Space News Update - July 19, 2016 - In the News Departments Story 1: X Marks the Spot for Milky Way Formation Story 2: What Lies Beneath: Venus’ Surface Revealed Through Clouds Story 3: Kepler Confirms 100+ Exoplanets During K2 Mission Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

X Marks the Spot for Milky Way Formation 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)

What Lies Beneath: Venus’ Surface Revealed Through Clouds

Kepler Confirms 100+ Exoplanets During K2 Mission

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, July 19 • Full Moon (exact at 6:57 p.m. EDT). The Moon rises around sunset. As the Moon climbs higher and the stars come out, look for Altair high to its upper left. Wednesday, July 20 • We're only a third of the way through summer, but already W- shaped Cassiopeia, a constellation of fall and winter evenings, is climbing up in the north-northeast as evening grows late. And the Great Square of Pegasus, emblem of fall, comes up to balance on one corner just over the eastern horizon. Thursday, July 21 • The tail of Scorpius lies low due south right after dark. How low depends on how far north or south you live: the farther south, the higher. Look for the two stars especially close together in the tail. These are Lambda and fainter Upsilon Scorpii, known as the Cat's Eyes. They're canted at an angle; the cat is tilting his head and winking. The Cat's Eyes point west (right) by nearly a fist-width toward Mu Scorpii, a much tighter pair known as the Little Cat's Eyes. It takes very sharp vision to resolve Mu without using binoculars. Friday, July 22 • Starry Scorpius is sometimes called "the Orion of Summer" for its brightness, its blue giants, and its prominent red supergiant (Antares in the case of Scorpius, Betelgeuse for Orion). But Scorpius is a lot lower in the south for those of us at mid-northern latitudes. That means it has only one really good evening month: July. Catch Scorpius due south just after dark now, before it starts to tilt lower toward the southwest. It's full of deep-sky objects for binoculars and telescopes. Not to mention Mars and Saturn now nearby! Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Wed Jul 20, 1:41 AM < 1 min 12° 12° above NNE 10° above NNE Wed Jul 20, 3:15 AM 1 min 11° 10° above NNW 10° above N Wed Jul 20, 4:52 AM 12° above N Thu Jul 21, 2:22 AM 13° 13° above NNW 13° above N Thu Jul 21, 3:59 AM 10° Fri Jul 22, 3:06 AM Fri Jul 22, 4:42 AM 2 min 17° 17° above NNE Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website 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., Tuesday, July 19 - Live Coverage of “Viking at 40 Symposium NASA’s First Soft Landing to Humans on Mars” - Viking Program History Panel (NTV-1 (Public)) 5:30 a.m., Wednesday, July 20 - Coverage of the Rendezvous and Capture of the SpaceX/Dragon CRS-9 Cargo Craft at the ISS (Capture scheduled at 7 a.m. ET) (NTV-1 (Public), NTV-3 (Media)) 8 a.m., Wednesday, July 20 - Live Coverage of “Viking at 40 Symposium NASA’s First Soft Landing to Humans on Mars” - Keynote: “The Exploration of Mars” with NASA's Chief Scientist Ellen Stofan (Starts at 8:15 a.m.) (NTV-1 (Public)) 9:30 a.m., Wednesday, July 20 - Coverage of the Installation of the SpaceX/Dragon CRS-9 Cargo Craft to the ISS (starts at 9:45 a.m.) (NTV-1 (Public), NTV-3 (Media)) 2:30 p.m., Wednesday, July 20 - Live Coverage of “Viking at 40 Symposium NASA’s First Soft Landing to Humans on Mars” - “Imagining Living on Mars” with Author of “The Martian" Andy Weir (Starts at 2:50 p.m.) (NTV-1 (Public)) 3:30 p.m., Wednesday, July 20 - Live Coverage of “Viking at 40 Symposium NASA’s First Soft Landing to Humans on Mars” - Capstone Panel: “The Future of Mars Exploration” (Walt Engelund, Steve Jurczyk, Greg Williams, Jim Green) (Starts at 3:35 p.m.) (NTV-1 (Public)) 8 a.m., Friday, July 22 - ISS Expedition 48 In-Flight Event for JAXA and the Tanabata Redesign Project with Flight Engineer Takuya Onishi (starts at 8:20 a.m.) (all channels) Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Jul 19 - Comet 73P-AW/Schwassmann-Wachmann Perihelion (1.024 AU) Jul 19 - Asteroid 7169 Linda Closest Approach To Earth (0.847 AU) Jul 19 - Asteroid 3192 A'Hearn Closest Approach To Earth (1.697 AU) Jul 19 - Asteroid 2266 Tchaikovsky Closest Approach To Earth (2.845 AU) Jul 19 - Edward Pickering's 170th Birthday (1846) Jul 20 - Comet 81P/Wild Perihelion (1.592 AU) Jul 20 - Comet 49P/Arend-Rigaux At Opposition (3.976 AU) Jul 20 - Amor Asteroid 2016 NS Near-Earth Flyby (0.022 AU) Jul 20 - Asteroid 12927 Pinocchio Closest Approach To Earth (1.304 AU) Jul 20 - 40th Anniversary (1976), Viking 1, Mars Landing Jul 20 - 60th Anniversary (1956), Frederick Reines' & Clyde Cowan's Discovery of Neutrinos Jul 20 - Vladimir Lyakhov's 75th Birthday (1941) Jul 21 - Comet C/2015 T4 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (2.416 AU) Jul 21 - Aten Asteroid 2014 BT8 Near-Earth Flyby (0.048 AU) Jul 21 - Asteroid 5905 Johnson Closest Approach To Earth (0.896 AU) Jul 21 - Asteroid 1740 Paavo Nurmi Closest Approach To Earth (1.305 AU) Jul 21 - 5th Anniversary (2011), Space Shuttle Atlantis Makes Its Final Landing (STS-135) Jul 21 - 55th Anniversary (1961), Mercury 4 Launch (Gus Grissom, Liberty Bell 7) Jul 22 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #454 (OTM-454) Jul 22 - Asteroid 2 Pallas Occults TYC 1133-00151-1 (11.3 Magnitude Star) Jul 22 - [Jul 18] Apollo Asteroid 2016 NJ39 Near-Earth Flyby (0.030 AU) Jul 22 - Amor Asteroid 154244 (2002 KL6) Near-Earth Flyby (0.068 AU) Jul 22 - 65th Anniversary (1951), Launch of the 1st Dogs Into Space (Dezik & Tsygan) JPL Space Calendar

Latest SpaceX Mission Could Help Us Find DNA-Based Life in Space Food for Thought Latest SpaceX Mission Could Help Us Find DNA-Based Life in Space

Deepest-Ever Image of Orion Nebula Space Image of the Week Deepest-Ever Image of Orion Nebula