Space News Update - July 24, 2015 - In the News Departments Story 1: NASA’s New Horizons Team Finds Haze, Flowing Ice on Pluto Story 2: Kepler Discovers Earth’s Closest Cousin Yet Story 3: Faulty Support Strut Likely Caused SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Failure Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

NASA’s New Horizons Team Finds Haze, Flowing Ice on Pluto 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)

Kepler Discovers Earth’s Closest Cousin Yet Ratchet Wrench ‘E-mailed’ to Space Station

Faulty Support Strut Likely Caused SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Failure

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Friday, July 24 The Moon, just past first quarter, appears more than halfway from Spica (far to its lower right) to Saturn (off to the Moon's left). Much closer to the Moon, look for fainter Alpha Librae (Zubenelgenubi), a very wide double star for binoculars. Saturday, July 25 Ceres is at opposition. The first-discovered asteroid glimmers south of Capricornus at magnitude 7.5, within binocular reach. Use the finder chart in the July Sky & Telescope, page 50. The waxing gibbous Moon poses to the right of Saturn this evening, as shown below. Sunday, July 26 The Moon at dusk shines over Antares and left of Saturn, as shown above. The tail of Scorpius is low due south right after dark. How low depends on how far north you live. Look for the two stars especially close together in the tail. These are Lambda and fainter Upsilon Scorpii, known as the Cat's Eyes. They're canted at an angle; the cat is tilting his head and winking. See the illustration above. The Cat's Eyes point west (right) by nearly a fist-width toward Mu Scorpii, a much tighter pair known as the Little Cat's Eyes. Can you resolve Mu without using binoculars? (It's shown as single on the illustration above.) Monday, July 27 Altair shines high in the southeast after nightfall. Just above it, by a finger-width at arm's length, is little orange Tarazed. A bit more than a fist-width to Altair's left, look for Delphinus, the Dolphin, leaping leftward. Tuesday, July 28 After dark, the Big Dipper hangs diagonally in the northwest. Most of its stars are about 80 light-years away. Follow the curve of its handle around by a little more than a Dipper-length and there's bright Arcturus, due west. Arcturus is the nearest orange-giant star, 37 light-years away. Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Fri Jul 24, 2:29 AM < 1 min 16° 16 above N 15 above N Fri Jul 24, 4:06 AM 10° 10 above N Sat Jul 25, 1:38 AM 11° 11 above NNE Sat Jul 25, 3:12 AM 1 min 10 above NNW Sat Jul 25, 4:48 AM 13° 13 above N Sun Jul 26, 2:19 AM 12° 12 above NNW 12 above N Sun Jul 26, 3:55 AM 11 above N Mon Jul 27, 3:02 AM Mon Jul 27, 4:38 AM 2 min 18° 18 above NNE Tue Jul 28, 2:08 AM Tue Jul 28, 3:45 AM 14° 14 above N Tue Jul 28, 5:21 AM 6 min 56° 10 above NW 10 above ESE 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)   2 p.m., Friday, July 24 - NASA News Conference – Update on Pluto (all channels) Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Jul 24 - Comet 141P-D/Machholz Closest Approach To Earth (0.546 AU) Jul 24 - Comet 136P/Vaisala-Oterma At Opposition (2.372 AU) Jul 24 - Comet C/2012 LP26 (Palomar) Closest Approach To Earth (5.562 AU) Jul 24 - Comet C/2012 LP26 (Palomar) At Opposition (5.562 AU) Jul 24 - Comet C/2014 M2 (Christensen) Closest Approach To Earth (6.484 AU) Jul 24 -[Jul 22] Asteroid 2015 OQ21 Near-Earth Flyby (0.004 AU) Jul 24 - Asteroid 2015 LC21 Near-Earth Flyby (0.049 AU) Jul 24 - Asteroid 171183 Haleakala Closest Approach To Earth (1.616 AU) Jul 24 - 65th Anniversary (1950), 1st Rocket Launch from Cape Canaveral (Bumper/V-2 Rocket) Jul 25 - Cassini, Distant Flyby of Titan Jul 25 - Comet P/2004 FY140 (LINEAR) Perihelion (4.059 AU) Jul 25 - Asteroid 49 Pales Occults HIP 14649 (6.6 Magnitude Star) Jul 25 - Asteroid 85989 (1999 JD6) Near-Earth Flyby (0.048 AU) Jul 25 - Asteroid 2955 Newburn Closest Approach To Earth (0.960 AU) Jul 25 - 25th Anniversary (1990), CRRES Launch Jul 25 - 225th Anniversary (1790), Barbotan Meteorite Fall (Hit Cottage in France) Jul 25 - Christoph Scheiner's 440th Birthday (1575) Jul 26 - Asteroid 2015 LJ Near-Earth Flyby (0.049 AU) Jul 26 - Asteroid 6701 Warhol Closest Approach To Earth (1.317 AU) Jul 26 - Asteroid 4636 Chile Closest Approach To Earth (1.522 AU) Jul 26 - Asteroid 10195 Nebraska Closest Approach To Earth (1.619 AU) Jul 26 - 10th Anniversary (2005), STS-114 Launch (Space Shuttle Discovery, ISS) Jul 27 - Cassini, Distant Flyby of Dione & Enceladus Jul 27 - Comet 190P/Mueller At Opposition (1.884 AU) Jul 27 - Asteroid 3350 Scobee Closest Approach To Earth (0.852 AU) Jul 28 - Asteroid 3167 Babcock Occults HIP 81198 (6.4 Magnitude Star) Jul 28 - Asteroid 2013 ND15 (Venus Trojan) Closest Approach To Earth (0.541 AU) JPL Space Calendar

A New Way to Prepare Samples of Mars for Return to the Earth New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale Food for Thought A New Way to Prepare Samples of Mars for Return to the Earth

Hubble Looks in on a Galactic Nursery Space Image of the Week Hubble Looks in on a Galactic Nursery