Space News Update - January 10, 2017 - In the News Departments Story 1: Hubble Captures ‘Shadow Play’ Caused by Possible Planet Story 2: The Milky Way's black hole is spewing out planet-size 'spitballs' Story 3: Star Collision and Explosion Predicted In 2022 Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

Hubble Captures ‘Shadow Play’ Caused by Possible Planet 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)

The Milky Way's black hole is spewing out planet-size 'spitballs'

Star Collision and Explosion Predicted In 2022

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, January 10 • The Moon, nearly full, shines in the dim Club of Orion — with Betelgeuse to its lower right in early evening, Gemini's Alhena closer to the Moon's lower left, and Elnath in Taurus above it. • Algol shines at minimum light, magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1, for a couple hours centered on 9:19 p.m. EST (6:19 p.m. PST). Wednesday, January 11 • Full Moon tonight (exactly full at 6:34 a.m. Thursday morning EST). The Moon is in Gemini, with Castor and Pollux to its left and Procyon below or lower left of it. Thursday, January 12 • Neptune is passing Venus. For North American observers they'll appear closest this evening, about 0.4° apart, with Neptune to Venus's lower left. Use high power to try to discern the nonstellar nature of its tiny disk, only 2.2 arcseconds wide. Venus is magnitude –4.5. Neptune, at magnitude 7.9, is about 100,000 times fainter! • Jupiter is at western quadrature, 90° west of the Sun. So all this month, Jupiter's western limb looks distinctly more shadowed in a telescope than its slightly more Sun-facing eastern limb. Friday, January 13 • Here it is the coldest month of the year, but the "Summer Star," Vega, is still barely hanging in there. Look for it twinkling over the northwest horizon during and shortly after nightfall. The farther north you are the higher it will be. If you're too far south, it's already gone. Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Tue Jan 10, 6:52 AM 3 min 14° 10° above NNW 10° above NE Wed Jan 11, 6:01 AM 2 min 11° 11° above N 10° above NNE Thu Jan 12, 6:44 AM 4 min 21° 11° above NNW 13° above ENE Fri Jan 13, 5:53 AM 15° 13° above N 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) 3 p.m., 7 p.m., 11 p.m., Tuesday, January 10 - Replay of ISS Expedition 50 In-Flight Educational Event with the Lovett School in Atlanta and ISS Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA (all channels) 1 a.m., 2 a.m., 7 a.m., Wednesday, January 11 - Replay of ISS Expedition 50 In-Flight Educational Event with the Lovett School in Atlanta and ISS Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA (NTV-1 (Public)) 9:30 a.m., Wednesday, January 11 - ISS Expedition 50 In-Flight Event with Europe 1 and M6 for the European Space Agency with Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet of ESA (Starts at 9:45 a.m.) (all channels) 5:30 a.m., Friday, January 13 - Coverage of ISS Expedition 50 U.S. EVA # 39 (Kimbrough and Pesquet; spacewalk scheduled to begin at 7:05 a.m. ET; will last appx. 6 ½ hours) (all channels) Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Jan 10 - Comet 73P-U/Schwassmann-Wachmann Perihelion (0.981 AU) Jan 10 - Comet P/2005 JN (Spacewatch) Closest Approach To Earth (2.818 AU) Jan 10 - Comet 73P-Y/Schwassmann-Wachmann At Opposition (3.911 AU) Jan 10 - [Jan 09] Apollo Asteroid 2017 AM13 Near-Earth Flyby (0.038 AU) Jan 10 - Asteroid 3350 Scobee Closest Approach To Earth (1.702 AU) Jan 10 - Asteroid 1024 Hale Closest Approach To Earth (2.018 AU) Jan 10 - Eugene Delporte's 135th Birthday (1882) Jan 10-11 - Space Settlement Summit, Santa Monica, California   Jan 11 - TRICOM 1 SS-520-4 Launch Jan 11 - Comet 225P/LINEAR At Opposition (1.235 AU) Jan 11 - Comet 128P-B/Shoemaker-Holt Perihelion (3.056 AU) Jan 11 - [Jan 06] Apollo Asteroid 2017 AF3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.039 AU) Jan 11 - 230th Anniversary (1787), William Herschell's Discovery of Uranus Moons Titania and Oberon Jan 12 - Venus At Its Greatest Eastern Elongation (47 Degrees) Jan 12 - Comet C/2015 XY1 (Lemmon) At Opposition (7.458 AU) Jan 12 - Asteroid 51829 Williemccool Closest Approach To Earth (1.316 AU) Jan 12 - Asteroid 12432 Usuda Closest Approach To Earth (2.014 AU) Jan 12 - 20th Anniversary (1997), STS-81 Launch (Space Shuttle Atlantis, Mir Space Station) Jan 12 - Sergey Korolev's 110th Birthday (1907) Jan 13 - Venus Passes 0.4 Degrees From Neptune Jan 13 - Comet P/2014 V1 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (3.891 AU) Jan 13 - Comet 6P/d'Arrest At Opposition (3.899 AU) Jan 13 - Apollo Asteroid 2013 AS76 Near-Earth Flyby (0.089 AU) Jan 13 - Asteroid 2410 Morrison Closest Approach To Earth (1.197 AU) Jan 13 - Asteroid 9342 Carygrant Closest Approach To Earth (1.421 AU) Jan 13 - Asteroid 6469 Armstrong Closest Approach To Earth (1.665 AU) Jan 13 - Asteroid 784 Pickeringia Closest Approach To Earth (2.685 AU) JPL Space Calendar

Humans Really Are Made of Stardust, and a New Study Proves It Food for Thought Humans Really Are Made of Stardust, and a New Study Proves It

Earth and Its Moon, as Seen From Mars Space Image of the Week Earth and Its Moon, as Seen From Mars