Space News Update - July 10, 2015 - In the News Departments Story 1: Pluto and Charon: New Horizons’ Dynamic Duo Story 2: Philae Contacted and Successfully Executes Commands Story 3: Indian and Pacific Oceans Temporarily Hide Global Warming Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

Pluto and Charon: New Horizons’ Dynamic Duo 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)

Philae Contacted and Successfully Executes Commands Ratchet Wrench ‘E-mailed’ to Space Station

Indian and Pacific Oceans Temporarily Hide Global Warming

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Friday, July 10 As summer advances, the Milky Way rises high after dark to form a magnificent arch across the whole eastern sky — if your sky is dark enough! The Milky Way runs all the way from below Cassiopeia in the north-northeast, up and across Cygnus and the Summer Triangle (crowned by bright Vega) in the east, and down past the spout of the Sagittarius Teapot in the south. How much of this can you make out from your location? Saturday, July 11 Vega is the brightest star very high in the east at nightfall. Barely to its lower left is one of the best-known multiple stars in the sky: 4th-magnitude Epsilon (ε) Lyrae, the Double-Double. It forms one corner of a roughly equilateral triangle with Vega and Zeta (ζ) Lyrae. The triangle is less than 2° on a side, hardly the width of your thumb at arm's length. Binoculars easily resolve Epsilon, and a 4-inch telescope at 100× or more should resolve each of Epsilon's wide components into a tight pair. Zeta Lyrae is also a double star for binoculars; much tougher, but easily split with any telescope. Delta (δ) Lyrae, a similar distance below Zeta, is much wider and easier to separate with binoculars. As dawn brightens on Sunday morning the 12th, look east for the thin waning crescent Moon near Aldebaran. Far to Aldebaran's lower left (out of the scene here) is brighter Mercury. Sunday, July 12 Venus and Jupiter continue to shine low in the west in twilight. As the darkness deepens, look for Regulus and fainter Gamma (γ) Leonis emerging into view above them. Monday, July 13 After nightfall, Altair shines in the east-southeast. It's the second-brightest star on the eastern side of the sky, after Vega high to its upper left. Above Altair by a finger-width at arm's length is little orange Tarazed. And a bit more than a fist-width to Altair's lower left, look for Delphinus the Dolphin. It's leaping leftward. Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Sun Jul 12, 5:01 AM 4 min 42° 11 above SSW 29 above E Mon Jul 13, 4:10 AM 21° 16 above SSE 10 above E Tue Jul 14, 3:19 AM < 1 min 10° 10 above ESE Tue Jul 14, 4:51 AM 75° 12 above WSW 36 above NE 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, July 10 3 p.m., Launching For America Video (Starts at 3:20 pm) (all channels) 3:30 p.m., Live Interviews with Astronauts Training for First U.S. Commercial Crew Space Flights (all channels) 7:30 p.m., 11:30 p.m., Replay of the Daily Update on the New Horizons (all channels) Saturday, July 11 1:30 a.m., 7:30 a.m., Replay of the Daily Update on the New Horizons (all channels) 11:30 a.m., Daily Update on the New Horizons/Pluto Pre-Flyby Mission (Produced by Johns Hopkins applied Physics Laboratory) (all channels) 1 p.m., 8 p.m., The Year of Pluto – a Documentary (NTV-1 (Public), NTV-2 (Education)) Sunday, July 12 1 p.m., 8 p.m., The Year of Pluto - a Documentary (NTV-1 (Public), NTV-2 (Education)) Monday, July 13 10 a.m., Space Station Live (all channels) 11 a.m., NASA News Briefing on New Horizon – Mission Status and What to Expect (all channels)   Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Jul 10 - [Jul 03] DMC 3A/3B/3C SkySat 3/ CBNT-1/ DeorbitSail Dnepr Launch Jul 10 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #416 (OTM-416) Jul 10 - Comet 135P/Vaisala-Oterma Closest Approach To Earth (2.015 AU) Jul 10 - Asteroid 2014 WU200 Near-Earth Flyby (0.079 AU) Jul 10 - Asteroid 9342 Carygrant Closest Approach To Earth (1.153 AU) Jul 10 - Asteroid 4183 Cuno Closest Approach To Earth (1.202 AU) Jul 10 - Asteroid 4659 Roddenberry Closest Approach To Earth (1.378 AU) Jul 10 - Asteroid 4197 Morpheus Closest Approach To Earth (2.750 AU) Jul 10 - [Jul 06] Lecture: Solar Eclipse Extravaganza, Los Altos Hills, California Jul 10 - 5th Anniversary (2010), Rosetta, Asteroid 21 Lutetia Flyby Jul 10 - 30th Anniversary (1985), Bion 7 Launch (Carried Monkeys Verny & Gordy, Newts) Jul 10 - Owen Chamberlain's 95th Birthday (1920) Jul 11 - Comet P/2005 W4 (SOHO) At Opposition (3.394 AU) Jul 11 - Comet P/2013 EW90 (Tenagra) At Opposition (3.718 AU) Jul 11 - Asteroid 164202 (2004 EW) Near-Earth Flyby (0.070 AU) Jul 11 - Asteroid 3018 Godiva Closest Approach To Earth (0.924 AU) Jul 11 - Asteroid 12818 Tomhanks Closest Approach To Earth (1.567 AU) Jul 11 - Asteroid 4628 Laplace Closest Approach To Earth (1.794 AU) Jul 11 - Asteroid 4341 Poseidon Closest Approach To Earth (1.972 AU) Jul 11 - 25th Anniversary (1990), Gamma Observatory Launch (Soviet Union) Jul 12 - Moon Occults Aldebaran Jul 12 - Comet P/1999 J6 (SOHO) At Opposition (0.880 AU) Jul 12 - Comet 162P/Siding Spring Perihelion (1.237 AU) Jul 12 - Comet 221P/LINEAR Perihelion (1.758 AU) Jul 12 - Asteroid 12490 Leiden Closest Approach To Earth (2.072 AU) Jul 13 - Comet C/2012 F3 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (2.574 AU) Jul 13 - Comet C/2013 Y2 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (3.793 AU) Jul 13 - Asteroid 2009 BD Closest Approach To Earth (0.363 AU) Jul 13 - Asteroid 16682 Donati Closest Approach To Earth (1.337 AU) Jul 13 - 20th Anniversary (1995), STS-70 Launch (Space Shuttle Discovery, TDRS-G Deployment) JPL Space Calendar

Food for Thought The Children of Pluto New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale Food for Thought The Children of Pluto

Space Image of the Week In the Company of Dione  Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute