Space News Update - November 21, 2017 - In the News Departments Story 1: Solar System's First Interstellar Visitor Dazzles Scientists Story 2: Previous evidence of water on Mars now identified as grainflows Story 3: Sky-sweeping Telescope Sees First Light Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities NASA-TV Highlights Space Calendar Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

Solar System's First Interstellar Visitor Dazzles Scientists 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)

Previous evidence of water on Mars now identified as grainflows

Sky-sweeping Telescope Sees First Light

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, November 21 • The crescent Moon, now thicker and higher in twilight, points lower right toward Saturn. Mercury again glimmers lower right of Saturn before setting, as shown in the middle panel above. Wednesday, November 22 • Two faint fuzzies naked-eye: The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and the Perseus Double Cluster are two of the most famous deep-sky objects. They're both cataloged as 4th magnitude, and in a fairly good sky you can see both with the unaided eye. They're located only 22° apart, very high toward the east early these evenings — to the right of Cassiopeia and closer below Cassiopeia, respectively. But they look rather different, the more so the darker your sky. See for yourself; they're plotted on the all-sky constellation map in the center of the November Sky & Telescope. Thursday, November 23 • Does the Sun already seem to be setting about as early as it ever will? You're right! We're still a month away from the winter solstice — but the Sun sets its earliest around December 7th if you're near latitude 40° north. And right now it already sets within about 3 minutes of that time. A surprising result of this: The Sun sets just about as early on Thanksgiving as on Christmas — even though Christmas is much closer to solstice time! Sky & Telescope This offset is made up for by the opposite happening at sunrise: the Sun doesn't rise its latest until January 4th. Blame the tilt of Earth's axis and the eccentricity of Earth's orbit. Friday, November 24 • Whenever Fomalhaut "souths" — crosses the meridian due south, which it does around 7 p.m. this week — the first stars of Orion are just about to rise above the east horizon. And, the Pointers of the Big Dipper stand upright due north, straight below Polaris.

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Fri Nov 24, 6:15 PM < 1 min 11° 11° above SSE 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) 10 a.m., Wednesday, November 22 - ISS Expedition 53 In-Flight Event with Soldiers TV Network and Marines Media and ISS Commander Randy Bresnik and Flight Engineers Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba of NASA (all channels) Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar Aug PSLV Launch JPL Space Calendar Nov 21 - [Nov 13] Jilin 1-04,1-05,1-06 CZ-6 Launch Nov 21 - Comet P/2017 S9 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (1.393 AU) Nov 21 - [Nov 18] Apollo Asteroid 2017 VW14 Near-Earth Flyby (0.063 AU) Nov 21 - Aten Asteroid 234145 (2000 EW70) Near-Earth Flyby (0.086 AU) Nov 21 - Apollo Asteroid 163696 (2003 EB50) Near-Earth Flyby (0.094 AU) Nov 21 - Asteroid 84225 Verish Closest Approach To Earth (1.152 AU) Nov 21 - Asteroid 16155 Buddy Closest Approach To Earth (1.370 AU) Nov 21 - Asteroid 2579 Spartacus Closest Approach To Earth (1.384 AU) Nov 21 - Asteroid 342843 Davidbowie Closest Approach To Earth (1.621 AU) Nov 21 - Asteroid 2985 Shakespeare Closest Approach To Earth (1.897 AU) Nov 21 - Asteroid 4442 Garcia Closest Approach To Earth (2.501 AU) Nov 22 - Comet 24P/Schaumasse Closest Approach To Earth (1.459 AU) Nov 22 - Comet 73P-AA/Schwassmann-Wachmann At Opposition (2.963 AU) Nov 22 - Comet 302P/Lemmon-PANSTARRS At Opposition (3.066 AU) Nov 22 - Comet 282P/2003 BM80 At Opposition (4.039 AU) Nov 22 - [Nov 18] Apollo Asteroid 2017 VA15 Near-Earth Flyby (0.021 AU) Nov 22 - [Nov 16] Apollo Asteroid 2017 VD13 Near-Earth Flyby (0.034 AU) Nov 22 - Apollo Asteroid 2017 UE43 Near-Earth Flyby (0.061 AU) Nov 22 - Aten Asteroid 2016 LO1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.097 AU) Nov 22 - Asteroid 2228 Soyuz-Apollo Closest Approach To Earth (1.576 AU) Nov 22 - Alan Stern's 60th Birthday (1957) Nov 22 - Vladimir Damgov's 70th Birthday (1947) Nov 22 - Guy Bluford's 75th Birthday (1942) Nov 22 - 110th Anniverseary (1907), Meteorite Fall in Bali, Central African Republic Nov 23 - Comet C/2017 E4 (Lovejoy) At Opposition (2.893 AU) Nov 23 - Comet C/2016 A1 (PANSTARRS) Perihelion (5.328 AU) Nov 23 - Apollo Asteroid 2017 UK7 Near-Earth Flyby (0.074 AU) Nov 23 - Aten Asteroid 2009 BL71 Near-Earth Flyby (0.079 AU) Nov 23 - [Nov 18] Aten Asteroid 2017 VG15 Near-Earth Flyby (0.090 AU) Nov 23 - Asteroid 8444 Popovich Closest Approach To Earth (1.129 AU) Nov 23 - Asteroid 11714 Mikebrown Closest Approach To Earth (1.819 AU) Nov 23 - 15th Anniversary (2002), STS-113 Launch (Space Shuttle Endeavour, International Space Station) Nov 23 - 40th Anniversary (1977), Meteosat 1 Launch (Europe's 1st Weather Satellite) Nov 24 - Mercury At Its Greatest Eastern Elongation (22 Degrees) Nov 24 - [Nov 18] Apollo Asteroid 2017 VZ14 Near-Earth Flyby (0.008 AU) Nov 24 - Asteroid 35977 Lexington Closest Approach To Earth (1.229 AU) Nov 24 - Asteroid 5451 Plato Closest Approach To Earth (1.870 AU) Nov 24 - Asteroid 12490 Leiden Closest Approach To Earth (2.547 AU) JPL Space Calendar

Space dust may transport life between worlds, research suggests New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale Food for Thought Space dust may transport life between worlds, research suggests

Space Image of the Week Behold! Observing the Sun  Image Credit:NASA/GSFC/Solar Dynamics Observatory