Space News Update - April 1, 2016 - In the News Departments Story 1: Spitzer Maps Climate Patterns on a Super-Earth Story 2: Another Impact on Jupiter? Story 3: ALMA's most detailed image of a protoplanetary disc Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

Spitzer Maps Climate Patterns on a Super-Earth 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)

Another Impact on Jupiter?

ALMA's most detailed image of a protoplanetary disc

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Friday, April 1 • Spring is here! Which means Arcturus shines brightly in the east, though still not high. The Big Dipper, high in the northeast, points its curving handle to the lower right down toward it. Jupiter shines very high far to Arcturus's upper right. Arcturus forms the pointy end of a long, narrow kite pattern formed by the brightest stars of Bootes, the Cowherd. The kite is currently lying on its side to Arcturus's left. The head of the kite, at the far left, is bent slightly upward. The kite is 23° long, about two fist-widths at arm's length. • This evening, telescope users along a narrow path from the Seattle/Vancouver area to Arkansas can watch for a 9.5-magnitude star (located 10° northwest of the Pleiades) to disappear for up to 9 seconds behind the invisibly faint asteroid 2892 Filipenko. Track map and finder charts for the shadow path across the US, the star to be occulted, and times. Saturday, April 2 • This is the time of year when Arcturus shines just as high in the east as Sirius, the brighter Winter Star, shines in the southwest (as seen from mid-northern latitudes). Sunday, April 3 • Draw a line from Castor through Pollux and follow it farther out by a big 26° (about 2½ fist-widths at arm's length). You're at the dim head of Hydra, the Sea Serpent. In a dark sky it's a subtle but distinctive asterism about the size of your thumb at arm's length. Through light pollution, binoculars show it easily. Monday, April 4 • Double shadow transit on Jupiter for telescope users in central and western North America. From 2:37 to 3:19 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, both Io and Europa cast their shadows onto the planet. Tuesday, April 5 • The huge, bright Winter Hexagon is still in good view at nightfall, filling the sky to the southwest and west. Start with brilliant Sirius in the southwest, the Hexagon's lower left corner. High above Sirius is Procyon. From there look even higher for Pollux and Castor, lower right from Castor to Menkalinen and bright Capella, lower left to Aldebaran, lower left to Rigel at the bottom of Orion, and back to Sirius. Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Fri Apr 1, 8:19 PM 6 min 67° 10° above WSW 10° above NE Fri Apr 1, 9:58 PM < 1 min 14° 14° above NW 14° above NNW Sat Apr 2, 9:06 PM 3 min 20° 20° above NW 11° above NNE Sun Apr 3, 8:14 PM 31° 30° above NW 11° above NE Sun Apr 3, 9:50 PM 1 min 11° 10° above NNW 11° above N Mon Apr 4, 8:58 PM 2 min 13° above NNW 10° above NNE Tue Apr 5, 8:05 PM 18° 18° above NNW Tue Apr 5, 9:43 PM 10° 10° 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)   1 p.m., Saturday, April 2 - Coverage of the Docking of the ISS Progress 63 Cargo Craft to the ISS (Docking scheduled at 2 p.m. ET) (Starts at 1:15 p.m.) (all channels) 2 p.m., Monday, April 4 - NASA TV Presents “Earth Expeditions” Episode 1 - This Year NASA Takes You on a Six-Month World Tour with Major New Field Research Campaigns to Study Regions of Critical Change from the Land, Sea and… Air (all channels) 3:30 p.m., Monday, April 4 - NASA TV Presents “Earth Expeditions” Episode 1 - This Year NASA Takes You on a Six-Month World Tour with Major New Field Research Campaigns to Study Regions of Critical Change from the Land, Sea and… Air (all channels) 7:30 p.m., Monday, April 4 - NASA TV Presents “Earth Expeditions” Episode 1 - This Year NASA Takes You on a Six-Month World Tour with Major New Field Research Campaigns to Study Regions of Critical Change from the Land, Sea and… Air (all channels) 10 p.m., Monday, April 4 - NASA TV Presents “Earth Expeditions” Episode 1 - This Year NASA Takes You on a Six-Month World Tour with Major New Field Research Campaigns to Study Regions of Critical Change from the Land, Sea and… Air (all channels) 11:30 p.m., Monday, April 4 - NASA TV Presents “Earth Expeditions” Episode 1 - This Year NASA Takes You on a Six-Month World Tour with Major New Field Research Campaigns to Study Regions of Critical Change from the Land, Sea and… Air (all channels) Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Apr 01 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #445 (OTM-445) Apr 01 - Comet 233P/La Sagra Closest Approach To Earth (1.762 AU) Apr 01 - Comet 110P/Hartley Closest Approach To Earth (2.567 AU) Apr 01 - Asteroid 3 Juno Occults TYC 4991-00651-1 (11.9 Magnitude Star) Apr 01 - Asteroid 1159 Granada Closest Approach To Earth (1.429 AU) Apr 01 - Asteroid 7495 Feynman Closest Approach To Earth (1.520 AU) Apr 01 - Asteroid 39566 Carllewis Closest Approach To Earth (1.769 AU) Apr 01 - Asteroid 14702 Benclark Closest Approach To Earth (2.111 AU) Apr 01-03 - [Mar 31] Contact 2016 Conference, Sunnyvale, California Apr 02 - Comet 100P/Hartley Perihelion (2.011 AU) Apr 02 - Comet 106P/Schuster At Opposition (3.716 AU) Apr 02 - Comet 84P/Giclas At Opposition (4.249 AU) Apr 02 - [Mar 31] Apollo Asteroid 2016 FV7 Near-Earth Flyby (0.056 AU) Apr 02 - Asteroid 18458 Caesar Closest Approach To Earth (1.003 AU) Apr 02 - Asteroid 2046 Leningrad Closest Approach To Earth (2.706 AU) Apr 02 - 80th Anniversary (1936), Yurtuk Meteorite Fall (Hit House in Ukraine) Apr 02 - Clement Ader's 175th Birthday (1841) Apr 03 - Comet 333P/LINEAR Perihelion (1.116 AU) Apr 03 - Comet P/2009 Q4 (Boattini) Closest Approach To Earth (2.071 AU) Apr 03 - [Mar 31] Apollo Asteroid 2016 FX7 Near-E arth Flyby (0.026 AU) Apr 03 - Aten Asteroid 2008 FX6 Near-Earth Flyby (0.070 AU) Apr 03 - Asteroid 13609 Lewicki Closest Approach To Earth (1.600 AU) Apr 03 - Gus Grissom's 90th Birthday (1926) Apr 03 - Hermann Vogel's 175th Birthday (1841) Apr 04 - [Mar 29] Cassini, Titan Flyby Apr 04 - Asteroid 5748 Davebrin Closest Approach To Earth (1.698 AU) Apr 04 - Asteroid 886 Washingtonia Closest Approach To Earth (3.035 AU) Apr 05 - Comet P/2003 T12 (SOHO) Closest Approach To Earth (1.347 AU) Apr 05 - Comet P/2015 B4 (Lemmon-PANSTARRS) At Opposition (3.606 AU) Apr 05 - Comet C/2015 B1 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (5.044 AU) Apr 05 - Asteroid 29470 Higgs Closest Approach To Earth (1.413 AU) Apr 05 - Kuiper Belt Object 2014 FT71 At Opposition (46.874 AU) JPL Space Calendar

BEAM Inflatable Habitat to Launch to Space Station Next Week Food for Thought BEAM Inflatable Habitat to Launch to Space Station Next Week

Space Image of the Week HERSCHEL REVEALS A RIBBON OF FUTURE STARS  Credit: ESA/Herschel/SPIRE/M. Juvela (U. Helsinki, Finland)