Space News Update - September 18, 2018 - In the News Departments Story 1: NASA, ULA Launch Mission to Track Earth's Changing Ice Story 2: Biggest River Delta Ever Discovered On Mars Hints at an Ancient Ocean Story 3: Hayabusa 2 Completes 1st Rehearsal for Touchdown and Release of “Hopper” Landers Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities NASA-TV Highlights Space Calendar Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

NASA, ULA Launch Mission to Track Earth's Changing Ice 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)

Biggest River Delta Ever Discovered On Mars Hints at an Ancient Ocean

Hayabusa 2 Completes 1st Rehearsal for Touchdown and Release of “Hopper” Landers

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, September 18 • Now, at dusk, the Moon forms the top of a triangular bridge with Mars to its left and Saturn to its right. Wednesday, September 19 • The Moon and Mars travel across the southern sky together this evening. Mars is currently 200 times farther away than the Moon. Find Saturn almost three fists to their right or lower right. Saturn is almost 20 times farther now than Mars. Thursday, September 20 • The yellow-orange point to the right of the Moon this evening is Mars. Once night is fully dark, look for Fomalhaut, the Autumn Star, rising about three fists to the Moon's lower left (out of the frame here). Friday, September 21 • The closing days of summer (the equinox is tomorrow) always find the Sagittarius Teapot moving west of south during evening and tipping increasingly far over to the right, as if pouring out the last of summer. Saturday, September 22 • The September equinox occurs at 9:54 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, when the Sun crosses the equator heading south for the season. This moment marks the beginning of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. And the Sun sets almost exactly due west. • Coincidentally, when summer turns to autumn Deneb takes over from brighter Vega as the zenith star after nightfall (for skywatchers at mid-northern latitudes).

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Tue Sep 18, 5:22 AM 2 min 32° 32° above SSW 11° above SSE Thu Sep 20, 8:15 PM 25° 11° above SSW 25° above SSE Fri Sep 21, 7:24 PM 3 min 14° 10° above SSE 10° above E Fri Sep 21, 8:59 PM 33° 10° above WSW 33° above W 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)   September 18, Tuesday 12:05 p.m. – Space Station In-Flight Educational Event with George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and NASA astronaut Serena Aunon-Chancellor (All Channels)   September 19, Wednesday 6:30 a.m. – Video B-Roll Feed of Training for Expedition 57-58 Flight Engineer Nick Hague of NASA (All Channels) 7 – 8:30 a.m. – Live Shot Interviews with Expedition 57-58 Flight Engineer Nick Hague of NASA from the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia (All Channels) 1 p.m. - NASA Science Chat: Previewing New Horizons’ Flyby of “Ultima Thule” from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (All Channels) September 21, Friday 2 p.m. - U.S. Spacewalk Preview Briefing (All Channels) Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Sep 18 - Comet 46P/Wirtanen At Opposition (0.595 AU) Sep 18 - Comet 79P/du Toit-Hartley Closest Approach To Earth (2.042 AU) Sep 18 - Apollo Asteroid 2018 RM4 Near-Earth Flyby (0.028 AU) Sep 18 - Asteroid 73769 Delphi Closest Approach To Earth (1.941 AU) Sep 18 - Asteroid 3162 Nostalgia Closest Approach To Earth (2.119 AU) Sep 18 - Asteroid 247553 Berndpauli Closest Approach To Earth (2.359 AU) Sep 19 - Comet P/2018 P3 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (0.783 AU) Sep 19 - Comet P/2018 L5 (Leonard) At Opposition (1.477 AU) Sep 19 - Asteroid 628 Christine Occults HIP 42911 (3.9 Magnitude Star) Sep 19 - Apollo Asteroid 2018 RF8 Near-Earth Flyby (0.004 AU) Sep 19 - Apollo Asteroid 2018 RB4 Near-Earth Flyby (0.046 AU) Sep 19 - Apollo Asteroid 2018 RE6 Near-Earth Flyby (0.064 AU) Sep 19 - Asteroid 2577 Litva Closest Approach To Earth (0.994 AU) Sep 19 - Atira Asteroid 164294 (2004 XZ130) Closest Approach To Earth (1.334 AU) Sep 19 - Asteroid 5405 Neverland Closest Approach To Earth (1.677 AU) Sep 19 - Asteroid 3156 Ellington Closest Approach To Earth (2.189 AU) Sep 19 - Colloquium: Oumuamua - The First Interstellar Comet, Greenbelt, Maryland Sep 19 - Lecture: Radio Transient Sky, Ithaca, New York Sep 19-20 - PLATO Industry Days, Noordwijk, The Netherlands Sep 19-21 - Workshop: The Universe as a Quantum Lab, Paris, France Sep 20 - Comet 131P/Mueller At Opposition (1.550 AU) Sep 20 - Comet 163P/NEAT At Opposition (2.128 AU) Sep 20 - Comet C/2017 K4 (ATLAS) Closest Approach To Earth (2.764 AU) JPL Space Calendar

Food for Thought The Closest Planet Ever Discovered Outside the Solar System Could be Habitable with a Dayside Ocean

A Solar Filament Erupts Image Credit: NASA's GSFC, SDO AIA Team Space Image of the Week A Solar Filament Erupts Image Credit: NASA's GSFC, SDO AIA Team