Space News Update - August 30, 2016 - In the News Departments Story 1: NASA's Juno Successfully Completes Jupiter Flyby Story 2: ALMA Finds Unexpected Trove of Gas Around Larger Stars Story 3: Test for Damp Ground at Mars' Seasonal Streaks Finds None Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

NASA's Juno Successfully Completes Jupiter Flyby 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)

ALMA Finds Unexpected Trove of Gas Around Larger Stars

Test for Damp Ground at Mars' Seasonal Streaks Finds None

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, August 30   If you live in the world's mid-northern latitudes, look for bright Vega passing your zenith around nightfall. Vega goes right through the zenith if you're at latitude 39° north: for instance, near Baltimore, Kansas City, Lake Tahoe, Sendai, Beijing, Athens, Lisbon. Wednesday, August 31 Before the Moon returns to light the evening next week, explore some lesser-known deep-sky sights in and around Cygnus overhead with Sue French's Deep-Sky Wonders column and charts in the September Sky & Telescope, page 54. And in the Swan's northwest wing, learn the binocular asterism Vultus Irrisorie, the Smiley Face. You'll never forget it. Thursday, September 1 This evening the Saturn-Mars-Antares triangle is perfectly isosceles: 6.1, 6.1, and 4.9 degrees on a side (at nightfall in the Americas). Think photo opportunity. An annular eclipse of the Sun crosses central Africa from Gabon to Madagascar today. The eclipse is partial for most of Africa and the Indian Ocean. Accordingly, it's new Moon (exact at 5:03 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time). Summer is beginning to wane. By the time nightfall is complete now, Cassiopeia has climbed about as high in the northeast as the Big Dipper has declined in the northwest. Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Tue Aug 16, 8:15 PM 3 min 59° 59° above SSE 10° above SE Wed Aug 17, 8:57 PM 15° 12° above WSW 10° above SSW 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)   Tuesday, August 30 2 p.m. - ISS Expedition 50-51 Crew News Conference (Whitson, Pesquet, Novitskiy) (NTV-1 (Public), NTV-3 (Media)) 4 p.m. - NASA Television Video File News Feed of the ISS Expedition 49-50 Crew (Kimbrough, Ryzhikov, Borisenko) Qualification Training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia (Recorded on Aug. 30-31) (all channels) 7:30 p.m. - NASA TV Video B-Roll Feed of ISS Expedition 50-51 Crew (Whitson, Pesquet, Novitskiy) Training and Past Missions (all channels) 8 p.m. - NASA Television Video File News Feed of the ISS Expedition 49-50 Crew (Kimbrough, Ryzhikov, Borisenko) Qualification Training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia (Recorded on Aug. 30-31) (all channels) Wednesday, August 31 10 a.m. - Video File of the ISS Expedition 49-50 Crew Qualification Training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia (Recorded on Aug. 30-31; Kimbrough, Ryzhikov, Borisenko) (all channels) 1 p.m. - ISS Expedition 48 In-Flight Educational Event with the Leslie County High School in Hyden, Kentucky, U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) and ISS Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Kate Rubins of NASA (starts at 1:25 p.m.) (NTV-1 (Public), NTV-3 (Media)) Thursday, September 1 6:30 a.m. - ISS Expedition 48 U.S. EVA # 37 Spacewalk Coverage (Williams and Rubins Spacewalk begins at 8:05 a.m. ET to Retract a Thermal Radiator and Install External Cameras) (NTV-1 (Public), NTV-3 (Media)) Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar Aug 30 - Cassini, Distant Flyby of Titan Aug 30 - Comet C/2016 A8 (LINEAR) Perihelion (1.881 AU) Aug 30 - Comet C/2015 TQ209 (LINEAR) Closest Approach To Earth (2.405 AU) Aug 30 - Comet 330P/Catalina Perihelion (2.953 AU) Aug 30 - Binary Apollo Asteroid 69230 Hermes Closest Approach To Earth (1.196 AU) Aug 30 - Plutino 175113 (2004 PF115) At Opposition (40.541 AU) Aug 30 - Kuiper Belt Object 2003 QX113 At Opposition (58.936 AU) Aug 30 - 25th Anniversary (1991), Yohkoh Launch Aug 30 - Jack Swigert's 85th Birthday (1931) Aug 30 - Ernest Rutherford's 145th Birthday (1871) Aug 30 - Carl Runge's 160th Birthday (1856) Aug 31 - Comet 73P-AA/Schwassmann-Wachmann Perihelion (1.022 AU) Aug 31 - Comet 144P/Kushida Perihelion (1.431 AU) Aug 31 - Comet 25D/Neujmin At Opposition (3.853 AU) Aug 31 - Comet 232P/Hill At Opposition (4.169 AU) Aug 31 - Asteroid 8080 Intel Closest Approach To Earth (1.107 AU) Aug 31 - Asteroid 4352 Kyoto Closest Approach To Earth (1.627 AU) Aug 31 - Kuiper Belt Object 120178 (2003 OP32) At Opposition (41.163 AU) Aug 31 - Colloquium: A Night on SOFIA, Sydney, Australia Aug 31 - 25th Anniversary (1991), Noblesville Meteorite Fall in Indiana Aug 31 - Robert Hanbury Brown's 100th Birthday (1916) Aug 31 - William Usherwood's 195th Birthday (1821) Sep 01 - Annular Solar Eclipse (Visible from Central Africa) Sep 01 - Comet C/2016 A8 (LINEAR) Closest Approach To Earth (1.039 AU) Sep 01 - Comet C/2016 A8 (LINEAR) At Opposition (1.039 AU) Sep 01 - Comet P/2015 M2 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (5.009 AU) JPL Space Calendar

New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale Food for Thought Aliens? “Strong” Signal Detected From Sun-Like Star Being Verified By SETI

Space Image of the Week Gamma-rays and Comet Dust Image Credit & Copyright: Daniel López (El Cielo de Canarias)