Space News Update - July 1, 2016 - In the News Departments Story 1: Juno switched to autopilot mode for Jupiter final approach Story 2: Ceres Bright Spot is Salty Story 3: Plans To Crash Land Rosetta On Comet 67P Proceed Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

Juno switched to autopilot mode for Jupiter final approach 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)

Ceres Bright Spot is Salty

Plans To Crash Land Rosetta On Comet 67P Proceed

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Friday, July 1 • Is your sky dark enough for you to see the Coma Berenices star cluster naked-eye? Just after the very end of twilight, spot Jupiter in the west. The cluster is above it by 25°, about 2½ fists at arm's length. Its brightest members form an inverted Y. The entire cluster is about 5° wide — a big, dim glow in a truly dark sky. It nearly fills a binocular view. Saturday, July 2 • If you have a dark sky, the Milky Way now forms a magnificent arch across the east after nightfall. It runs all the way from below Cassiopeia in the north-northeast, up and across Cygnus and the Summer Triangle in the east, and down past the spout of the Sagittarius Teapot in the south. Sunday, July 3 • Three doubles at the top Scorpius.Mars and Saturn aren't the only telescopic attractions in the south these evenings, even you have heavy light pollution! The head of Scorpius — the near-vertical row of three stars upper right of Antares — stands to Saturn's right by about a fist at arm's length, as shown above. The top star of the row is Beta (ß) Scorpii or Graffias, a fine double star for telescopes. Just 1° below it (and a little too faint for the chart above) is the very wide naked-eye pair Omega1 and Omega2Scorpii, not quite vertical. Binoculars show their slight color difference. Left of Beta by 1.6° is Nu Scorpii, another fine telescopic double. High power in good seeing reveals Nu's brighter component itself to be a close binary, separation 2 arcseconds. Monday, July 4 • More binary bounty! After dark, Vega is the brightest star very high in the east. Barely lower left of it is one of the best-known multiple stars in the sky: 4th-magnitude Epsilon (ε) Lyrae, the Double-Double. It forms one corner of a roughly equilateral triangle with Vega and Zeta (ζ) Lyrae. The triangle is less than 2° on a side, hardly the width of your thumb at arm's length. Binoculars easily resolve Epsilon. And a 4-inch telescope at 100× or more should resolve each of Epsilon's wide components into a tight pair. Zeta Lyrae is also a double star for binoculars; much tougher, but plainly resolved in any telescope. Delta (δ) Lyrae, below Zeta, is much wider and easier. • Earth is at aphelion, it's farthest from the Sun for the year (3% farther than at perihelion in January). 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. Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Tue Jul 5, 5:11 AM 2 min 12° 10° above SSE 12° above ESE 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) 8 p.m., Friday, July 1 - “All Night at the Museum”– the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Celebrates its 40th Anniversary (NTV-1 (Public)) 8 a.m., 5 p.m., Saturday, July 2 - 2016 NASA Honor Awards Ceremony (NTV-1 (Public)) 9 a.m., 4 p.m., Saturday, July 2 - Replay of the Orbital ATK’s SLS Booster Qualification Motor Test (QM-2) from Promontory, Utah (all channels) 11 a.m., Saturday, July 2 - Video File 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) (all channels) 2 p.m., 8 p.m., Saturday, July 2 - NASA Television Video File News Feed of the ISS Expedition 48-49 Crew’s Pre-Launch Activities at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (Ivanishin, Rubins, Onishi; recorded from June 24-30) (all channels) 6 p.m., 10 p.m., Saturday, July 2 - NASA Television 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) (all channels) 8 a.m., 2 p.m., Sunday, July 3 - NASA Television 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) (all channels) 9 a.m., 4 p.m., Sunday, July 3 - NASA Television Video File News Feed of the ISS Expedition 48-49 Crew’s Pre-Launch Activities at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (Ivanishin, Rubins, Onishi; recorded from June 24-30) (all channels) Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

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) 1 p.m., 10 p.m., Sunday, July 3 - 2016 NASA Honor Awards Ceremony (NTV-1 (Public)) 5 p.m., 9 p.m., Sunday, July 3 - Replay of the Orbital ATK’s SLS Booster Qualification Motor Test (QM-2) from Promontory, Utah (all channels) 6 a.m., Monday, July 4 - Live Media Interviews on Juno Orbital Insertion at Jupiter with NASA Scientists Jim Green and Diane Brown (all channels) 11 a.m., Monday, July 4 - Video File of the ISS Expedition 48-49 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) 12 p.m. (live), 4 p.m. (replay), 8 p.m. (replay), Monday, July 4 - Final NASA Media Briefing on Juno Orbital Insertion at Jupiter (all channels) 5 p.m., 10 p.m., Monday, July 4 - NASA Television Video File News Feed File of the ISS Expedition 48-49 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) 10:30 p.m., Monday, July 4 - Live Coverage of the Juno Orbital Insertion at Jupiter (all channels) 1 a.m., Tuesday, July 5 - Post Juno Orbital Insertion NASA Science Briefing (all channels) Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Jul 01 - Comet 207P/NEAT Perihelion (0.937 AU) Jul 01 - Amor Asteroid 2016 LZ8 Near-Earth Flyby (0.059 AU) Jul 01 - Asteroid 12773 Lyman Closest Approach To Earth (1.741 AU) Jul 01 - Iosif Shklovsky's 100th Birthday (1916) Jul 02 - Moon Occults Aldebaran Jul 02 - Comet P/2005 W4 (SOHO) Perihelion (0.053 AU) Jul 02 - Comet 208P/McMillan Perihelion (2.545 AU) Jul 02 - Asteroid 5720 Halweaver Closest Approach To Earth (1.979 AU) Jul 02 - Asteroid 8624 Kaleycuoco Closest Approach To Earth (2.097 AU) Jul 02 - Hans Bethe's 110th Birthday (1906) Jul 03 - Comet 219P/LINEAR Closest Approach To Earth (1.804 AU) Jul 03 - Comet P/2010 B2 (WISE) At Opposition (2.282 AU) Jul 03 - Asteroid 35977 Lexington Closest Approach To Earth (1.751 AU) Jul 03 - Asteroid 3905 Doppler Closest Approach To Earth (2.155 AU) Jul 03 - Robert Haag's 60th Birthday (1956) Jul 04 - [Jun 30] Juno, Jupiter Orbit Insertion Jul 04 - Mars Express, Phobos Flyby Jul 04 - Earth At Aphelion (1.017 AU From Sun) Jul 04 - Mars Autumnal Equinox Jul 04 - Comet P/2013 W1 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (4.206 AU) Jul 04 - Asteroid 7919 Prime Closest Approach To Earth (1.152 AU) Jul 04 - Asteroid 56678 Alicewessen Closest Approach To Earth (2.069 AU) Jul 04 - Asteroid 15783 Briancox Closest Approach To Earth (2.308 AU) Jul 04 - Asteroid 5190 Fry Closest Approach To Earth (2.793 AU) Jul 04 - Asteroid 365756 ISON Closest Approach To Earth (7.241 AU) Jul 04 - 10th Anniversary (2006), STS-121 Launch (Space Shuttle Discovery, International Space Station) Jul 04 - Richard Garriot's 55th Birthday (1961) Jul 05 - Comet 207P/Hill Closest Approach To Earth (1.934 AU) Jul 05 - Comet C/2014 W5 (Lemmon-PANSTARRS) At Opposition (2.090 AU) Jul 05 - Comet 47P/Ashbrook-Jackson At Opposition (2.391 AU) Jul 05 - Comet 145P/Shoemaker-Levy At Opposition (2.760 AU) Jul 05 - Comet P/2009 WX51 (Catalina) Closest Approach To Earth (2.864 AU) Jul 05 - Asteroid 31664 Randiiwessen Closest Approach To Earth (1.481 AU) Jul 05 - Asteroid 230975 Rogerfederer Closest Approach To Earth (1.818 AU) Jul 05 - Asteroid 31319 Vespucci Closest Approach To Earth (2.254 AU) Jul 05 - Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU69 At Opposition (42.313 AU) Jul 05 - Kuiper Belt Object 2014 PN70 At Opposition (43.028 AU) JPL Space Calendar

Life in Space: Thinner Ice Shell May Mean Life on Enceladus? Food for Thought Life in Space: Thinner Ice Shell May Mean Life on Enceladus?

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