Space News Update - February 4, 2014 - In the News Departments Story 1: Kepler Finds a Very Wobbly Planet Story 2: NASA Mars Rover's Color View of Likely Route West Story 3: Exoplanet probe leads pack of ESA mission candidates  Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities NASA-TV Highlights Space Calendar Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

Kepler Finds a Very Wobbly Planet 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)

NASA Mars Rover's Color View of Likely Route West

Exoplanet probe leads pack of ESA mission candidates

The Night Sky Tuesday, February 4 Jupiter's moon Io disappears behind Jupiter's western limb around 8:57 p.m. EST. Twenty minutes later, Jupiter's Great Red Spot crosses the planet's central meridian. Finally, Io reappears out of eclipse from Jupiter's shadow, just east of the planet, around 11:56 p.m. EST (8:56 p.m. PST). Wednesday, February 5 The biggest and brightest asteroids, 1 Ceres and 4 Vesta respectively, are only about 4° apart in eastern Virgo in the early morning hours. They're magnitude 8.2 and 7.2, respectively. Use the finder chart in the February Sky & Telescope, page 50. Note: the labels for Ceres and Vesta on the chart there are swapped; switch them back. Thursday, February 6 First-quarter Moon. The Moon shines at the Aries-Taurus border, below the Pleiades throughout the evening hours. Friday, February 7 This season, Jupiter turns the Winter Triangle into a bigger, brighter Winter Diamond! Its bottom is Sirius, its two side corners are Betelgeuse and Procyon, and Jupiter forms its top. The diamond tilts leftward in early evening, then stands vertically in the south around 10 p.m. (depending on your location). Saturday, February 8 Look to the right of the Moon after dinnertime for Aldebaran. Below the Moon stands Orion. No Night Sky Picture This Week Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Tue Feb 4, 7:19 PM 1 min 18° 10 above SSW 18 above SSW Wed Feb 5, 6:31 PM 3 min 20° 10 above S 19 above ESE Wed Feb 5, 8:07 PM < 1 min 10° 10 above WSW Thu Feb 6, 7:18 PM 2 min 55° 12 above WSW 55 above WSW Fri Feb 7, 6:30 PM 5 min 61° 10 above SW 28 above ENE Sat Feb 8, 7:20 PM 29° 21 above WNW 29 above NNW 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) February 5, Wednesday 10 a.m. - Space Station Live - JSC (All Channels) 11 a.m. - ISS Progress 54 Launch Coverage (Launch scheduled at 11:23 a.m. ET) - JSC (All Channels) 4:45 p.m. - ISS Progress 54 Docking Coverage (Docking scheduled at 5:25 p.m. ET) - JSC (All Channels) February 6, Thursday 12:15 – 1 p.m. - Health and Fitness Google+ Hangout (ISS Expedition 38 Inflight for Google+ Hangout starts at 12:25 p.m.) - HQ/JSC (All Channels) Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Feb 04 - Comet 292P/Li Perihelion (2.522 AU) Feb 04 - [Jan 31] Asteroid 2014 BS57 Near-Earth Flyby (0.054 AU) Feb 05 - [Feb 04] Progress M-22M Soyuz U Launch (International Space Station 54P) Feb 05 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #371 (OTM-371) Feb 05 - Comet 107P/Wilson-Harrington Perihelion (0.994 AU) Feb 05 - Comet P/2012 T1 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (2.366 AU) Feb 05 - Comet 221P/LINEAR At Opposition (2.993 AU) Feb 05 - Comet 22P/Kopff At Opposition (3.487 AU) Feb 05 - [Jan 28] Asteroid 2014 BJ25 Near-Earth Flyby (0.096 AU) Feb 05 - Asteroid 96192 Calgary Closest Approach To Earth (1.667 AU) Feb 05 - Asteroid 3975 Verdi Closest Approach To Earth (1.791 AU) Feb 05 - Asteroid 1288 Santa Closest Approach To Earth (2.038 AU) Feb 05 - Asteroid 3341 Hartmann Closest Approach To Earth (2.300 AU) Feb 05 - 40th Anniversary (1974), Mariner 10, Venus Flyby Feb 06 - [Feb 03] ABS-2 (ST-3, KoreaSat 8)/ Athena-Fidus Ariane 5 Launch Feb 06 - Asteroid 5608 Olmos Closest Approach To Earth (1.767 AU) Feb 06 - Asteroid 3530 Hammel Closest Approach To Earth (1.908 AU) Feb 06 - Asteroid 342431 Hilo Closest Approach To Earth (2.004 AU) Feb 06 - Asteroid 11881 Mirstation Closest Approach To Earth (2.095 AU) Feb 07 - Comet 277P/LINEAR Closest Approach To Earth (1.878 AU) Feb 07 - Comet P/2013 TW5 (Spacewatch) Closest Approach To Earth (5.008 AU) Feb 07 - Asteroid 348306 (2005 AY28) Near-Earth Flyby (0.039 AU) Feb 07 - Asteroid 1655 Comas Sola Closest Approach To Earth (1.455 AU) Feb 07 - 3rd Dutch Gravitational Wave Meeting, Dwingeloo, The Netherlands Feb 07 - William Huggins' 190th Birthday (1824) Feb 08 - Comet P/2014 A2 (Hill) At Opposition (1.360 AU) Feb 08 - Asteroid 3308 Ferreri Occults HIP 41961 (6.8 Magnitude Star) Feb 08 - [Jan 30] Asteroid 2014 BP43 Near-Earth Flyby (0.014 AU) Feb 08 - Asteroid 10221 Kubrick Closest Approach To Earth (1.363 AU) Feb 08 - Asteroid 10093 Diesel Closest Approach To Earth (1.609 AU) Feb 08 - Asteroid 9349 Lucas Closest Approach To Earth (1.735 AU) Feb 08 - Asteroid 8423 Macao Closest Approach To Earth (2.338 AU) Feb 08 - 45th Anniversary (1969), Allende Meteorite Shower (Hit Houses) On its way to Mercury, Mariner 10 became the first spacecraft to use the gravity of one planet (in this case, Venus) to reach another. This has become an extremely important technique. While flying by Venus, the spacecraft took ultraviolet pictures that revealed great bands of clouds, providing data on atmospheric circulation which included upper-atmosphere wind speeds of 300 km/hr. It was the first spacecraft to visit Mercury and the last until Messenger in 2011. JPL Space Calendar

Super-Earths Could Be More ‘Superhabitable’ Than Planets Like Ours Food for Thought Super-Earths Could Be More ‘Superhabitable’ Than Planets Like Ours

Space Image of the Week Mars and Orion over Monument Valley Image Credit & Copyright: Wally Pacholka (Astropics, TWAN)