Space News Update - July 1, 2013 - Departments In the News Story 1: Opportunity Approaching Mountain Climbing Goal and Signs of Habitable Martian Environment Story 2: Cloud behavior expands habitable zone of alien planets Story 3: NASA Decommissions Its Galaxy Hunter Spacecraft  Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities NASA-TV Highlights Space Calendar Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

Opportunity Approaching Mountain Climbing Goal and Signs of Habitable Martian Environment 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)

Cloud behavior expands habitable zone of alien planets This illustration shows simulated cloud coverage (white) on a tidally locked planet (blue) that would be orbiting a red dwarf star. Planetary scientists at UChicago and Northwestern are applying global climate simulations to problems in astronomy.

NASA Decommissions Its Galaxy Hunter Spacecraft

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Monday, July 1 If you have a dark enough sky, the Milky Way now forms a magnificent arch high across the whole eastern sky after nightfall is complete. It runs all the way from below Cassiopeia low in the north-northeast, up and across Cygnus and the Summer Triangle in the east, and down past the spout of the Sagittarius Teapot in the south-southeast. Tuesday, July 2 The Big Dipper, high in the northwest after dark, is turning around to "scoop up water" through the nights of summer and early fall. Wednesday, July 3 A twilight challenge: As twilight fades, spot Venus low in the west-northwest. As darkness deepens, can you make out stars of the Beehive Cluster within about ½° below it? Good luck — the brightest of them are 6th magnitude, about 10,000 times fainter than Venus! A much easier challenge: Look ½° above Saturn soon after dark for the 4.2-magnitude star Kappa Virginis. Sky & Telescope Thursday, July 4 Watching the fireworks tonight? As you're waiting for them to begin, point out to people some sky sights. The two brightest stars of summer, Vega and Arcturus, are high overhead toward the east and southwest, respectively. Far below Arcturus are the planet Saturn and, to its lower right, Spica. Nearly that high in the southeast is the orange-red supergiant Antares, amid fainter stars of upper Scorpius. Friday, July 5 During dawn this morning and Saturday morning, look low in the east-northeast for the waning Moon. It guides your way to Mars, Jupiter, Aldebaran, and Beta Tauri, as shown at right. Binoculars will help. Earth is at aphelion, its farthest from the Sun for the year (just 1 part in 30 farther than at perihelion in January).

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: No Sighting Opportunities Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

NASA-TV Highlights Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website (all times Eastern Daylight Time) July 2, Tuesday 2 p.m. - ISS Expedition 36 U.S. Spacewalk Preview Briefing - JSC (All Channels) July 3, Wednesday 11:40 a.m. - ISS Expedition 36 In-Flight Interview with KMSP-TV, Minneapolis - JSC (All Channels) July 5, Friday 11 a.m. - Replay of Space Station Live (Recorded on July 3) - HQ (All Channels) Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Jul 01 - [Jun 24] IRNSS 1A PSLV-C22 Launch (India) Jul 01 - Comet 263P/Gibbs At Opposition (2.569 AU) Jul 01 - Comet C/2012 BJ98 (Lemmon) At Opposition (2.600 AU) Jul 01 - Comet 182P/LONEOS At Opposition (3.062 AU) Jul 01 - Comet C/2013 B2 (Catalina) Perihelion (3.734 AU) Jul 01 - Asteroid 3783 Morris Closest Approach To Earth (0.948 AU) Jul 01 - Asteroid 4970 Druyan Closest Approach To Earth (1.640 AU) Jul 01 - Asteroid 50240 Cortina Closest Approach To Earth (1.683 AU) Jul 01 - Dwarf Planet 134340 Pluto At Opposition (31.449 AU) Jul 02 - [Jun 26] Cosmos 2487-2489 (Uragan M39, M40, M41) Proton M-Briz M Launch Jul 02 - Comet P/2011 FR143 (Lemmon) At Opposition (4.865 AU) Jul 02 - Asteroid 2013 LN31 Near-Earth Flyby (0.098 AU) Jul 02 - Asteroid 2013 CE129 Near-Earth Flyby (0.099 AU) Jul 02 - Asteroid 4825 Ventura Closest Approach To Earth (1.220 AU) Jul 02 - Asteroid 37117 Narcissus Closest Approach To Earth (8.495 AU) Jul 03 - Comet 106P/Schuster At Opposition (2.616 AU) Jul 03 - Comet 210P/Christensen At Opposition (3.266 AU) Jul 03 - Comet 118P/Shoemaker-Levy At Opposition (3.916 AU) Jul 03 - Asteroid 1566 Icarus Closest Approach To Earth (0.806 AU) Jul 03 - Asteroid 10387 Bepicolombo Closest Approach To Earth (1.389 AU) Jul 03 - Asteroid 3895 Earhart Closest Approach To Earth (1.587 AU) Jul 03 - Asteroid 306367 Nut Closest Approach To Earth (2.517 AU) Jul 03 - 15th Anniversary (1998), Nozomi Launch (Japan Mars Mission) Jul 04 - Comet 17P/Holmes Closest Approach To Earth (1.914 AU) Jul 04 - Comet 46P/Wirtanen Closest Approach To Earth (2.002 AU) Jul 04 - Asteroid 12485 Jenniferharris Closest Approach To Earth (1.450 AU) Jul 04 - Asteroid 39382 Opportunity Closest Approach To Earth (3.571 AU) Jul 04 - Henrietta Leavitt's 145th Birthday (1868) Jul 05 - Earth At Aphelion (1.017 AU From Sun) American astronomer, Henrietta Swan Leavitt. Her discovery of the relation between the luminosity and the period of Cepheid variable stars allowed astronomers to measure the distance between the Earth and faraway galaxies. Jul 05 - Comet 271P/van Houten-Lemmon Perihelion (4.250 AU) JPL Space Calendar

NASA Space Shuttle Runway Gets New Life as Commercial Spaceport Food for Thought NASA Space Shuttle Runway Gets New Life as Commercial Spaceport

Space Image of the Week Big Brother to the Milky Way