Space News Update - September 23, 2016 - In the News Departments Story 1: NASA-Funded Sounding Rocket Solves One Cosmic Mystery, Reveals Another Story 2: Hubble Finds Planet Orbiting Pair of Stars Story 3: Rosetta’s Final Days of Comet Exploration Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

NASA-Funded Sounding Rocket Solves One Cosmic Mystery, Reveals Another 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)

Hubble Finds Planet Orbiting Pair of Stars

Rosetta’s Final Days of Comet Exploration

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Friday, September 23 • The starry W of Cassiopeia stands high in the northeast after dark. The right-hand side of the W (the brightest side) is tilted up. Look along the second segment of the W counting down from the top. Notice the dim naked-eye stars along that segment (not counting its two ends). The one on the right is Eta Cassiopeiae, magnitude 3.4, a Sun-like star just 19 light-years away with an orange-dwarf companion — a lovely binary in a telescope. The "one" on the left, fainter, is a wide naked-eye pair: Upsilon1 and Upsilon2Cassiopeiae, 0.3° apart. They're orange giants unrelated to each other, 200 and 400 light-years from us. • Last-quarter Moon (exact at 5:56 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on this date). The Moon rises around midnight or 1 a.m. on the morning of Saturday the 24th. Once it's fairly well up you'll see that it's in Gemini, with Castor and Pollux to its left. Orion is much farther to its right. • Algol is at its minimum light, magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1, for about two hours centered on 11:19 p.m. EDT. Info and comparison-star chart. Saturday, September 24 • This is the time of year when the rich Cygnus Milky Way crosses the zenith in the hour after nightfall is complete (for skywatchers at mid-northern latitudes). The Milky Way rises straight up from the southwest horizon, passed overhead, and runs straight down to the northeast. Sunday, September 25 • About a half hour after sunset, you shouldn't have much trouble spotting Venus very low in the west-southwest through the twilight, if you have a clear view down that low. But can you see twinkly little Spica 2½° beneath Venus, perhaps as twilight fades further? You'll likely need binoculars or a telescope, the more so the farther north you live. Spica is only magnitude +1.0 compared to Venus's –3.9. In other words, it's only 1% as bright. (And that's before the more severe atmospheric extinction for lower Spica.) Sky & Telescope

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Monday, September 26 • Arcturus shines in the west these evenings as twilight fades out. Equally-bright Capella (they're both magnitude 0) is barely rising in the north-northeast, depending on your latitude; the farther north you are, the higher it will be. Late in the evening, Arcturus and Capella shine at the same height in their respective compass directions. When will this happen? It depends on both your latitude and longitude. • Early Tuesday morning the 27th, the waning crescent Moon is about 6° upper right of Regulus (for North America), as shown at right. Look 17° below or lower right of Regulus for Mercury. Tuesday, September 27 • This is the time of year when, during the evening, the dim Little Dipper "dumps water" into the bowl of the Big Dipper way down below. The Big Dipper will dump it back in the evenings of spring. • As dawn brightens Wednesday morning the 28th, spot the thin crescent Moon between Regulus above it and Mercury below it, as shown at right. Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Fri Sep 23, 4:45 AM 2 min 39° 39° above ENE 11° above ESE Fri Sep 23, 6:18 AM 5 min 18° 10° above W 10° above S Sat Sep 24, 5:29 AM 3 min 36° 36° above SW 10° above SSE Sun Sep 25, 4:40 AM < 1 min 10° 10° above SE Mon Sep 26, 8:22 PM 11° 11° above S Tue Sep 27, 7:31 PM 13° 12° above ESE Tue Sep 27, 9:05 PM 12° 10° above WSW 12° above WSW Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website 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) Check NASA-TV’s Upcoming Events listing for multiple viewing times of ISS Expedition 49 in-Flight Interviews.   Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Sep 23 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #460 (OTM-460) Sep 23 - Comet 73P-AA/Schwassmann-Wachmann Closest Approach To Earth (1.081 AU) Sep 23 - Comet 338P/McNaught Closest Approach To Earth (1.356 AU) Sep 23 - Comet 31P/Schwassmann-Wachmann At Opposition (3.703 AU) Sep 23 - Comet 294P/LINEAR At Opposition (4.100 AU) Sep 23 - Asteroid 43844 Rowling Closest Approach To Earth (1.283 AU) Sep 23 - Asteroid 9951 Tyrannosaurus Closest Approach To Earth (1.346 AU) Sep 23 - Asteroid 12490 Leiden Closest Approach To Earth (2.517 AU) Sep 23 - Kuiper Belt Object 308933 (2006 SQ372) At Opposition (26.252 AU) Sep 23 - Kuiper Belt Object 120347 Salacia At Opposition (43.735 AU) Sep 23 - Willie McCool's 55th Birthday (1961) Sep 23 - 170th Anniversary (1846), Johann Galle's Discovery of Neptune Sep 23 - Johann Encke's 225th Birthday (1791) Sep 24 - Cassini, Distant Flyby of Polydeuces Sep 24 - Comet 62P/Tsuchinshan Closest Approach To Earth (2.797 AU) Sep 24 - Asteroid 441 Bathilde Occults HIP 38092 (6.9 Magnitude Star) Sep 24 - Asteroid 6216 San Jose Closest Approach To Earth (1.588 AU) Sep 24 - Asteroid 5608 Olmos Closest Approach To Earth (1.589 AU) Sep 24 - Asteroid 2200 Pasadena Closest Approach To Earth (1.750 AU) Sep 24 - Educator Workshop: Comets Close Up, Pasadena, California Sep 24 - 5th Anniversary (2011), UARS Reenters Earth's Atmosphere Sep 24 - Pols Swings' 110th Birthday (1906) Sep 25 - Comet 73P-BE/Schwassmann-Wachmann Perihelion (1.006 AU) Sep 25 - Comet 343P/NEAT-LONEOS Closest Approach To Earth (1.545 AU) Sep 25 - Comet 24P/Schaumasse At Opposition (3.121 AU) Sep 25 - Comet 123P/West-Hartley At Opposition (4.027 AU) Sep 25 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 RL20 Near-Earth Flyby (0.047 AU) Sep 25 - Apollo Asteroid 363831 (2005 PY16) Near-Earth Flyby (0.075 AU) Sep 25 - Asteroid 3850 Peltier Closest Approach To Earth (0.930 AU) Sep 25 - Atira Asteroid 164294 (2004 XZ130) Closest Approach To Earth (1.139 AU) Sep 25 - Asteroid 8952 ODAS Closest Approach To Earth (1.646 AU) Sep 26 - [Sep 21] WorldView 4 (GeoEye 2) Atlas 5 Launch Sep 26 - [Sep 20] ScatSat 1 PSLV Launch Sep 26 - Comet P/2008 SH164 (LINEAR) Closest Approach To Earth (2.174 AU) Sep 26 - Comet 86P/Wild Closest Approach To Earth (2.868 AU) Sep 26 - Comet C/2011 KP36 (Spacewatch) Closest Approach To Earth (3.971 AU) Sep 26 - [Sep 20] Apollo Asteroid 2016 RH40 Near-Earth Flyby (0.048 AU) JPL Space Calendar

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Sep 26 - Asteroid 8622 Mayimbialik Closest Approach To Earth (1.579 AU) Sep 27 - [Sep 22] Cassini, Titan Flyby Sep 27 - Comet 73P-BH/Schwassmann-Wachmann Perihelion (1.005 AU) Sep 27 - Comet 73P-BI/Schwassmann-Wachmann Perihelion (1.005 AU) Sep 27 - Comet 73P-BM/Schwassmann-Wachmann Perihelion (1.005 AU) Sep 27 - Comet 73P-BP/Schwassmann-Wachmann Perihelion (1.005 AU) Sep 27 - Comet 175P/Hergenrother At Opposition (3.906 AU) Sep 27 - Comet C/2015 V3 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (4.281 AU) Sep 27 - Amor Asteroid 2016 QB2 Near-Earth Flyby (0.081 AU) Sep 27 - Asteroid 10168 Stony Ridge Closest Approach To Earth (1.583 AU) Sep 27 - Asteroid 243097 Batavia Closest Approach To Earth (1.641 AU) Sep 27 - Asteroid 2791 Paradise Closest Approach To Earth (1.701 AU) Sep 27 - Asteroid 54522 Menaechmus Closest Approach To Earth (1.945 AU) Sep 27 - Plutino 469372 (2001 QF298) At Opposition (42.405 AU) Sep 27 - Stephanie Wilson's 50th Birthday (1966) Sep 27 - Alberto Conti's 50th Birthday (1966) Sep 27 - 60th Anniversary (1956), 1st Man to Reach Mach 3 (Mel Apt) JPL Space Calendar

NASA to have limited role in SpaceX’s planned Mars campaign Food for Thought NASA to have limited role in SpaceX’s planned Mars campaign

Space Image of the Week Harvest Moon Eclipse  Image Credit & Copyright: Miguel Claro (TWAN, Dark Sky Alqueva)