Space News Update - June 21, In the News Story 1: NASA's Juno Spacecraft in Orbit Around Mighty Jupiter Story 2: NASA Rover's Sand-Dune Studies Yield Surprise Story 3: Story 3: New Horizons Receives Mission Extension to Kuiper Belt, Dawn to Remain at Ceres Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

NASA's Juno Spacecraft in Orbit Around Mighty Jupiter

NASA Rover's Sand-Dune Studies Yield Surprise

New Horizons Receives Mission Extension to Kuiper Belt, Dawn to Remain at Ceres

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, July 5 Arcturus is the brightest star high in the west. Equally bright Vega is similarly high in the east. A third of the way from Arcturus to Vega, look for dim Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown, with its one modestly bright star, Gemma or Alphecca. Two thirds of the way, you'll find the dim Keystone of Hercules. Wednesday, July 6 Can you see the thin crescent Moon yet, low in the west in twilight? Jupiter and Regulus point the way, more or less, as shown at right. As evening grows late, even the lowest star of the Summer Triangle climbs high in the east. That's Altair, a good three or four fists at arm's length below or lower right of Vega.  Inside the Summer Triangle, near the line from Vega to Altair, is the grand double star Albireo, 2nd magnitude. But do you know about the "false Albireo" in the same binocular field? It consists of Alpha and 8 Vulpeculae, a wider pair that's also orange and blue. Thursday, July 7  The thin waxing crescent Moon hangs low in the west at dusk. Look for Regulus about 3° to its right or upper right, as shown above. Much farther to their upper left is Jupiter.

ISS Sighting Opportunities Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting InformationSatellite Sighting Information ISS For Denver : DateVisibleMax HeightAppearsDisappears Tue Jul 5, 5:11 AM2 min12°10° above SSE12° above ESE Thu Jul 7, 5:00 AM4 min30°10° above SSW23° above E Fri Jul 8, 4:09 AM4 min15°11° above SSE10° above E Sat Jul 9, 4:51 AM4 min78°13° above SW44° above ENE

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 Tuesday, July 5  2 p.m. - Replay of the Post Juno Orbital Insertion NASA Science Briefing (NTV-1 (Public), NTV-3 (Media))  6 p.m. - NASA Television Video File News Feed File of the ISS Expedition Crew’s Soyuz MS-01 Mating, Rollout to the Launch Pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and Launch Pad Interviews (includes activities from July 3 and 4) (all channels)  8 p.m. - NASA TV Video-File News Feed of the ISS Expedition 48-49/Soyuz MS-01 Vehicle Encapsulation and Crew Activities at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (Ivanishin, Rubins, Onishi; includes activities from July 1-2) (NTV-1 (Public), NTV-3 (Media))  9 p.m. - Replay of the Post Juno Orbital Insertion NASA Science Briefing (NTV-1 (Public), NTV-3 (Media))  10 p.m. - NASA Television Video File News Feed File of the ISS Expedition Crew’s Soyuz MS-01 Mating, Rollout to the Launch Pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and Launch Pad Interviews (includes activities from July 3 and 4) (all channels) Wednesday, July 6  12 p.m. - Replay of the Russian State Commission Meeting and Final ISS Expedition Pre-Launch Crew News Conference in Baikonur, Kazakhstan (Ivanishin, Rubins, Onishi) (all channels)  8:30 p.m. - ISS Expedition Soyuz MS-01 Launch Coverage (Ivanishin, Rubins, Onishi; launch scheduled at 9:36 p.m. ET; includes video B-roll of the crew’s launch day pre-launch activities at 8:40 p.m. ET) (all channels) Thursday, July 7  Midnight, - Video File of ISS Expedition 48-49/Soyuz MS-01 Pre-Launch, Launch Video B-Roll and Related Interviews (all channels)  1:30 p.m. - Video B-Roll Feed of ISS Expedition Crew Training – JSC (all channels) (all times Eastern Time Zone)

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar  Jul 05 - Comet 207P/Hill Closest Approach To Earth (1.934 AU)Comet 207P/Hill  Jul 05 - Comet C/2014 W5 (Lemmon-PANSTARRS) At Opposition (2.090 AU)Comet C/2014 W5 (Lemmon-PANSTARRS)  Jul 05 - Comet 47P/Ashbrook-Jackson At Opposition (2.391 AU)Comet 47P/Ashbrook-Jackson  Jul 05 - Comet 145P/Shoemaker-Levy At Opposition (2.760 AU)Comet 145P/Shoemaker-Levy  Jul 05 - Comet P/2009 WX51 (Catalina) Closest Approach To Earth (2.864 AU)Comet P/2009 WX51 (Catalina)  Jul 05 - Asteroid Randiiwessen Closest Approach To Earth (1.481 AU)Asteroid Randiiwessen  Jul 05 - Asteroid Rogerfederer Closest Approach To Earth (1.818 AU)Asteroid Rogerfederer  Jul 05 - Asteroid Vespucci Closest Approach To Earth (2.254 AU)Asteroid Vespucci  Jul 05 - Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU69 At Opposition ( AU)Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU69  Jul 05 - Kuiper Belt Object 2014 PN70 At Opposition ( AU)Kuiper Belt Object 2014 PN70  Jul 06 - Comet P/2008 T4 (Hill) At Opposition (3.692 AU)Comet P/2008 T4 (Hill)  Jul 06 - Asteroid 3430 Bradfield Closest Approach To Earth (1.527 AU)Asteroid 3430 Bradfield  Jul 06 - Asteroid LONEOS Closest Approach To Earth (1.907 AU)Asteroid LONEOS  Jul 07 - Soyuz MS-1 Soyuz-FG Launch (International Space Station 47S)Soyuz MS-1Soyuz-FG Launch  Jul 07 - Comet P/2010 D1 (WISE) At Opposition (2.944 AU)Comet P/2010 D1 (WISE)  Jul 07 - Asteroid 2 Pallas Occults 2UCAC (12.5 Magnitude Star)Asteroid 2 Pallas Occults 2UCAC  Jul 07 - Centaur Object Chariklo Occults UCAC (12.9 Magnitude Star)Centaur Object Chariklo Occults UCAC  Jul 07 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 MO Near-Earth Flyby (0.017 AU)Apollo Asteroid 2016 MO  Jul 07 - Asteroid 736 Harvard Closest Approach To Earth (0.949 AU)Asteroid 736 Harvard  Jul 07 - Asteroid 8630 Billprady Closest Approach To Earth (1.056 AU)Asteroid 8630 Billprady  Jul 07 - Asteroid 3869 Norton Closest Approach To Earth (1.172 AU)Asteroid 3869 Norton  Jul 07 - Atira Asteroid (2005 TG45) Closest Approach To Earth (1.186 AU)Atira Asteroid (2005 TG45)  Jul 07 - Asteroid 7100 Martin Luther Closest Approach To Earth (1.628 AU)Asteroid 7100 Martin Luther  Jul 07 - Asteroid Moe Closest Approach To Earth (1.642 AU)Asteroid Moe  Jul 07 - Asteroid 1618 Dawn Closest Approach To Earth (1.775 AU)Asteroid 1618 Dawn  Jul 07 - Asteroid 3255 Tholen Closest Approach To Earth (1.961 AU)Asteroid 3255 Tholen  Jul 08 - Dwarf Planet Pluto At Opposition ( AU)Dwarf Planet Pluto

Food for Thought Static Electricity May Transport Dust across Airless Planetary Bodies New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale

Space Image of the Week The Cat's Eye Nebula Image Credit: J. P. Harrington (U. Maryland) & K. J. Borkowski (NCSU) HST, NASA