Space News Update - July 28, 2014 - In the News Departments Story 1: Rosetta: Preparing for Perihelion Story 2: NASA's Curiosity Rover Inspects Unusual Bedrock Story 3: New Names and Insights at Ceres Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

Rosetta: Preparing for Perihelion 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)

NASA's Curiosity Rover Inspects Unusual Bedrock

New Names and Insights at Ceres

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, July 28 After dark, the Big Dipper hangs diagonally in the northwest. Most of its stars are about 80 light-years away. Follow the curve of its handle around by a little more than a Dipper-length and there's bright Arcturus, due west. Arcturus is the nearest orange-giant star, 37 light-years away.   Wednesday, July 29 We're not quite halfway through summer, but Cassiopeia, a constellation associated with fall and winter, is already climbing up in the north-northeast after dark. And the Great Square of Pegasus, emblem of fall, is up and balancing on one corner on the east-northeast horizon. Thursday, July 30 Full Moon tonight and tomorrow (exactly full at 6:43 a.m. Friday morning Eastern Daylight Time). On Thursday evening the Moon rises just before sunset. After dark, can you see through the moonlight that it's in dim Capricornus? This is the second full Moon in the month, sometimes called a "Blue Moon." Friday, July 31 This evening, skywatchers in the Americas see the Moon rise about a half day past the moment when it's exactly full. In the last week, Saturn has moved almost not at all with respect to the stars of Scorpius. That's because it's near the stationary point of its retrograde loop, which it reaches on August 2nd. Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Wed Jul 29, 2:52 AM < 1 min 11° 10 above N 11 above N Wed Jul 29, 4:27 AM 6 min 31° 10 above NW 11 above E Thu Jul 30, 1:59 AM 10° Thu Jul 30, 3:35 AM 5 min 20° 11 above NNW 11 above ENE Thu Jul 30, 5:10 AM 59° 10 above WNW 10 above SE Thu Jul 30, 9:49 PM 62° 10 above SW Thu Jul 30, 11:26 PM 2 min 19° 19 above NNW Fri Jul 31, 2:42 AM 4 min 15° 10 above NE Fri Jul 31, 4:17 AM 66° 10 above ESE Fri Jul 31, 8:56 PM 29° 10 above SSW 10 above ENE Fri Jul 31, 10:32 PM 30° 11 above W 11 above NNE Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

NASA-TV Highlights (all times Eastern Time Zone) Thursday, July 30 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) Thursday, July 30 1:30 p.m. - ISS Expedition 44 Interviews with Fox News Channel’s “America’s News Headquarters" and Reuters TV with NASA Flight Engineer Scott Kelly and Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (all channels) Friday, July 31 12:30 p.m., - ISS Expedition 44 In-Flight Educational Event with the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland and NASA Flight Engineers Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren (starts at 12:35 p.m.) (all channels)   Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Jul 28 - Asteroid 3167 Babcock Occults HIP 81198 (6.4 Magnitude Star) Jul 28 - Asteroid 2013 ND15 (Venus Trojan) Closest Approach To Earth (0.541 AU) Jul 28-Aug 04 - Heliophysics Summer School: Seasons In Space - Cycles of Variability of Sun-Planet Systems, Boulder, Colorado Jul 29 - South Delta-Aquarids Meteor Shower Peak Jul 29 - Comet C/2015 M3 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (3.115 AU) Jul 29 - Asteroid 6594 Tasman Closest Approach To Earth (1.341 AU) Jul 29 - Asteroid 4252 Godwin Closest Approach To Earth (1.577 AU) Jul 29 - Asteroid 16857 Goodall Closest Approach To Earth (1.755 AU) Jul 29 - Asteroid 8889 Mockturtle Closest Approach To Earth (1.907 AU) Jul 29 - Asteroid 184784 Bettiepage Closest Approach To Earth (2.053 AU) Jul 29 - Asteroid 433 Eros Closest Approach To Earth (2.149 AU) Jul 29 - 30th Anniversary (1985), STS-51-F Launch (Space Shuttle Challenger, Spacelab) Jul 30 - Cosmos Soyuz-2.1v/Volga Launch Jul 30 - Asteroid 6469 Armstrong Closest Approach To Earth (0.753 AU) Jul 30 - Asteroid 35352 Texas Closest Approach To Earth (0.769 AU) Jul 30 - Asteroid 8837 London Closest Approach To Earth (1.194 AU) Jul 30 - Asteroid 11246 Orvillewright Closest Approach To Earth (1.226 AU) Jul 30 - Asteroid 301 Bavaria Closest Approach To Earth (1.568 AU) Jul 30 - Asteroid 1031 Arctica Closest Approach To Earth (2.235 AU) Jul 30 - Dennis di Cicco's 65th Birthday (1950) Jul 30 - 405th Anniversary (1610), Galileo Observes Saturn's Rings Jul 31 - Venus Passes 6.5 Degrees From Jupiter Jul 31 - Comet 297P/Beshore Closest Approach To Earth (2.059 AU) JPL Space Calendar

Lasers Could Blast Tiny Spacecraft to the Stars Food for Thought Lasers Could Blast Tiny Spacecraft to the Stars

Image Credit: GALEX, JPL-Caltech, NASA Space Image of the Week Ultraviolet Rings of M31 Image Credit: GALEX, JPL-Caltech, NASA