Space News Update - September 16, 2016 - In the News Departments Story 1: Cassini Begins Epic Final Year at Saturn Story 2: NASA-Funded Scientific Ballooners Wrap Up Fourth and Final Campaign Story 3: Explaining Why the Universe Can Be Transparent Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

Cassini Begins Epic Final Year at Saturn 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)

NASA-Funded Scientific Ballooners Wrap Up Fourth and Final Campaign

Explaining Why the Universe Can Be Transparent

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Friday, September 16 • Full Moon (exact at 3:05 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time). As night comes on, look for the Great Square of Pegasus to the Moon's upper left. The Square, a little larger than your fist held at arm's length, stands on one corner. • A fairly deep penumbral (fringe) eclipse of the Moon is visible from eastern Europe, eastern Africa, Asia, and the westernmost Pacific. See our story: A Harvest Moon Penumbral Eclipse. Saturday, September 17 • Now the Moon shines below the Great Square of Pegasus. From the Great Square's left corner extends a big line of three 2nd-magnitude stars, running to the lower left, that mark the head, backbone and leg of the constellation Andromeda. The line of three includes the Square's corner. Upper left from the end of this line, you'll find W-shaped Cassiopeia tilting up. Sunday, September 18 • About a half hour after sunset, you should have little 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 differential atmospheric extinction. Monday, September 19 • Arcturus shines in the west these evenings as twilight fades out. Equally-bright Capella 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, they shine at the same height in their respective compass directions. When will this happen? That depends on both your latitude and longitude. Tuesday, September 20 • 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.

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Fri Sep 16, 4:21 AM < 1 min 10° 10° above N Fri Sep 16, 5:57 AM 3 min 14° 10° above NNW 12° above NE Sat Sep 17, 5:05 AM 2 min 11° 10° above NNE Sun Sep 18, 4:14 AM Sun Sep 18, 5:49 AM 20° 11° above NNW 19° above NE Mon Sep 19, 4:57 AM 15° 14° above NE Tue Sep 20, 4:08 AM 10° above NE Tue Sep 20, 5:41 AM 4 min 36° 10° above NW 32° above ENE 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) 3 p.m., 7 p.m., 9 p.m., 11 p.m., Friday, September 16 - Replay of NASA Television Video File News Feed of the ISS Expedition 49-50 Crew’s (Kimbrough, Ryzhikov, Borisenko) Pre-Launch Activities at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (recorded from Sept. 8-16) (all channels) 4 p.m., Friday, September 16 - ISS Expedition 49 In-Flight Event with the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston and Flight Engineer Kate Rubins of NASA (starts at 3:55 p.m.) (all channels) 1 a.m., 7 a.m., 7 p.m., Saturday, September 17 - Replay of NASA Asteroid Redirect Mission Update from Goddard Space Flight Center (NTV-1 (Public)) 2 a.m., Saturday, September 17 - Replay of Live Interviews with ISS Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams of NASA (NTV-1 (Public)) 3 a.m., 11 a.m., 9 p.m., Saturday, September 17 - Replay of ISS Expedition 49 In-Flight Event with the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston and Flight Engineer Kate Rubins of NASA 8 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 3 p.m., 11 p.m., Saturday, September 17 - Replay of NASA Television Video File News Feed of the ISS Expedition 49-50 Crew’s Pre-Launch Activities at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (recorded from Sept. 8-16) 8:30 p.m., Saturday, September 17 - Replay of “STEM In 30” -- Star Trek at 50: Science Fiction to Science Fact (NTV-1 (Public)) 1 a.m., 7 a.m., 3 p.m., 11 p.m., Sunday, September 18 - Replay of ISS Expedition 49 In-Flight Event with the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston and Flight Engineer Kate Rubins of NASA (NTV-1 (Public)) 2 a.m., 8 a.m., 7 p.m., Sunday, September 18 - Replay of NASA Television Video File News Feed of the ISS Expedition 49-50 Crew’s Pre-Launch Activities at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (recorded from Sept. 8-16) (NTV-1 (Public)) 3 a.m., 10:30 a.m., Sunday, September 18 - Replay of Live Interviews with ISS Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams of NASA 11 a.m., 9 p.m., Sunday, September 18 - Replay of NASA Asteroid Redirect Mission Update from Goddard Space Flight Center (all channels) 2 p.m., 9:30 p.m., Sunday, September 18 - Replay of “STEM In 30” -- Star Trek at 50: Science Fiction to Science Fact (NTV-1 (Public))   Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

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) 1 a.m., Monday, September 19 - Replay of NASA Asteroid Redirect Mission Update from Goddard Space Flight Center (NTV-1 (Public)) 2 a.m., Monday, September 19 - Replay of Live Interviews with ISS Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams of NASA (NTV-1 (Public)) 7 a.m., 8 a.m., Monday, September 19 - Replay of NASA Television Video File News Feed of the ISS Expedition 49-50 Crew’s (Kimbrough, Ryzhikov, Borisenko) Pre-Launch Activities at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (recorded from Sept. 8-16) (NTV-1 (Public)) 11 a.m., 12 p.m., 3 p.m., 7 p.m., 11 p.m., Monday, September 19 - Replay of NASA Television Video File News Feed of the ISS Expedition 49-50/Soyuz MS-02 Crew (Kimbrough, Ryzhikov, Borisenko) Activities and Soyuz Vehicle Mating at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (includes activities from Sept. 17-19) (all channels) 1 a.m., Tuesday, September 20 - Replay of NASA Television Video File News Feed of the ISS Expedition 49-50 Crew’s Pre-Launch Activities at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (recorded from Sept. 8-16) (NTV-1 (Public)) 2 a.m., 7 a.m., Tuesday, September 20 - Replay of NASA Television Video File News Feed of the ISS Expedition 49-50/Soyuz MS-02 Crew Activities and Soyuz Vehicle Mating at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (includes activities from Sept. 17-19) (NTV-1 (Public)) 8 a.m., Tuesday, September 20 - ISS Expedition 49 In-Flight Event for JAXA with the Tenku Mirai Project and Flight Engineer Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (all channels) 12 p.m., Tuesday, September 20 - Video File of the ISS Expedition 49-50 Crew’s Soyuz MS-02 Rollout to the Launch Pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and Launch Pad Interviews (all channels) 3 p.m., 7 p.m., 11 p.m.,Tuesday, September 20 - Replay of NASA Television Video File News Feed of the ISS Expedition 49-50 Crew’s Soyuz MS-02 Rollout to the Launch Pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and Launch Pad Interviews (all channels) Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Sep 16 -[Sep 10] Penumbral Lunar Eclipse Sep 16 -[Sep 14] WorldView 4 (GeoEye 2) Atlas 5 Launch Sep 16 - International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer Sep 16 - Comet 255P/Levy Closest Approach To Earth (1.831 AU) Sep 16 -[Sep 15] Apollo Asteroid 2016 RU33 Near-Earth Flyby (0.015 AU) Sep 16 -[Sep 12] Aten Asteroid 2016 RT20 Near-Earth Flyby (0.040 AU) Sep 16 - Centaur Object 2015 KJ153 At Opposition (2.982 AU) Sep 16 - 20th Anniversary (1996), STS-79 Launch (Space Shuttle Atlantis, Mir Space Station) Sep 16 - Seth Chandler's 170th Birthday (1846) Sep 17 - Comet C/2013 P3 (Palomar) At Opposition (8.624 AU) Sep 17 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 QL44 Near-Earth Flyby (0.009 AU) Sep 17 - Asteroid 1282 Utopia Closest Approach To Earth (1.854 AU) Sep 17 - 60th Anniversary (1956), Inauguration of Stockert Radio Telescope Sep 17 - Bernhard Riemann's 190th Birthday (1826) Sep 17-18 -[Sep 10] Space Apps Next Gen, New York, New York Sep 18 - Comet 302P/Lemmon-PANSTARRS At Opposition (2.363 AU) Sep 18 - Comet 90P/Gehrels Closest Approach To Earth (2.546 AU) Sep 18 - Comet 325P/Yang-Gao Closest Approach To Earth (2.748 AU) Sep 18 - Comet C/2015 B2 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (2.959 AU) Sep 18 - Comet 258P/PANSTARRS At Opposition (4.221 AU) Sep 18 - Amor Asteroid 2016 QS11 Near-Earth Flyby (0.031 AU) Sep 18 -[Sep 15] Amor Asteroid 2016 RT33 Near-Earth Flyby (0.062 AU) Sep 18 -[Sep 11] Apollo Asteroid 2016 RY19 Near-Earth Flyby (0.067 AU) Sep 18 -[Sep 11] Amor Asteroid 2016 RD20 Near-Earth Flyby (0.073 AU) Sep 18 -[Sep 15] Apollo Asteroid 2016 RZ33 Near-Earth Flyby (0.095 AU) Sep 18 - Asteroid 12464 Manhattan Closest Approach To Earth (1.349 AU) Sep 18 - Atira Asteroid 2015 ME131 Closest Approach To Earth (1.604 AU) Sep 18 - Asteroid 145 Adeona Closest Approach To Earth (1.914 AU) Sep 18 - Asteroid 3202 Graff Closest Approach To Earth (3.132 AU) Sep 19 - Iridium NEXT 3-12 Falcon 9 Launch Sep 19 - Comet 338P/McNaught At Opposition (1.358 AU) Sep 19 - Comet 333P/LINEAR At Opposition (1.701 AU) Sep 20 -[Sep 11] Apollo Asteroid 2016 RM20 Near-Earth Flyby (0.016 AU) Sep 20 - Asteroid 24101 Cassini Closest Approach To Earth (1.333 AU) Sep 20 - Asteroid 11911 Angel Closest Approach To Earth (1.722 AU) Sep 20 - Asteroid 31 Euphrosyne Closest Approach To Earth (2.259 AU) Sep 20 - Asteroid 4442 Garcia Closest Approach To Earth (2.749 AU) JPL Space Calendar

Gaia’s Billion-star Map Hints at Treasures to Come Food for Thought Gaia’s Billion-star Map Hints at Treasures to Come

Retrograde Mars and Saturn Space Image of the Week Retrograde Mars and Saturn Image Credit & Copyright: Tunç Tezel (TWAN)