Space News Update - May 23, 2017 - In the News Departments Story 1: ALMA Eyes Icy Ring around Young Planetary System Story 2: Hubble Spots Moon around Third Largest Dwarf Planet Story 3: Astronomers Pursue Renegade Supermassive Black Hole Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities NASA-TV Highlights Space Calendar Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

ALMA Eyes Icy Ring around Young Planetary System 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)

Hubble Spots Moon around Third Largest Dwarf Planet

Astronomers Pursue Renegade Supermassive Black Hole

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope On Thursday, May 25, 10:47 p.m. to 12:19 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, the shadows of Io and Europa will cross Jupiter simultaneously. Io will lead it shadow across, while Europa, orbiting farther from the planet, has cleared the disk (at right). Tuesday, May 23 Jupiter stands smack on the meridian (i.e. due south) in late twilight this week. Twilight can be an excellent time for observing a planet telescopically. Most of them are bright enough to show all the detail that your scope can resolve even through the deep blue of late twilight, when the planet's glare will be less dazzling. And in bright twilight after sunset or before sunrise, the atmospheric seeing sometimes steadies down markedly. That also makes this a good time to observe the binary star Gamma Virginis, now just 3½° to Jupiter's upper right. The pair's separation this season is a pretty easy 2.6 arcseconds. Wednesday, May 24 Summer Milky Way preview: For much of every spring at mid-northern latitudes, the Milky Way lies right down all around the horizon after dark, completely out of sight. But as evening grows late, watch low in the east to northeast. There the rich Cygnus stretch of the Milky Way now starts rising into view by around 10 or 11 p.m.  It will rise earlier and higher every week. Thursday, May 25 A double shadow transit on Jupiter is visible tonight from 10:47 p.m. to 12:19 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, when both Io and Europa are casting their slightly unequal little shadows onto the planet. New Moon (exact at 3:44 p.m. EDT).

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Tue May 23, 8:52 PM 4 min 15° 11° above SSE 10° above E Tue May 23, 10:27 PM 6 min 53° 10° above WSW 10° above NE Wed May 24, 00:05 AM 3 min 14° 10° above NW 11° above NNE Wed May 24, 3:20 AM 5 min 23° 11° above NNW Wed May 24, 4:56 AM 47° 10° above WNW Wed May 24, 9:35 PM 78° 10° above SW Wed May 24, 11:12 PM 18° 10° above NNE Thu May 25, 2:28 AM 16° 10° above NNW 10° above ENE Thu May 25, 4:04 AM 83° 10° above SE Thu May 25, 8:43 PM 37° 10° above SSW Thu May 25, 10:20 PM 26° 11° above W Fri May 26, 1:36 AM 13° Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

NASA-TV Highlights (all times Eastern Time Zone) Tuesday, May 23 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) Tuesday, May 23 6:30 a.m. - Coverage of ISS Expedition 51 U.S. Spacewalk # 43 (Whitson and Fischer; spacewalk expected to begin around 8 a.m. EDT) (all channels) 12:30 p.m. - “State of NASA” Address (all channels) 2 p.m., 4 p.m. 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. - Replay of the “State of NASA” Address (all channels) Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar May 23 - Apollo Asteroid 2015 VX105 Near-Earth Flyby (0.072 AU) May 23 - Apollo Asteroid 2017 JD3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.079 AU) May 23 - Amor Asteroid 2017 HO49 Near-Earth Flyby (0.083 AU) May 23 - Aten Asteroid 5381 Sekmet Closest Approach To Earth (0.802 AU) May 23 - Asteroid 2521 Heidi Closest Approach To Earth (1.697 AU) May 23 - Asteroid 4279 De Gasparis Closest Approach To Earth (1.842 AU) May 23 - Asteroid 9499 Excalibur Closest Approach To Earth (1.937 AU) May 23 - Lecture: Astropy and James Webb Space Telescope, Baltimore, Maryland May 23-25 - Space Tech Expo 2017, Pasadena, California May 23-25 - GNSS+R 2017 Workshop, Ann Arbor, Michigan May 23-25 - Conference: Defence Satellites 2017, Rome, Italy May 23-25 - Meeting 2: Review of Planetary Protection Policy Development Processes, Washington DC May 24 - Cassini, Distant Flyby of Titan May 24 - Apollo Asteroid 2017 KH3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.048 AU) May 24 - Plutino 38628 Huya At Opposition (27.595 AU) May 24 - Plutino 2006 HJ123 At Opposition (33.410 AU) May 24 - Colloquium: The Exploration of Pluto by NASA's New Horizons, Greenbelt, Maryland May 24 - 55th Anniversary (1962), Aurora 7 Launch (Scott Carpenter) May 25 - Towel Day - Annual Tribute to Douglas Adams May 25 - EKS N2/ Tundra 12L Soyuz-2.1b/Fregat-M Launch May 25 - Comet 65P/Gunn At Opposition (1.986 AU) May 25 - Comet C/2016 B1 (NEOWISE) Closest Approach To Earth (2.895 AU) May 25 - Asteroid 376 Geometria Closest Approach To Earth (0.902 AU) May 25 - Asteroid 2074 Shoemaker Closest Approach To Earth (1.054 AU) May 25 - Asteroid 15907 Robot Closest Approach To Earth (1.097 AU) May 25 - Asteroid 9007 James Bond Closest Approach To Earth (1.747 AU) May 25 - Seminar: Disk Sub-structures Revealed by ALMA - Implications for Planet Formation, Houston, Texas JPL Space Calendar

Scientists Propose Synestia, a New Type Of Planetary Object New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale Food for Thought Scientists Propose Synestia, a New Type Of Planetary Object

Space Image of the Week Jupiter’s Little Red Spot Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Bjorn Jonsson