Space News Update - July 31, 2018 - In the News Departments Story 1: TESS’s Planet Hunt Begins Story 2: Where Martian Dust Comes From Story 3: NASA’s Parker Solar Probe and the Curious Case of the Hot Corona Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities NASA-TV Highlights Space Calendar Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

TESS’s Planet Hunt Begins 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)

Where Martian Dust Comes From

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe and the Curious Case of the Hot Corona

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, July 31 • Starry Scorpius is sometimes called "the Orion of Summer" for its brightness and its prominent red supergiant (Antares in the case of Scorpius, Betelgeuse for Orion). But Scorpius passes a lot lower in the south than Orion for those of us at mid-northern latitudes. That means it has only one really good evening month: July. Catch Scorpius due south just after dark, before it starts to tilt lower toward the southwest. Wednesday, August 1 • With the advance of summer the Sagittarius Teapot, now moving into the south after dark, is starting to tilt and pour from its spout to the right. The Teapot will tilt farther and farther for the rest of the summer — or for much of the night if you stay out late. Thursday, August 2 • Bright Vega passes closest to overhead around 10 or 11 p.m. daylight time, depending on how far east or west you are in your time zone. How closely it misses your zenith depends on how far north or south you are. It passes right through your zenith if you're at latitude 39° north (Washington DC, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Lake Tahoe). How closely can you judge this by looking? Then Deneb crosses closest to the zenith almost exactly two hours after Vega. Friday, August 3 • Action in Sagittarius. Less than 3° to the lower right of Saturn this week lies M8, the Lagoon Nebula and its associated star cluster. The Lagoon is the brightest emission nebula of the summer skies. In a dark sky it's obvious to the naked eye as a small Milky Way patch if you know where to look: above the spout of the Sagittarius Teapot. Above M8 by 1.4°, and perhaps a little to the right, is fainter M20, the Trifid Nebula and its adjacent little cluster M21. This nebula generally needs a telescope. Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Tue Jul 31, 10:03 PM 3 min 15° 12° above NNW 12° above NE Tue Jul 31, 11:38 PM < 1 min 13° 10° above NW 13° above NW Wed Aug 1, 9:11 PM 12° 10° above N 10° above NE Wed Aug 1, 10:48 PM 28° 21° above NNW 28° above N Thu Aug 2, 9:56 PM 2 min 24° 17° above NNW 21° above NE Thu Aug 2, 11:31 PM 10° 10° above WNW Fri Aug 3, 9:04 PM 4 min 17° 13° above NNW 10° above ENE Fri Aug 3, 10:40 PM 36° 23° above NW 36° above NW Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

NASA-TV Highlights July 31, Tuesday (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)  July 31, Tuesday 10:55 a.m. - Space Station In-Flight Educational Event with the Las Cruces Museum of Nature and Science in Las Cruces, New Mexico and NASA astronauts Ricky Arnold and Serena Aunon-Chancellor (All Channels) 2:30 p.m. – University of Chicago briefing on Parker Solar Probe, with Professor Eugene Parker (All Channels) August 2, Thursday 10:25 a.m. – Space Station In-Flight Educational Event with the Wallops Flight Facility Education Office in Wallops Island, Virginia, and Space Station Commander Drew Feustel and astronaut Ricky Arnold of NASA (All Channels) 12 p.m. – NASA Honor Awards Ceremony (All Channels) August 3, Friday 11 a.m. – Commercial Crew Program Crew Assignment Announcement Event for the first Boeing CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX Crew Dragon Missions (All Channels) 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. – Live Shot Interviews with the crewmembers Assigned to the first Commercial Crew Program Boeing CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX Crew Dragon Missions (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 JPL Space Calendar Jul 31 - Comet 3D/Biela Closest Approach To Earth (1.717 AU) Jul 31 - Comet 3D/Biela At Opposition (1.717 AU) Jul 31 - Comet 76P/West-Kohoutek-Ikemura At Opposition (2.868 AU) Jul 31 - Asteroid 10217 Richardcook Closest Approach To Earth (1.210 AU) Jul 31 - Asteroid 55 Pandora Closest Approach To Earth (1.588 AU) Jul 31 - Asteroid 27500 Mandelbrot Closest Approach To Earth (1.832 AU) Aug 01 - Alpha Capricornids Meteor Shower Peak Aug 01 - Comet C/2018 N1 (NEOWISE) Perihelion (1.307 AU) Aug 01 - Comet C/2017 T3 (ATLAS) Closest Approach To Earth (1.351 AU) Aug 01 - Apollo Asteroid 420591 (2012 HF31) Near-Earth Flyby (0.072 AU) Aug 01 - Asteroid 1896 Beer Closest Approach To Earth (1.025 AU) Aug 01 - Asteroid 246913 Slocum Closest Approach To Earth (1.289 AU) Aug 01 - Asteroid 2157 Ashbrook Closest Approach To Earth (1.584 AU) Aug 01 - Asteroid 3197 Weissman Closest Approach To Earth (1.825 AU) Aug 02 - Asteroid 365756 ISON Closest Approach To Earth (7.776 AU) Aug 02 - Kuiper Belt Object 2013 AT183 At Opposition (63.748 AU) Aug 03 - Comet 349P/Lemmon At Opposition (2.113 AU) Aug 03 - Amor Asteroid 1580 Betulia Closest Approach To Earth (1.620 AU) Aug 03 - Asteroid 100007 Peters Closest Approach To Earth (2.135 AU) Aug 03 - Centaur Object 83982 Crantor At Opposition (17.832) Aug 03 - British Interplanetary Society Branch Meeting, Elgin, United Kingdom Aug 04 - Asteroid 2672 Pisek Occults HIP 12387 (4.1 Magnitude Star) JPL Space Calendar

Mars Terraforming Not Possible Using Present-Day Technology Food for Thought Mars Terraforming Not Possible Using Present-Day Technology

Space Image of the Week Layers of the South Pole of Mars Image Credit & License: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin; Bill Dunford