Space News Update - August 18, 2017 - In the News Departments Story 1: An Eclipse by Any Other Name: Doing Science with Transits and Occultations Story 2: New Theory on the Origin of Dark Matter Story 3: Scientists Improve Brown Dwarf Weather Forecasts Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities NASA-TV Highlights Space Calendar Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

An Eclipse by Any Other Name: Doing Science with Transits and Occultations 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)

New Theory on the Origin of Dark Matter

Scientists Improve Brown Dwarf Weather Forecasts

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Friday, August 18 • As dawn begins to break on Saturday morning the 19th, look for the waning Moon hanging under Venus low in the east, as shown here. Find Pollux and Castor, much fainter, to Venus's left or upper left. Saturday, August 19 • August is prime Milky Way time, and the dark night is now moonless. After dark the Milky Way runs from Sagittarius in the south, up and left across Aquila and through the big Summer Triangle very high in the east, and on down through Cassiopeia to Perseus rising low in the north-northeast. Sunday, August 20 • With the Moon obviously out of the night sky getting ready for tomorrow's command performance, this would be a fine evening to look far away from the Sun into the Cygnus Milky Way, high overhead. Hunt out the telescopic deep-sky sights there that Sue French highlights in the August Sky & Telescope, page 54, with finder charts, photo, and eyepiece sketches. Monday, August 21 • In case you didn't hear, there's an eclipse of the Sun today. Not in the path of totality? You'll get a partial eclipse from anywhere in North or Central America, the Caribbean, and northern South America. Here are all our eclipse topics, including how to take photographs. Shortcut to NASA's clickable map to get your local timetable. • If a solar eclipse is happening, you know it's new Moon today. Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: No ISS sightings 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) Friday, August 18  11 a.m., SpaceCast Weekly (all channels) 12 p.m., College of Charleston News Conference on 2017 Solar Eclipse (NTV-3 (Media)) 2 p.m., Replay of the College of Charleston News Conference on 2017 Solar Eclipse (all channels) 3 p.m., Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum Presents - “What’s New in Aerospace?” – Eclipsepalooza (NTV-1 (Public)) 4 p.m., NASA Television Special – How to Safely Watch a Solar Eclipse (NTV-1 (Public)) 5 p.m., Replay of - “What’s New in Aerospace?” – Eclipsepalooza (NTV-1 (Public)) 6 p.m., Replay of the College of Charleston News Conference on 2017 Solar Eclipse (all channels) 7 p.m., NASA Television Special – How to Safely Watch a Solar Eclipse (NTV-1 (Public)) 8 p.m., Replay of - “What’s New in Aerospace?” – Eclipsepalooza (NTV-1 (Public)) 9 p.m., Replay of the College of Charleston News Conference on 2017 Solar Eclipse (all channels) Monday, August 21  11:30 a.m., NASA Television Coverage of the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse – Unproduced/Raw Media Feed (starts at 11:45 a.m.) (NTV-3 (Media)) 12 p.m., NASA Television Coverage of the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse Pre-Show -- from the College of Charleston (NTV-1 (Public)) 1 p.m., “Through the Eyes of NASA” -- NASA Television Coverage of the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse -- from the College of Charleston (NTV-1 (Public))   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 18 - [Aug 17] TDRS M Atlas 5 Launch Aug 18 - Comet P/2010 P4 (WISE) Perihelion (1.861 AU) Aug 18 - Comet 164P/Christensen Closest Approach To Earth (2.026 AU) Aug 18 - Apollo Asteroid 2012 BD14 Near-Earth Flyby (0.067 AU) Aug 18 - Atira Asteroid 2015 ME131 Closest Approach To Earth (0.424 AU) Aug 18 - Asteroid 13208 Fraschetti Closest Approach To Earth (0.964 AU) Aug 18 - Lunar and Planetary Laboratory Conference, Tucson, Arizona Aug 19 - [Aug 17] Michibiki 3 (QZS-3) H-2A Launch Aug 19 - Comet P/2012 T1 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (1.707 AU) Aug 19 - Comet 30P/Reinmuth Perihelion (1.877 AU) Aug 19 - Asteroid 3654 AAS Closest Approach To Earth (0.980 AU) Aug 19 - Asteroid 1132 Hollandia Closest Approach To Earth (1.014 AU) Aug 19 - Galaxy Forum Kansas 2017, Hutchinson, Kansas Aug 20 - Cassini, Distant Flyby of Pandora, Pan & Daphnis Aug 20 - Asteroid 3852 Glennford Closest Approach To Earth (1.707 AU) Aug 20 - Asteroid 48575 Hawaii Closest Approach To Earth (2.299 AU) Aug 20 - Asteroid 249516 Aretha Closest Approach To Earth (2.325 AU) Aug 20 - 40th Anniversary (1977), Voyager 2 Launch Aug 21 - [Aug 14] Total Solar Eclipse (Visible from United States) Aug 21 - Comet C/2015 VL62 Closest Approach To Earth (1.742 AU) Aug 21 - Comet C/2015 VL62 At Opposition (1.742 AU) Aug 21 - Asteroid 1850 Kohoutek Closest Approach To Earth (1.135 AU) Aug 21 - Asteroid 1814 Bach Closest Approach To Earth (1.337 AU) Aug 21 - Asteroid 2865 Laurel Closest Approach To Earth (1.496 AU) Aug 21 - Asteroid 15332 CERN Closest Approach To Earth (1.565 AU) Aug 21 - Asteroid 6639 Marchis Closest Approach To Earth (1.840 AU) Aug 21 - Asteroid 78577 JPL Closest Approach To Earth (2.003 AU) Aug 21 - 45th Anniversary (1972), Copernicus Launch JPL Space Calendar

NASA’s LRO Team Wants You to Wave at the Moon New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale Food for Thought NASA’s LRO Team Wants You to Wave at the Moon

Space Image of the Week Perseids over the Pyrénées  Image Credit & Copyright: Jean-Francois Graffand