Space News Update - August 8, 2017 - In the News Departments Story 1: Twilight Observations Reveal Huge Storm on Neptune Story 2: Astronomers Identify Oldest Known Asteroid Family Story 3: A Tale of Three Stellar Cities Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities NASA-TV Highlights Space Calendar Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

Twilight Observations Reveal Huge Storm on Neptune 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)

Astronomers Identify Oldest Known Asteroid Family

A Tale of Three Stellar Cities

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, August 8 The Big Dipper hangs diagonally in the northwest after dusk. From its midpoint, look to the right to find Polaris (not very bright) glimmering due north as always. Polaris is the handle-end of the Little Dipper. The only other parts of the Little Dipper that are even modestly bright — especially through the moonlight! — are the two stars forming the outer end of its bowl. On August evenings you'll find them to Polaris's upper left, by about a fist and a half at arm's length. They're called the Guardians of the Pole, since they circle around Polaris throughout the night and throughout the year. Wednesday, August 9 The waning gibbous Moon rises in the east at about the end of twilight. Look to its upper left for the Great Square of Pegasus, balancing on one corner. The radiant of the Perseid meteor shower is low in the northeastern sky by 11 p.m. for observers at mid-northern latitudes. Sky & Telescope diagram Thursday, August 10 The W of Cassiopeia, tilted only a little, is nicely up in the northeast these evenings. Its right-hand side is the brightest. Watch it rise higher and tilt further through the night and through the next few months. Friday, August 11 The Perseid meteor shower should be at its maximum late tonight and late tomorrow night. The nearly last-quarter Moon will light the sky late at night. But the brightest meteors will still shine through the moonlight, and there's a prediction out that this year's underlying shower may be somewhat richer than usual. You may see one every couple minutes on average, depending on the brightness of your sky. Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Tue Aug 8, 8:27 PM 4 min 17° 12° above NNW 10° above ENE Tue Aug 8, 10:04 PM 1 min 60° 29° above NW 60° above WNW Wed Aug 9, 9:12 PM 3 min 50° 27° above NNW 24° above E Wed Aug 9, 10:47 PM < 1 min 11° 11° above W Thu Aug 10, 9:55 PM 2 min 30° 16° above W 30° above SW Fri Aug 11, 9:04 PM 63° 34° above WNW 22° above SE 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) Wednesday, August 9 10 a.m. - ISS Expedition 52 In-Flight Media Event with KMA Radio, Shenandoah, IA and Space.com and NASA Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson (starts at 10:05 a.m.) (all channels) Thursday, August 10 12:30 p.m. - ISS Expedition 52 In-Flight Event for a NASA JSC Podcast with NASA Flight Engineer Jack Fischer (all channels) Friday, August 11 10 a.m. - ISS Expedition 52 In-Flight Interview for a JSC Facebook Live and NASA Flight Engineer Randy Bresnik (all channels) Tue May 30, 9:16 PM 1 min 14° 14° above N 10° above NNE Tue May 30, 10:53 PM < 1 min 10° 10° above N Wed May 31, 00:30 AM 18° 18° above N Wed May 31, 10:01 PM Wed May 31, 11:38 PM 2 min 15° 14° above NE Thu Jun 1, 9:09 PM 11° 11° above N Thu Jun 1, 10:45 PM 12° 12° above N 10° above NE Fri Jun 2, 00:20 AM 17° 10° above NW 17° above NNW Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Aug 08 - Apollo Asteroid 2003 OT13 Near-Earth Flyby (0.093 AU) Aug 08 - Aten Asteroid 153415 (2001 QP153) Near-Earth Flyby (0.095 AU) Aug 08 - Asteroid 25924 Douglasadams Closest Approach To Earth (1.162 AU) Aug 08 - Asteroid 3673 Levy Closest Approach To Earth (1.405 AU) Aug 08 - Asteroid 12477 Haiku Closest Approach To Earth (1.412 AU) Aug 08-10 - Conference: From Chandra to Lynx - Taking the Sharpest X-ray Vision Fainter and Farther, Cambridge, MA Aug 08-10 - Conference: The Early History of Planetary Systems and Habitable Planets, Tartu, Estonia Aug 08-10 - Meeting: Review of Planetary Protection Policy Development Processes, Woods Hole, Massachusetts Aug 08-11 - Workshop: Unlocking the Climate Record Stored within Mars' Polar Layered Deposits, Pasadena, California Aug 09 - Moon Occults Neptune Aug 09 - Comet 198P/ODAS Closest Approach To Earth (2.783 AU) Aug 09 - Asteroid 6227 Alanrubin Closest Approach To Earth (1.809 AU) Aug 09 - International Space Station Stakeholder Workshop, Washington DC Aug 09 - Colloquium: KM3NeT - The Next Generation Neutrino Telescope, Sydney, Australia Aug 09-11 - 8th Planetary Crater Consortium Meeting, Flagstaff, Arizona Aug 09-13 - 75th World Science Fiction Convention (WORLDCON 75), Helsinki, Finland Aug 10 - Comet 73P-AL/Schwassmann-Wachmann Closest Approach To Earth (0.277 AU) Aug 10 - Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma At Opposition (3.978 AU) Aug 10 - Amor Asteroid 2017 OF7 Near-Earth Flyby (0.049 AU) Aug 10 - Apollo Asteroid 2015 XO128 Near-Earth Flyby (0.095 AU) Aug 10 - Asteroid 945 Barcelona Closest Approach To Earth (2.029 AU) Aug 10 - Asteroid 17062 Bardot Closest Approach To Earth (2.055 AU) Aug 10 - Lecture: Black Holes' Last Tango in Space - LIGO and the Dawn of Gravitational-wave Astronomy, Kamuela, Hawaii Aug 10-11 - Regional Workshop on Himalayan GEOSS, Kathmandu, Nepal Aug 11 - Michibiki 3 (QZS-3) H-2A Launch JPL Space Calendar

UCI Celestial Census Indicates That Black Holes Pervade the Universe New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale Food for Thought UCI Celestial Census Indicates That Black Holes Pervade the Universe

Image Credit & Copyright: Anis Abdul Space Image of the Week The Dust Monster in IC 1396 Image Credit & Copyright: Anis Abdul