Space News Update - December 4, 2018 - In the News Departments Story 1: NASA's OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Arrives at Asteroid Bennu Story 2: China Set to Launch First-Ever Spacecraft to the Far Side of the Moon Story 3: Stunning Exoplanet Time-lapse Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities NASA-TV Highlights Space Calendar Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

NASA's OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Arrives at Asteroid Bennu 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)

China Set to Launch First-Ever Spacecraft to the Far Side of the Moon

Stunning Exoplanet Time-lapse

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, December 4 • At this time of year the Big Dipper lies down lowest soon after dark, due north. It's entirely below the north horizon if you're as far south as Miami. But by midnight, the Dipper is standing straight up on its handle in fine view in the northeast. • Meanwhile, high above, the bowl of the Little Dipper is descending in the evening, lower left of Polaris. By 10 or 11 p.m. it hangs straight down from Polaris. Wednesday, December 5 • The W of Cassiopeia now stands on end after dark, very high in the northeast. The bottom star of the W is Epsilon (ε) Cassiopeiae. That's your starting point for hunting down the little-known star cluster Collinder 463, sparse and loose but visible in binoculars. It's 8° to Epsilon's north, surrounded by a nice quadrilateral of 4th- and 5th-magnitude stars about 3° wide. • Algol should be at minimum brightness for a couple hours centered on 6:42 p.m. Thursday, December 6 • Neptune very close to Mars. This evening, as seen from North America, Neptune appears only 1/3° from Mars — which is 1400 times brighter! Look for Neptune with your scope to Mars's east-northeast, then use high power to check that it's non-stellar. Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Tue Dec 4, 5:39 PM < 1 min 10° 10° above N Wed Dec 5, 6:23 PM 10° above NNW Thu Dec 6, 5:31 PM 2 min 11° 10° above NNE Fri Dec 7, 6:14 PM 1 min 16° 11° above NNW 16° above N Sat Dec 8, 5:23 PM 3 min 15° 12° above NE 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) Tuesday, December 4 1 p.m., 5 p.m., 9 p.m. - Replay of SpaceX CRS-16 What’s On Board (All Channels) 2:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m., 10:30 p.m. - Replay of the SpaceX CRS-16 Pre-launch News Conference (All Channels) December 5, Wednesday 12:45 p.m. - SpaceX CRS-16 Launch Coverage; Instantaneous launch at 1:16 p.m. (All Channels) 3:15 p.m. - SpaceX CRS-16 Post-Launch News Conference (All Channels) 8 p.m. , 10 p.m. - Replay of the SpaceX CRS-16 Launch Coverage (All Channels) 9 p.m., 11 p.m. - Replay of the SpaceX CRS-16 Post-Launch News Conference - Kennedy Space Center (All Channels) Thursday, December 6 2 p.m. –  A Discussion of the History of Hubble Servicing Missions and the Future of Satellite Servicing (All Channels) December 7, Friday 7-9 a.m. – Live Interviews with International Space Station Expedition 59-60 astronaut Nick Hague of NASA (All Channels) 10 a.m. – SpaceCast Weekly (All Channels) 11:15 a.m.  – Astronauts Kathryn Thornton and Jeffrey Hoffman Celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope’s first servicing mission (Media Channel) 11:45 a.m. – NASA astronaut Serena Aunon-Chancellor hosts an Educational Event with the Mandelstam School in South Miami, Florida, from aboard the Space Station (Public Channel) 1:30 p.m. – A Panel Discussion on the Hubble Space Telescope’s Deployment and Servicing missions over 25 years (All Channels)   Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Dec 04 - GSAT 11/ GEO-KOMPSAT-2A Ariane 5 Launch Dec 04 - Apollo Asteroid 2018 WD2 Near-Earth Flyby (0.009 AU) Dec 04 - Amor Asteroid 2018 VZ3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.061 AU) Dec 04 - Asteroid 29470 Higgs Closest Approach To Earth (1.971 AU) Dec 04 - CRS-16/ IDA 3 Falcon 9 Launch (International Space Station) Dec 05 - Apollo Asteroid 2018 VK5 Near-Earth Flyby (0.067 AU) Dec 05 - Aten Asteroid 2017 RH16 Near-Earth Flyby (0.081 AU) Dec 05 - Aten Asteroid 2010 TK7 (Earth Trojan) Closest Approach To Earth (0.208 AU) Dec 06 - 5th Anniversary (2013), Chang'e 3 Lunar Orbit Insertion (China) JPL Space Calendar

Food for Thought Prehistoric Cave Paintings Show That Ancient People Had Pretty Advanced Knowledge of Astronomy

Space Image of the Week The Fairy of Eagle Nebula Image Credit: NASA, ESA, The Hubble Heritage Team, (STScI/AURA)