Space News Update - November 8, 2016 - In the News Departments Story 1: CYGNSS Satellite Mission Aims to Improve Hurricane Forecasting Story 2: China Launches Long March 5, One of The World’s Most Powerful Rockets Story 3: NASA Missions Harvest a Passel of ‘Pumpkin’ Stars Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

CYGNSS Satellite Mission Aims to Improve Hurricane Forecasting In this computer graphic, NASA's Voyager 1 probe, moving toward upper left, nears the edge of the sun's influence, flying through a region of space dominated by a "magnetic highway" that helps mediate the flow of particles into and out of the solar system. The region includes particles from the sun's southern hemisphere that have been forced northward by the pressure of the interstellar wind. Voyager 1 is expected to cross the boundary into interstellar space sometime within the next few years if not sooner. (Credit: NASA)

China Launches Long March 5, One of The World’s Most Powerful Rockets

NASA Missions Harvest a Passel of ‘Pumpkin’ Stars

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, November 8 Now the Moon is in Aquarius. Look to the Moon's lower left for Fomalhaut, the Autumn Star, the lonely mouth of Piscis Austrinus the Southern Fish. Half as far above the Moon is the horizontal Water Jar asterism of Aquarius, fairly dim. Algol in Perseus shines at its minimum brightness, magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1, for a couple hours centered on 7:19 p.m. EST. Wednesday, November 9 Happy 82nd birthday, Carl Sagan (November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996). If only…  Thursday, November 10 Around 8 or 9 p.m., depending on where you live, zero-magnitude Capella rises exactly as high in the northeast as zero-magnitude Vega has sunk in the west-northwest. Friday, November 11 Saturn is falling ever farther away to the lower right of Venus at dusk, while far to the upper left of Venus, Mars is drawing closer to it very, very gradually. The scene above is exact for viewers at 40° north latitude. Far south or north of there, you'll see the view higher or lower and slightly tilted with respect to how it's drawn here. By about 8 p.m. now, Orion is clearing the eastern horizon (depending on how far east or west you live in your time zone). High above Orion shines orange Aldebaran. Above Aldebaran is the little Pleiades cluster, the size of your fingertip at arm's length. Far left of the Pleiades shines bright Capella. Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Wed Nov 9, 5:16 AM 1 min 12° 12° above NNW 10° above NNE Thu Nov 10, 6:00 AM 10° 10° above N Fri Nov 11, 5:09 AM < 1 min Sat Nov 12, 5:53 AM 2 min 10° above NNW Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

NASA-TV Highlights (all times Eastern Time Zone) MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013 NASA MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013 NASA MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013 NASA NASA-TV Highlights   (all times Eastern Time Zone) Thursday, November 10 12 p.m. - Video File of the ISS Expedition 50-51/Soyuz MS-03 Crew’s Pre-Launch Activities at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (Novitskiy, Whitson, Pesquet; recorded from Nov. 1-10) (all channels) 1 p.m. - NASA Science Media Briefing on Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) Mission (all channels) Friday, November 11 6 a.m. - Live Interviews with NASA Scientists -- Noah Petro, Alex Young and Nayi Castro – on the November 14 Super Moon (NTV-3 (Media)) 10 a.m. - Heroes and Legends Grand Opening Ceremony (all channels) 12 p.m. - Video File of the ISS Expedition 50-51/Soyuz MS-03 Crew Activities at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (Novitskiy, Whitson, Pesquet) (all channels) Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Nov 08 - Comet P/2010 A2 (LINEAR) Perihelion (2.005 AU) Nov 08 - Comet 288P Perihelion (2.436 AU) Nov 08 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 TT93 Near-Earth Flyby (0.071 AU) Nov 08 - Robert Esnault-Pelterie's 135th Birthday (1881) Nov 08 - Edmund Halley's 360th Birthday (1656) Nov 09 - Moon Occults Neptune Nov 09 - Comet P/2007 T6 (Catalina) At Opposition (1.458 AU) Nov 09 - Comet 324P/La Sagra Closest Approach To Earth (1.997 AU) Nov 09 - Comet 22P/Kopff At Opposition (2.462 AU) Nov 09 - Comet 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup At Opposition (3.691 AU) Nov 09 - Comet C/2015 X8 (NEOWISE) At Opposition (3.741 AU) Nov 09 - Apollo Asteroid 428694 Saule Closest Approach To Earth (0.487 AU) Nov 09 - Asteroid 9954 Brachiosaurus Closest Approach To Earth (1.417 AU) Nov 09 - Asteroid 172996 Stooke Closest Approach To Earth (1.632 AU) Nov 09 - Asteroid 9340 Williamholden Closest Approach To Earth (2.637 AU) Nov 09 - Centaur Object 54598 Bienor At Opposition (14.484 AU) Nov 09 - 55th Anniversary (1961), Robert White Becomes 1st Man to Reach Mach 6 Nov 09 - Arthur Rudolph's 110th Birthday (1906) Nov 09 - Benjamin Banneker's 285th Birthday (1731) Nov 10 - Comet 73P-BG/Schwassmann-Wachmann Closest Approach To Earth (1.755 AU) Nov 10 - Apollo Asteroid 2004 KB Near-Earth Flyby (0.026 AU) Nov 10 - Atira Asteroid 2012 VE46 Closest Approach To Earth (1.236 AU) Nov 10 - Asteroid 249519 Whitneyclavin Closest Approach To Earth (1.922 AU) Nov 10 - Robert Innes' 155th Birthday (1861) Nov 11 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 VQ Near-Earth Flyby (0.007 AU) Nov 11 - 50th Anniversary (1966), Gemini 12 Launch (Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin) Nov 11 - Cassini, Distant Flyby of Tethys JPL Space Calendar

New Theory of Gravity Might Explain Dark Matter Food for Thought New Theory of Gravity Might Explain Dark Matter

Space Image of the Week Tsunami of Stars and Gas Produces Dazzling Eye-shaped Feature in Galaxy Image Credit: Credit: M. Kaufman; B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF); ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO); NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope