Space News Update - March 9, 2018 - In the News Departments Story 1: NASA Juno Findings - Jupiter’s Jet-Streams Are Unearthly Story 2: Astronomers See a Dead Star Come Back to Life Thanks to a Donor Star Story 3: Europe’s ExoMars Orbiter Nears Start of Methane-sniffing Science Mission Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities NASA-TV Highlights Space Calendar Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

NASA Juno Findings - Jupiter’s Jet-Streams Are Unearthly 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)

Astronomers See a Dead Star Come Back to Life Thanks to a Donor Star

Europe’s ExoMars Orbiter Nears Start of Methane-sniffing Science Mission

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Friday, March 9 • Bright Sirius stands due south on the meridian just after twilight fades away. Sirius is the bottom star of the equilateral Winter Triangle. The Triangle's other two stars are orange Betelgeuse (Orion's shoulder) to Sirius's upper right, and Procyon to Sirius's upper left. • In early dawn Saturday morning, the Moon forms a low, flat triangle with Mars and Saturn, as shown here. Saturday, March 10 • On the traditional divide between the winter and spring sky lies the dim constellation Cancer. It's between Gemini to its west and Leo to its east. Cancer holds something unique in its middle: the Beehive Star Cluster, M44. The Beehive shows dimly to the naked eye if you have little or no light pollution. With binoculars it's easy, even under worse conditions. Look for it a little less than halfway from Pollux in Gemini to Regulus in Leo. And what about the Beehive's binocular and telescopic counterpart M67, just 8° to the south? Find M67 and other intriguing sights in this area with Sue French's Deep-Sky Wonders article, charts, and photos in the March Sky & Telescope, page 54. • Daylight-saving time starts at 2 a.m. Sunday morning for most of North America. Sunday, March 11 • At nightfall, the Big Dipper high in the northeast is beginning to tip the left. Look well to its left for Polaris and the Little Dipper. Other than Polaris, all you may see of the Little Dipper through light pollution is the outer two stars of its bowl: Polaris-like Kochab and, below Kochab, fainter Pherkad. (They're about a fist and a half at arm's length lower right of Polaris.) This is the time of year when Kochab and Pherkad line up exactly vertical around the end of twilight. Sky & Telescope Monday, March 12 • After dark, Orion's near-horizontal Belt points to the right toward orange Aldebaran in the west and, farther on, the little Pleiades star cluster subtly glittering. The Pleiades are heading down to a twilight rendezvous with Venus in six weeks. They'll pass closest to Venus for a few nights around April 23rd.

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Sat Mar 10, 5:21 AM 2 min 11° 10° above N 10° above NNE Sun Mar 11, 5:28 AM < 1 min 10° Mon Mar 12, 6:12 AM 3 min 13° 10° above NNW 11° 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, March 9  9 a.m., ISS Expedition 55 In-Flight Interview with KSAZ-TV, Phoenix, Arizona and Flight Engineers Scott Tingle of NASA and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) (starts at 9:25 a.m.) (all channels) Tuesday, March 13  10 a.m., ISS Expedition 55 In-Flight Interview with KYW-TV, Philadelphia and Flight Engineers Scott Tingle of NASA and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) (all channels) 1 p.m., ISS Expedition 55 In-Flight Interview with NPR’s 1A Program from WAMU Radio, Washington, D.C. and Flight Engineers Scott Tingle of NASA and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) (starts at 1:25 p.m.) (all channels) Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Mar 09 - Comet P/2005 J1 (McNaught) Closest Approach To Earth (1.822 AU) Mar 09 - Comet 93P/Lovas At Opposition (2.638 AU) Mar 09 - Apollo Asteroid 2018 BK7 Near-Earth Flyby (0.026 AU) Mar 09 - Aten Asteroid 2013 ND15 (Venus Trojan) Closest Approach To Earth (0.650 AU) Mar 09 - Asteroid 9548 Fortran Closest Approach To Earth (1.228 AU) Mar 09 - Asteroid 73491 Robmatson Closest Approach To Earth (1.380 AU) Mar 09 - Asteroid 25930 Spielberg Closest Approach To Earth (1.565 AU) Mar 09 - Richard Walker's 80th Birthday (1938) Mar 10 - Asteroid 4 Vesta Occults 2UCAC 25353427 (10.7 Magnitude Star) Mar 10 - Apollo Asteroid 2007 LU19 Near-Earth Flyby (0.052 AU) Mar 10 - Apollo Asteroid 2015 DK200 Near-Earth Flyby (0.018 AU) Mar 10 - Apollo Asteroid 2003 DY15 Near-Earth Flyby (0.058 AU) Mar 10 - Aten Asteroid 2007 CM26 Near-Earth Flyby (0.070 AU) Mar 10 - Asteroid 10221 Kubrick Closest Approach To Earth (1.372 AU) Mar 10 - Asteroid 12258 Oscarwilde Closest Approach To Earth (1.465 AU) Mar 10 - Asteroid 3948 Bohr Closest Approach To Earth (1.608 AU) Mar 10 - Asteroid 397278 Arvidson Closest Approach To Earth (1.783 AU) Mar 10 - Asteroid 1495 Helsinki Closest Approach To Earth (1.800 AU) Mar 10 - Asteroid 4327 Ries Closest Approach To Earth (2.431 AU) Mar 10 - Asteroid 189202 Calar Alto Closest Approach To Earth (2.339 AU) Mar 10 - Asteroid 40227 Tahiti Closest Approach To Earth (3.857 AU) Mar 11 - [Mar 07] Daylight Saving - Set Clock Ahead 1 Hour (United States) Mar 11 - [Mar 05] Apollo Asteroid 2018 DY3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.014 AU) Mar 11 - [Mar 05] Apollo Asteroid 2018 DB4 Near-Earth Flyby (0.064 AU) Mar 11 - Asteroid 8120 Kobe Closest Approach To Earth (1.882 AU) Mar 11 - Apollo Asteroid 2102 Tantalus Closest Approach To Earth (2.032 AU) Mar 11 - 10th Anniversary (2008), STS-123 Launch (Space Shuttle Endeavour, International Space Station) Mar 12 - International Day of Planetaria Mar 12 - Comet 74P/Smirnova-Chernykh At Opposition (2.556 AU) Mar 12 - Comet C/2016 N6 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (2.601 AU) Mar 12 - Comet C/2015 V4 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (5.445 AU) Mar 12 - Apollo Asteroid 2013 RZ73 Near-Earth Flyby (0.055 AU) Mar 12 - [Mar 09] Amor Asteroid 2018 EF Near-Earth Flyby (0.075 AU) Mar 12 - Aten Asteroid 398188 Agni Closest Approach To Earth (0.292 AU) Mar 12 - Atira Asteroid 2014 FO47 Closest Approach To Earth (0.346 AU) Mar 12 - Asteroid 35334 Yarkovsky Closest Approach To Earth (2.032 AU) Mar 12 - Apollo Asteroid 1866 Sisyphus Closest Approach To Earth (2.206 AU) Mar 12 - Wally Schirra's 85th Birthday (1923) Mar 12 - John Theophile Desaguliers' 335th Birthday (1683) JPL Space Calendar

Food for Thought Denver Metro May Soon be the Gateway to Space Thanks to Spaceport Colorado

Space Image of the Week Horsehead: A Wider View  Composition and Processing: Robert Gendler , Image Data: ESO, VISTA, HLA, Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)