Space News Update - November 4, 2016 - In the News Departments Story 1: Measuring a Day Story 2: Curiosity Mars Rover Checks Odd-looking Iron Meteorite Story 3: Close galactic encounter leaves 'nearly naked' supermassive black hole Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

Measuring a Day 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)

Curiosity Mars Rover Checks Odd-looking Iron Meteorite

Close galactic encounter leaves 'nearly naked' supermassive black hole

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Friday, November 4 • As the stars come out, look off to the Moon's left or upper left for Mars, and high above the Moon for Altair. Deneb still remains near the zenith. Brighter Vega shines high in the west. And look for Arcturus twinkling ever lower toward the west-northwest horizon. Saturday, November 5 • Mars shines orange to the left or lower of the Moon in early evening, as shown here. Mars is twice the Moon's diameter in reality, but as of tonight, it's 485 times farther away. • After dark this week Capella calls attention in the northeast, and the Pleiades are well up in the east-northeast three fists to Capella's right. As evening grows later, you'll find orange Aldebaran climbing up below the Pleiades. Then by around 10 p.m. (depending on your location), Orion begins clearing the eastern horizon below Aldebaran. • Daylight-saving time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday morning; standard time returns. Clocks fall back an hour. Remember when we adjusted them all by hand? Sunday, November 6 • Now Mars is lower right of the thickening Moon in early evening, as shown above. And look closer to the Moon's upper right for Beta and then Alpha Capricorni. Alpha Cap is a naked-eye double star if you have sharp eyes. Binoculars split it widely — and may reveal Beta as a more difficult, uneven double. Monday, November 7 • First-quarter Moon (exact at 2:51 p.m. EST). The Moon shines in the south at dusk, just above dim Capricornus. Mars is now far to its lower right. Altair is twice as far to the Moon's upper right. 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. Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Fri Nov 4, 5:44 AM 3 min 59° 59° above ESE 10° above ENE Sat Nov 5, 6:28 AM 4 min 30° 24° above WNW 12° above NNE Sun Nov 6, 4:38 AM 2 min 27° 27° above NNE 10° above NE Sun Nov 6, 6:12 AM < 1 min 11° 10° above NW 11° above NW Mon Nov 7, 5:22 AM 18° 17° above NNW 10° above NNE Tue Nov 8, 4:32 AM 14° 14° above NNE Tue Nov 8, 6:07 AM 10° above NNW 10° above N 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) 3 p.m., 11 p.m., Friday, November 4 - Replay of the ISS Expedition 50 In-Flight Educational Event with National Geographic in Washington, D.C. and ISS Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA (all channels) 7 p.m., Friday, November 4 - Replay of the Video File of the ISS Expedition 50-51 Crew’s Departure from the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia for the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (Novitskiy, Whitson, Pesquet) (all channels) 1 a.m., 11 a.m., 7 p.m., Saturday, November 5 - Replay of the Video File of the ISS Expedition 50-51 Crew’s Departure from the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia for the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (Novitskiy, Whitson, Pesquet) (NTV-1 (Public)) 2 a.m., 7 a.m., 3 p.m., 11 p.m., Saturday, November 5 - Replay of the ISS Expedition 50 In-Flight Educational Event with National Geographic in Washington, D.C. and ISS Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA (NTV-1 (Public)) 9 a.m., 8 p.m., Saturday, November 5 - Replay of the NASA News Briefing on “The James Webb Space Telescope” (all channels) 4 p.m., Saturday, November 5 - Replay of the NASA Innovation Mission Day - Deputy Administrator Dava Newman’s Keynote on Agency Innovation Mission Day (all channels) 1 a.m., 11 a.m., 7 p.m., Sunday, November 6 - Replay of the ISS Expedition 50 In-Flight Educational Event with National Geographic in Washington, D.C. and ISS Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA (NTV-1 (Public)) 2 a.m., 7 a.m., 3 p.m., 11 p.m., Sunday, November 6 - Replay of the Video File of the ISS Expedition 50-51 Crew’s Departure from the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia for the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (Novitskiy, Whitson, Pesquet) (NTV-1 (Public)) 8 a.m., 4 p.m., Sunday, November 6 - Replay of the NASA News Briefing on “The James Webb Space Telescope” (all channels) 9 a.m., 8 p.m., Sunday, November 6 - Replay of the NASA Innovation Mission Day - Deputy Administrator Dava Newman’s Keynote on Agency Innovation Mission Day (all channels) Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Nov 04 - Comet 73P-BR/Schwassmann-Wachmann Perihelion (0.995 AU) Nov 04 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 TG55 Near-Earth Flyby (0.010 AU) Nov 04 - Aten Asteroid 5381 Sekmet Closest Approach To Earth (0.337 AU) Nov 04 - Asteroid 1940 Whipple Closest Approach To Earth (1.924 AU) Nov 04 - Asteroid 9250 Chamberlin Closest Approach To Earth (2.788 AU) Nov 04 - Asteroid 334 Chicago Closest Approach To Earth (2.957 AU) Nov 04 - Kuiper Belt Object 55637 (2002 UX25) At Opposition (39.759 AU) Nov 04 - 20th Anniversary (1996), Galileo, Callisto 3 Flyby Nov 04 - 35th Anniversary (1981), Venera 14 Launch (USSR Venus Lander/Flyby) Nov 04 - 110th Anniversary (1906), Diep River Meteorite Fall (Hit House in South Africa) Nov 04-05 - New Worlds Conference: Cities in Space Competition, Austin, Texas Nov 05 - Comet 182P/LONEOS Closest Approach To Earth (1.321 AU) Nov 05 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 UE Near-Earth Flyby (0.013 AU) Nov 05 - Asteroid 8925 Boattini Closest Approach To Earth (1.539 AU) Nov 05 - Asteroid 2956 Yeomans Closest Approach To Earth (2.019 AU) Nov 05 - Amor Asteroid 1580 Betulia Closest Approach To Earth (2.351 AU) Nov 05 - Kuiper Belt Object 84522 (2002 TC302) At Opposition (43.875 AU) Nov 05 - Kuiper Belt Object 2014 UZ224 At Opposition (90.654 AU) Nov 05 - Fred Whipple's 110th Birthday (1906) Nov 06 - [Nov 02] Daylight Saving - Set Clock Back 1 Hour (United States) Nov 06 - [Nov 02] 50th Anniversary (1966), Lunar Orbiter 2 Launch Nov 06 - WorldView 4 (GeoEye 2) Atlas 5 Launch Nov 06 - Comet 73P-BD/Schwassmann-Wachmann Closest Approach To Earth (1.732 AU) Nov 06 - Comet C/2015 T2 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (6.091 AU) Nov 06 - Apollo Asteroid 468583 (2007 LS) Near-Earth Flyby (0.086 AU) Nov 06 - Apollo Asteroid 3360 Syrinx Closest Approach To Earth (1.091 AU) Nov 06 - Ida Barney's 130th Birthday (1886) Nov 07 - Apollo Asteroid 2002 UQ12 Near-Earth Flyby (0.050 AU) Nov 07 - [Oct 30] Apollo Asteroid 2016 UZ40 Near-Earth Flyby (0.066 AU) Nov 07 - Asteroid 5738 Billpickering Closest Approach To Earth (1.375 AU) Nov 07 - Asteroid 3264 Bounty Closest Approach To Earth (2.223 AU) Nov 07 - Asteroid 7853 Confucius Closest Approach To Earth (2.391 AU) Nov 07 - 20th Anniversary (1996), Mars Global Surveyor Launch Nov 07 - 385th AnniversarY (1631), 1st Observation of a Mercury Transit by Pierre Gassendi 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) JPL Space Calendar

Arecibo Observatory Faces Uncertain Future Food for Thought Arecibo Observatory Faces Uncertain Future

Hubble Takes Flight with the Toucan and the Cluster Space Image of the Week Hubble Takes Flight with the Toucan and the Cluster