Space News Update - March 10, 2017 - In the News Departments Story 1: Hubble Dates Black Hole’s Last Big Meal Story 2: Dawn Identifies Age of Ceres' Brightest Area Story 3: Indicators show potatoes can grow on Mars Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

Hubble Dates Black Hole’s Last Big Meal 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)

Dawn Identifies Age of Ceres' Brightest Area

Indicators show potatoes can grow on Mars

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Friday, March 10 • The bright Moon hangs a few degrees below or lower left of Regulus this evening, as shown here. The Sickle of Leo extends from Regulus toward the upper left. • Late tonight comes the second-brightest asteroid occultation predicted this year for North America. A 6.3-magnitude star in Leo’s snout, just in front of the Sickle, should snap out of sight for up to 3 seconds for observers along a narrow track running from the Georgia coast to just north of San Francisco. The culprit is the 15th-magnitude asteroid 1343 Nicole, only about 26 km (16 miles) wide. Leo will be very high in the southwest or south at the time. For times, detailed maps, a finder chart for the star (easily spotted less than 1° northeast of Lambda Leonis), and other information, see Steve Preston's prediction pages for this event. Saturday, March 11 • The Moon is equally full this evening and tomorrow evening, as seen from the longitude of the Americas. That's because the exact time of full Moon, 10:54 a.m. March 12th EDT, lands halfway between the two evenings. This evening the Moon shines by the dim hind leg of Leo (too dim to be plotted above). Tomorrow evening it's by the dim head of Virgo. • Daylight-saving time begins at 2 a.m. Sunday morning for most of North America. Clocks spring forward. Sunday, March 12 • Sirius shines high in the south as the stars come out this week. Sirius is the bottom star of the bright, equilateral Winter Triangle. The Triangle's other two stars are orange Betelgeuse to Sirius's upper right (Orion's shoulder) and Procyon to Sirius's upper left. Monday, March 13 • The Big Dipper softly 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. Tuesday, March 14 • Jupiter, Spica, and the waning gibbous Moon form a triangle that rises in the east around 9 or 10 p.m. tonight. • Algol shines at its minimum brightness, magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1, for roughly two hours centered on 9:24 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time. Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Fri Mar 10, 4:16 AM 1 min 15° 15° above NNE 10° above NNE Fri Mar 10, 5:52 AM 10° 10° above NNW 10° above N Sat Mar 11, 4:59 AM 2 min 11° Sun Mar 12, 5:08 AM < 1 min 12° 12° above N Sun Mar 12, 6:44 AM Mon Mar 13, 5:51 AM Tue Mar 14, 5:00 AM Tue Mar 14, 6:35 AM 3 min 13° 10° above NE Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

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) 2 p.m., Saturday, March 11 - Replay of SpaceCast Weekly (all channels) 11 p.m., Saturday, March 11 - Replay of SpaceCast Weekly (NTV-1 (Public)) Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Mar 10 - Moon Occults Regulus Mar 10 - Comet 2P/Encke Perihelion (0.336 AU) Mar 10 - Comet 73P-Z/Schwassmann-Wachmann Closest Approach To Earth (1.166 AU) Mar 10 - Comet 73P-AO/Schwassmann-Wachmann Closest Approach To Earth (1.169 AU) Mar 10 - Comet 118P/Shoemaker-Levy Closest Approach To Earth (1.821 AU) Mar 10 - Comet P/2010 J5 (McNaught) Closest Approach To Earth (2.865 AU) Mar 10 - Centaur Object 10199 Chariklo Occults UCAC4-294-210076 (13.0 Magnitude Star) Mar 10 - Apollo Asteroid 2017 DA36 Near-Earth Flyby (0.010 AU) Mar 10 - Apollo Asteroid 2015 EF Near-Earth Flyby (0.048 AU) Mar 10 - Apollo Asteroid 138404 (2000 HA24) Near-Earth Flyby (0.067 AU) Mar 10 - Apollo Asteroid 2008 CA6 Near-Earth Flyby (0.084 AU) Mar 10 - Apollo Asteroid 428694 Saule Closest Approach To Earth (0.908 AU) Mar 10 - Asteroid 2000 Herschel Closest Approach To Earth (1.658 AU) Mar 10 - 40th Annversary (1977), Discovery of Uranus' Rings Mar 10 - George Lewis' 135th Birthday (1882) Mar 10 - Jean-Paul Fouchy's 310th Birthday (1707) Mar 11 - Moon Occults Asteroid 16 Psyche Mar 11 - Comet 196P/Tichy At Opposition (3.338 AU) Mar 11 - Asteroid 1343 Nicole Occults HIP 46938 (6.3 Magnitude Star) Mar 11 - Apollo Asteroid 2012 EQ10 Near-Earth Flyby (0.045 AU) Mar 11 - Aten Asteroid 2016 EX202 Near-Earth Flyby (0.053 AU) Mar 11 - Asteroid 9674 Slovenija Closest Approach To Earth (1.248 AU) Mar 11 - Asteroid 6563 Steinheim Closest Approach To Earth (1.254 AU) Mar 11 - Asteroid 1991 Darwin Closest Approach To Earth (1.622 AU) Mar 11 - Asteroid 2829 Bobhope Closest Approach To Earth (2.467 AU) Mar 11 - Douglas Adams' 65th Birthday (1952) Mar 12 - Daylight Saving - Set Clock Ahead 1 Hour (United States) Mar 12 - International Day of Planetaria Mar 12 - Comet 2P/Encke Closest Approach To Earth (0.655 AU) Mar 12 - Comet 176P/LINEAR Perihelion (2.580 AU) Mar 12 - [Mar 05] Apollo Asteroid 2017 EM Near-Earth Flyby (0.036 AU) Mar 12 - Asteroid 8672 Morse Closest Approach To Earth (1.591 AU) Mar 12 - Asteroid 4808 Ballaero Closest Approach To Earth (1.666 AU) JPL Space Calendar

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Mar 12 - Asteroid 3267 Glo Closest Approach To Earth (1.696 AU) Mar 12 - Asteroid 18932 Robinhood Closest Approach To Earth (1.776 AU) Mar 12 - Asteroid 9533 Aleksejleono Closest Approach To Earth (1.843 AU) Mar 12 - Asteroid 13599 Lisbon Closest Approach To Earth (2.150 AU) Mar 12 - Asteroid 1241 Dysona Closest Approach To Earth (2.314 AU) Mar 12 - Asteroid 4255 Spacewatch Closest Approach To Earth (2.910 AU) Mar 12 - 15th Anniversary (2002), JPL's Automatic Asteroid Impact Montoring System (Sentry) Goes Live Mar 12 - Dorrit Hoffleit's 110th Birthday (1907) Mar 12-18 - 14th Russbach School on Nuclear Astrophysics, Russbach am Pab Gschutt, Austria Mar 13 - Comet 37P/Forbes Closest Approach To Earth (2.651 AU) Mar 13 - Comet 172P/Yeung Perihelion (3.337 AU) Mar 13 - Comet C/2016 C1 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (7.787 AU) Mar 13 - [Mar 05] Apollo Asteroid 2017 EK Near-Earth Flyby (0.013 AU) Mar 14 - Pi Day Mar 14 - [Mar 09] Wideband Gapfiller Satellite 9 (WGS-9) Delta 4 Launch Mar 14 - [Mar 10] Echostar 23 Falcon 9 Launch Mar 14 - Cassini, Distant Flyby of Epimetheus & Pandora Mar 14 - Comet C/2017 C1 (NEOWISE) Closest Approach To Earth (0.959 AU) Mar 14 - Comet P/2015 X6 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (1.744 AU) Mar 14 - Aten Asteroid 2005 ES70 Near-Earth Flyby (0.056 AU) Mar 14 - Atira Asteroid 2015 DR215 Closest Approach To Earth (0.529 AU) Mar 14 - Asteroid 2343 Siding Spring Closest Approach To Earth (1.891 AU) Mar 14 - Asteroid 83360 Catalina Closest Approach To Earth (2.235 AU) Mar 14 - Michael Fincke's 50th Birthday (1967) JPL Space Calendar

Star clusters discovery could upset the astronomical applecart New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale Food for Thought Star clusters discovery could upset the astronomical applecart

Cassini, with only a half-year to go at Saturn, just keeps dropping Space Image of the Week Cassini, with only a half-year to go at Saturn, just keeps dropping awesome images