Space News Update - June 19, 2018 - In the News Departments Story 1: NASA Encounters the Perfect Storm for Science Story 2: SwRI Scientists Introduce Cosmochemical Model for Pluto Formation Story 3: Organics on Ceres May Be More Abundant Than Originally Thought Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities NASA-TV Highlights Space Calendar Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

NASA Encounters the Perfect Storm for Science 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)

SwRI Scientists Introduce Cosmochemical Model for Pluto Formation

Organics on Ceres May Be More Abundant Than Originally Thought

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, June 19 • With summer officially just two days away, the Summer Triangle stands high and proud in the east after dark. Its top star is bright Vega. Deneb is the brightest star to Vega's lower left (by 2 or 3 fists at arm's length). Look for Altair a greater distance to Vega's lower right. If you have a dark sky, you'll see that the Milky Way passes under Vega through the Summer Triangle. Wednesday, June 20 • Spot Vega high in the east and Arcturus high in the southwest. Draw a line from Vega to Arcturus. A third of the way along this line is the dim Keystone of Hercules. Two thirds of the way is the semicircle of Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown, with its one modestly bright jewel, Gemma or Alphecca. Thursday, June 21 • The June solstice arrives at 6:07 a.m. EDT, marking the start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere and winter in the Southern Hemisphere. This is when the Sun is at its farthest north in the sky and begins its six-month return southward. It's the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, the shortest day in the Southern. If you have a good view of the west-northwest horizon (from mid-northern latitudes), mark precisely where the Sun sets. In a few days you should be able to detect that it's again starting to set a little south of that point. • As the stars come out at dusk, look below the gibbous Moon for Spica. Off to the left of Spica is much brighter Jupiter. Friday, June 22 • The waxing gibbous Moon this evening shines with bright Jupiter to its lower left and fainter Spica to its lower right. Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: No Denver Sighting Opportunities until June 30th. 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) June 20, Wednesday 10:05 a.m. – Space Station In-Flight Event for the 50th Anniversary of the U.N. Conference on Exploration and the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space from Vienna, Austria (All Channels) June 21, Thursday 9:25 a.m. – Space Station In-Flight Educational Event with the Dag Hammarskjold School in Brooklyn, N.Y. and Station Commander Drew Feustel and astronaut Ricky Arnold of NASA (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 Jun 19 - Comet P/2002 EJ57 (LINEAR) Perihelion (2.627 AU) Jun 19 - Apollo Asteroid 2018 KC3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.037 AU) Jun 19 - Asteroid 4 Vesta Closest Approach To Earth (1.142 AU) Jun 19 - Asteroid 14413 Geiger Closest Approach To Earth (1.499 AU) Jun 19 - Asteroid 6442 Salzburg Closest Approach To Earth (1.565 AU) Jun 19 - Asteroid 5441 Andymurray Closest Approach To Earth (1.804 AU) Jun 19 - Asteroid 1815 Beethoven Closest Approach To Earth (2.686 AU) Jun 19 - Conference: The Space Age - A Global Revolution, Liverpool, United Kingdom Jun 19-21 - Didymos Observer Workshop 2018, Prague, Czech Republic Jun 19-22 - Conference: Atmopshereless Solar System Bodies in the Space Exploration, Kharkiv, Ukraine Jun 19-23 - Summer School: Making Quantum Gravity Computable, Waterloo, Canada Jun 20 - Comet C/2016 M1 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (1.296 AU) Jun 20 -Apollo Asteroid 2018 MK Near-Earth Flyby (0.019 AU) Jun 20 -Amor Asteroid 2018 LN5 Near-Earth Flyby (0.095 AU) Jun 20 - Asteroid 3875 Staehle Closest Approach To Earth (0.941 AU) Jun 20 - Asteroid 5634 Victorborge Closest Approach To Earth (0.966 AU) Jun 20 - Asteroid 4031 Mueller Closest Approach To Earth (1.198 AU) Jun 20 - Teleconference: Exoplanet Science Strategy Jun 20-21 - Fifty Years Since the First United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (1968 - 2018) (UNISPACE+50), Vienna, Austria Jun 20-22 - 5th IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for Aerospace, Rome, Italy Jun 20-22 - Meeting: Exoplanets Orbiting Hot Stars, Nashville, Tennessee Jun 20-29 - 61st Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, Vienna, Austria Jun 21 - Summer Solstice, 10:07 UT Jun 21 - Apollo Asteroid 2018 LX5 Near-Earth Flyby (0.013 AU) Jun 21 - Apollo Asteroid 2018 LS5 Near-Earth Flyby (0.017 AU) Jun 21 - Apollo Asteroid 2018 MA Near-Earth Flyby (0.049 AU)

New Experiment to Probe Dark Matter Interactions Food for Thought New Experiment to Probe Dark Matter Interactions

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona Space Image of the Week Bang and Whoosh! Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona