Space News Update - August 12, 2016 - In the News Departments Story 1: Hubble Uncovers a Galaxy Pair Coming in from the Wilderness Story 2: Cassini Finds Flooded Canyons on Titan Story 3: 1967 Solar Flare Nearly Took U.S. and Soviets to Brink of War Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

Hubble Uncovers a Galaxy Pair Coming in from the Wilderness 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)

Cassini Finds Flooded Canyons on Titan

1967 Solar Flare Nearly Took U.S. and Soviets to Brink of War

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Friday, August 12 • This evening, look lower right of the waxing gibbous Moon for the ever-changing Saturn-Mars-Antares triangle, as shown here. • The Perseid meteor shower was unusually strong late last night, roughly as predicted. That was probably the peak night. But the shower should still be active late tonight and at lesser levels for the next few days. Meanwhile, however, the waxing gibbous Moon is getting brighter and setting later. Tonight the Moon sets around 1:30 or 2 a.m. depending on your location. The best time to watch for meteors will be between moonset and the first light of Saturday's dawn. Lots of pix. You can follow the progress of the shower at the International Meteor Organization's site, imo.net. The activity curve there is updated as meteor observers around the globe report their counts made by standardized methods. Saturday, August 13 • This evening, look very high to the upper left of the Moon — by about four fists at arm's length — for Altair shining brightly. A finger-width above Altair is its eternal background companion, Gamma Aquilae or Tarazed, magnitude 2.7, a K3 orange giant. Can you see the color of a star this dim without optical aid? Left of Altair by about a fist-width is Delphinus, the Dolphin, leaping leftward. Can you see it through the moonlight? Its brightest stars, in the Dolphin's back and tail, are magnitudes 3.6, 3.8, and 4.0. Sunday, August 14 • This is the time of year when the Big Dipper scoops down in the northwest during evening, as if to pick up the water that it will dump from high overhead early next spring. Sky & Telescope

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Monday, August 15 • Have you seen Venus yet? It's in the beginning stage of a long and eventually spectacular evening apparition that will run through the end of next winter. About 20 or 25 minutes after sunset, start by spotting Jupiter low due west through the twilight. Venus shines to Jupiter's lower right by 12° this evening: about a fist-width at arm's length. And bring binoculars for a try at fainter Mercury, 5° below or lower right of Jupiter. Tuesday, August 16 • The nearly full Moon shines in the southeast after dark. Using binoculars, look roughly one binocular field to the Moon's upper right (in North America) for Alpha and Beta Capricorni, two fine binocular double stars. The yellow Alpha pair, on top, is the easiest. Beta Cap is 2.3° below Alpha. This one is harder; the secondary star of Beta is fainter and closer to the primary. The pair is oriented fairly similarly to the two stars of Alpha. Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Fri Aug 12, 8:32 PM 5 min 23° 13° above NNW 10° above E Fri Aug 12, 10:09 PM 1 min 36° 18° above WNW 36° above W Sat Aug 13, 9:17 PM 2 min 86° 36° above NW 36° above SE Sun Aug 14, 8:23 PM 44° 22° above NNW 11° above ESE Sun Aug 14, 9:59 PM 18° 10° above W 18° above SW Mon Aug 15, 9:07 PM 3 min 24° above W 20° above S Tue Aug 16, 8:15 PM 59° 59° above SSE 10° above SE 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) 7 a.m., 11 p.m., Saturday, August 13 - Replay of Space Station Live (NTV-3 (Media)) 7 a.m., 11 p.m., Sunday, August 14 - Replay of Space Station Live (NTV-3 (Media)) 2 p.m., Monday, August 15 - ISS Expedition 48 U.S. Spacewalk #36 Preview Briefing (all channels) 7:30 a.m., Tuesday, August 16 - ISS Expedition 48 In-Flight Event for JAXA with the Space Kyodai Project and Flight Engineer Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (NTV-1 with English interpretation; NTV-3 in native language) (NTV-1 (Public), NTV-3 (Media)) Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Aug 12 - Perseids Meteor Shower Peak Aug 12 - [Aug 10] Apollo Asteroid 2016 PW8 Near-Earth Flyby (0.016 AU) Aug 12 - Amor Asteroid 2016 OX Near-Earth Flyby (0.077 AU) Aug 12 - Asteroid 3001 Michelangelo Closest Approach To Earth (1.413 AU) Aug 12 - Asteroid 3297 Hong Kong Closest Approach To Earth (1.997 AU) Aug 12 - Asteroid 294727 Dennisritchie Closest Approach To Earth (2.718 AU)   Aug 13 - Comet P/2013 EW90 (Tenagra) At Opposition (3.916 AU) Aug 13 - Asteroid 9879 Mammuthus Closest Approach To Earth (0.810 AU) Aug 13 - Asteroid 2985 Shakespeare Closest Approach To Earth (1.709 AU) Aug 13 - Asteroid 1816 Liberia Closest Approach To Earth (1.844 AU) Aug 13 - Centaur Object 2015 JH1 At Opposition (3.115 AU) Aug 13 - Herbert Turner's 155th Birthday (1861) Aug 14 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #458 (OTM-458) Aug 14 - Comet 73P-AW/Schwassmann-Wachmann Closest Approach To Earth (0.417 AU) Aug 14 - Comet C/2012 LP26 (Palomar) Closest Approach To Earth (5.972 AU) Aug 14 - [Aug 06] Apollo Asteroid 2016 PJ1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.074 AU) Aug 14 - Asteroid 6775 Giorgini Closest Approach To Earth (1.285 AU) Aug 14 - Asteroid 3263 Bligh Closest Approach To Earth (1.506 AU) Aug 14 - Asteroid 10957 Alps Closest Approach To Earth (1.916 AU) Aug 14 - Asteroid 76272 De Jong Closest Approach To Earth (1.939 AU) Aug 14 - Asteroid 5450 Sokrates Closest Approach To Earth (2.066 AU) Aug 14 - Asteroid 17627 Humptydumpty Closest Approach To Earth (2.513 AU) Aug 15 - [Aug 05] Amor Asteroid 2016 PO Near-Earth Flyby (0.065 AU) Aug 15 - Asteroid 5515 Naderi Closest Approach To Earth (1.756 AU) Aug 15 - 65th Anniversary (1951), Dogs Mishka & Chizhik Launched Into Space Aug 16 - Mercury At Its Greatest Eastern Elongation (27 Degrees) Aug 16 - Comet 229P/Gibbs Closest Approach To Earth (2.071 AU) Aug 16 - Asteroid 87 Sylvia (2 Moons) Occults TYC 6817-01360-1 (12.3 Magnitude Star) Aug 16 - Amor Asteroid 2016 PG Near-Earth Flyby (0.094 AU) Aug 16 - Asteroid 26857 Misterrogers Closest Approach To Earth (1.871 AU) Aug 16 - Asteroid 227 Philosophia Closest Approach To Earth (2.106 AU) Aug 16 - Asteroid 2228 Soyuz-Apollo Closest Approach To Earth (2.198 AU) Aug 16 - Asteroid 5335 Damocles (Burnt Out Comet) At Opposition (20.102 AU) Aug 16 - 55th Anniversary (1961), Explorer 12 Launch JPL Space Calendar

Ten trillionths of your suntan comes from beyond our galaxy Food for Thought Ten trillionths of your suntan comes from beyond our galaxy

Infrared Saturn Clouds Space Image of the Week Infrared Saturn Clouds