Space News Update - December 5, 2017 - In the News Departments Story 1: Voyager 1 Fires Up Thrusters After 37 Years Story 2: Lava or Not, Exoplanet 55 Cancri e Likely to Have Atmosphere Story 3: NASA Builds its Next Mars Rover Mission Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities NASA-TV Highlights Space Calendar Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

Voyager 1 Fires Up Thrusters After 37 Years 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)

Lava or Not, Exoplanet 55 Cancri e Likely to Have Atmosphere

NASA Builds its Next Mars Rover Mission

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, December 5 Now the waning gibbous Moon doesn't rise until well after dark. Look for Pollux to its left, and Castor above Pollux. Later into the night, you'll find Procyon rising farther to the Moon's lower right. Wednesday, December 6 The five brightest stars of Cassiopeia are usually called a W, but late these nights Cas turns over to become a wide M, very high in the north. The late-evening waning Moon shines below Pollux and Castor and left of Procyon. Thursday, December 7 Earliest sunset of the year (if you're near latitude 40° north). By the time of the solstice and shortest day on December 21st, the Sun actually sets 3 minutes later than now. But the Sun doesn't rise its latest until January 4th. For these slight discrepancies, blame the tilt of Earth's axis and the ellipticity of Earth's orbit. Riding high in the northeast sky as darkness descends is a striking zigzag row of five stars marking the Queen of Ethiopia, Cassiopeia. Source: Space.com Friday, December 8 Bright Vega still shines well up in the west-northwest after dark at this time of year. The brightest star above it is Deneb, the head of the big Northern Cross, which is formed by the brightest stars of Cygnus. At nightfall the shaft of the cross extends lower left from Deneb. By about 11 p.m., the cross plants itself more or less upright on the northwest horizon. Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Wed Dec 6, 5:28 PM 2 min 11° 10° above NNW 10° above N Thu Dec 7, 6:13 PM < 1 min 10° Fri Dec 8, 5:21 PM 1 min 10° above NNE Sat Dec 9, 6:05 PM 13° 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) Wednesday, December 6 7:30 a.m. - Coverage of the Departure of the Orbital/ATK Cygnus CRS-8 Cargo Ship from the ISS (Release of Cygnus is scheduled at 8:10 a.m. ET) (Starts at 7:45 a.m.) (all channels) Thursday, December 7 11 a.m. - SpaceX/Dragon CRS-13 Cargo Resupply Mission Prelaunch News Conference (all channels) 2 p.m. - ISS Expedition 55-56 Crew News Conference (Artemyev, Arnold, Feustel) (all channels) 3:30 p.m. - SpaceX/Dragon CRS-13 Cargo Resupply Mission “What’s on Board?” Science Briefing (all channels) Friday, December 8 12:30 p.m. - Coverage of the Launch of the SpaceX/Dragon CRS-13 Mission (Launch scheduled at 1:20 p.m. ET) (Starts at 12:45 p.m.) (all channels) 3 p.m. - SpaceX/Dragon CRS-13 Post-Launch News Conference (all channels) 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 Aug PSLV Launch JPL Space Calendar Dec 05 - Comet 54P/de Vico-Swift-NEAT At Opposition (1.776 AU) Dec 05 - Asteroid 5263 Arrius Occults HIP 17049 (6.7 Magnitude Star) Dec 05 - Apollo Asteroid 2017 WS13 Near-Earth Flyby (0.024 AU) Dec 05 - Aten Asteroid 2010 TK7 (Earth Trojan) Closest Approach To Earth (0.204 AU) Dec 05 - Amor Asteroid 1980 Tezcatlipoca Closest Approach To Earth (0.878 AU) Dec 05 - Kuiper Belt Object 145451 (2005 RM43) At Opposition (35.742 AU) Dec 05-06 - Workshop: Research Opportunities on the Deep Space Gateway, Noordwijk, The Netherlands Dec 05-07 - Conference: The First Double Neutron Star Merger, Santa Barbara, California Dec 05-07 - Space Commerce Conference and Expo (SpaceCom), Houston, Texas Dec 05-08 - Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) 129th Annual Meeting: Beyond the Eclipse - Engaging Diverse and Underserved Communities in Astronomy and STEM, St. Louis, Missouri Dec 06 - Comet 79P/du Toit-Hartley At Opposition (1.971 AU) Dec 06 - Comet C/2017 P2 (PANSTARRS) Perihelion (2.462 AU) Dec 06 - Apollo Asteroid 2017 WF28 Near-Earth Flyby (0.045 AU) Dec 06 - Amor Asteroid 2017 WA13 Near-Earth Flyby (0.076 AU) Dec 06 - Asteroid 3869 Norton Closest Approach To Earth (1.588 AU) Dec 06-09 - 8th OPTICON Gaia Science Alerts Workshop, Warsaw, Poland Dec 07 - Asteroid 2621 Goto Occults HIP 35842 (6.2 Magnitude Star) Dec 07 - Apollo Asteroid 2017 WP1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.058 AU) Dec 07 - Asteroid 2198 Ceplecha Closest Approach To Earth (1.159 AU) Dec 07 - Asteroid 134369 Sahara Closest Approach To Earth (1.537 AU) Dec 07 - Asteroid 14220 Alexgibbs Closest Approach To Earth (2.112 AU) Dec 07 - Lecture: Jupiter's Deep Flows Revealed by Juno, Ithaca, New York Dec 07 - Lecture: Holiday Lights Show Culture from Space, Washington DC Dec 07 - 45th Anniversary (1972), Apollo 17 Launch (Last Manned Mission to the Moon) Dec 07 – Test Flight, Electron Launch JPL Space Calendar

Traces of Life on Nearest Exoplanets May Be Hidden in Equatorial Trap New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale Food for Thought Traces of Life on Nearest Exoplanets May Be Hidden in Equatorial Trap

Cosmic Snake Pregnant With Stars Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA Space Image of the Week Cosmic Snake Pregnant With Stars Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA