  Jun 22 - Asteroid Tell Closest Approach To Earth (2.035 AU)Asteroid Tell  Jun 22 - Asteroid 6030 Zolensky Closest Approach To Earth (2.189 AU)Asteroid 6030 Zolensky  Jun th Anniversary (1976), Salyut 5 Launch (USSR Space Station)Salyut 5  Jun 23 - Amor Asteroid 3199 Nefertiti Closest Approach To Earth (1.851 AU)Amor Asteroid 3199 NefertitiClosest Approach To Earth  Jun 23 - Asteroid 4701 Milani Closest Approach To Earth (1.867 AU)Asteroid 4701 Milani  Jun 23 - Lecture: Juno Mission to Jupiter, Washington DCLecture: Juno Mission to Jupiter  Jun 24 - MUOS 5 Atlas 5 LaunchMUOS 5Atlas 5 Launch

Food for Thought Measuring the Impacts of Light Pollution New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale

Space Image of the Week Sputnik Planum vs. Krun Macula Image Credit: NASA, Johns Hopkins Univ./APL, Southwest Research Institute