Space News Update - December 9, 2014 - In the News Departments Story 1: NASA's Curiosity Rover Finds Clues to How Water Helped Shape Martian Landscape Story 2: Photos: Orion capsule plucked from the Pacific Story 3: Don’t Miss the Geminids this Weekend, Best Meteor Shower of the Year Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities NASA-TV Highlights Space Calendar Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

NASA's Curiosity Rover Finds Clues to How Water Helped Shape Martian Landscape 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)

Photos: Orion capsule plucked from the Pacific

Don’t Miss the Geminids this Weekend, Best Meteor Shower of the Year

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, December 9 The waning gibbous Moon, now in Cancer, is well up in the east by about 9 p.m. depending on your location. Look to its right for Procyon. Farther to the Moon's upper left are Pollux, and above Pollux, Castor. Wednesday, December 10 Mid-December is when the dim Little Dipper hangs straight down from Polaris around 9 p.m. Thursday, December 11 The waning Moon rises in the east by about 10 or 10:30 p.m. tonight, with bright Jupiter shining to its upper left. Fainter Regulus, to their lower left, forms a nearly equilateral triangle with them. The scene at right shows how you'll see them by early dawn Friday morning.Keep an eye out for early-arriving Geminid meteors! This annual shower should peak late on Saturday and Sunday nights. Friday, December 12 This is the time of year when, around 8 or 9 p.m., Cassiopeia crosses very high in the north as a flattened letter M. When do you see it lined up perfectly level? Saturday, December 13 The Geminid meteor shower should be at its strongest late tonight and tomorrow night. Bundle up even more warmly than you think you'll need, find a dark, shadowed site with an open view overhead, lie back in a reclining lawn chair, and watch the stars. Be patient. Under a fairly dark sky you may see a meteor every minute or two Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

NASA-TV Highlights Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website (all times Eastern Daylight Time) 9:15 a.m., Wednesday, December 10 - ISS Expedition 42 In-Flight Interviews with CNN International and the Navy Times with ISS Commander Barry Wilmore and Flight Engineer Terry Virts of NASA (all channels) 5:15 a.m., Friday, December 12 - ISS Expedition 42 News Conference for ESA with Italian Media and Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA (will be translated for the Public Channel NTV-1) (all channels) Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Dec 09 - Comet C/2012 A1 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (7.111 AU) Dec 09 - [Dec 02] Asteroid 2014 WC366 Near-Earth Flyby (0.011 AU) Dec 09 - Asteroid 4183 Cuno Closest Approach To Earth (0.428 AU) Dec 09 - Asteroid 8000 Isaac Newton Closest Approach To Earth (2.242 AU) Dec 10 - Lotos-2 #2 Soyuz-2-1b Launch Dec 10 - [Dec 09] Cassini, Titan Flyby Dec 10 - Comet P/2012 T2 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (4.174 AU) Dec 10 - Asteroid 2014 WU200 Near-Earth Flyby (0.003 AU) Dec 10 - Asteroid 2014 WP362 Near-Earth Flyby (0.065 AU) Dec 10 - Asteroid 12790 Cernan Closest Approach To Earth (1.599 AU) Dec 10 - Asteroid 4226 Damiaan Closest Approach To Earth (1.862 AU) Dec 10 - Asteroid 3866 Langley Closest Approach To Earth (2.138 AU) Dec 10 - Kuiper Belt Object 2004 XR190 At Opposition (56.590 AU) Dec 10 - 15th Anniversary (1999), X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) Launch Dec 10 - 30th Anniversary (1984), Claxton Meteorite Fall (Hit Mailbox in Georgia) Dec 10 - 40th Anniversary (1974), Helios 1 Launch (Solar Orbiter) Dec 11 - [Dec 09] NROL-35 Atlas 5 Launch Dec 11 - Comet 108P/Ciffreo At Opposition (0.812 AU) Dec 11 - Asteroid 2012 LA11 Near-Earth Flyby (0.058 AU) Dec 11 - Asteroid 3671 Dionysus Closest Approach To Earth (2.173 AU) Dec 11 - Kuiper Belt Object 19521 Chaos At Opposition (40.493 AU) Dec 11 - John Macklin's 75th Birthday (1939) Dec 11 - 295th Anniversary (1719), 1st Recorded Sighting of the Aurora Borealis Dec 12 - Asteroid 3414 Champollion Closest Approach To Earth (0.991 AU) Dec 12 - 10th Anniversary (2004), Sheppard/Jewitt/Kleyna's Discovery of Saturn Moon Hyrrokkin Dec 13 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #398 (OTM-398) Dec 13 - Geminids Meteor Shower Peak Dec 13 - Comet C/2013 U1 (Catalina) At Opposition (3.361 AU) Dec 13 - [Dec 05] Asteroid 2014 UV210 Near-Earth Flyby (0.018 AU) Dec 13 - Asteroid 13609 Lewicki Closest Approach To Earth (1.544 AU) Dec 13 - Galaxy Forum Japan 2014, Tokyo, Japan Dec 13 - 10th Anniversary (2004), Scott Sheppard, et al's Discovery of Saturn Moons Fenrir & Bestla JPL Space Calendar

Dunes on Saturn’s moon Titan need firm winds to move Food for Thought Dunes on Saturn’s moon Titan need firm winds to move

Space Image of the Week Aurora Shimmer, Meteor Flash Image Credit & Copyright: Bjørnar G. Hansen