Space News Update - October 25, 2016 - In the News Departments Story 1: Titan Experiences Dramatic Seasonal Changes Story 2: Curious Tilt of the Sun Traced to Undiscovered Planet Story 3: NASA’s MAVEN Mission Observes Ups and Downs of Water Escape from Mars Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

Titan Experiences Dramatic Seasonal Changes 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)

Curious Tilt of the Sun Traced to Undiscovered Planet

NASA’s MAVEN Mission Observes Ups and Downs of Water Escape from Mars

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, October 25 Draw a line from Altair, the brightest star high in the southwest after dark, to Vega, the brightest high in the west. Continue the line half as far onward and you hit the Lozenge: the pointy-nosed head of Draco, the Dragon. The Great Square of Pegasus is now quite high in the east-southeast just after dark — still, for now, balancing on one corner (as seen from the world's mid-northern latitudes). Wednesday, October 26 Low in the southwest in twilight, Saturn, bright Venus, and Antares form a nearly vertical curve, in that order from top to bottom. It's 7° tall. Thursday, October 27 Now Saturn, bright Venus, and Antares straighten out into a nearly vertical line, as shown at right. Friday, October 28 The low twilight lineup of Saturn, Venus, and Antares in the southwest now begins to bend the other way, as Venus moves east. Around the same time, look for Arcturus low in the west-northwest. Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: No Sightings of ISS from Denver until October 30, 2016 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 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, October 25 12 p.m. - NASA Television Video File News Feed of the ISS Expedition 50-51 Crew Qualification Training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia (Whitson, Novitskiy, Pesquet; recorded on Oct. 24-25) (all channels) 1 p.m., Tuesday - NASA and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Panel on Solar Hazards in Exploration (all channels) 3 p.m. 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. - Replay of Space to Ground ISS Weekly Highlights (10/20/16) (all channels) 4 p.m. 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. - Replay of the NASA Television Video File News Feed of the ISS Expedition 50-51 Crew Qualification Training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia (Whitson, Novitskiy, Pesquet; recorded on Oct. 24-25) (all channels) 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. - Replay of the NASA and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Panel on Solar Hazards in Exploration (all channels) Wednesday, October 26 8:30 a.m. - ISS Expedition 49 In-Flight Event for JAXA with Flight Engineer Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (NTV-1 with English interpretation; NTV-3 in native language) (starts at 8:40 a.m.) (all channels) 4 p.m., Wednesday, October 26 - Replay of the ISS Expedition 50-51 Crew News Conference at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia (Whitson, Novitskiy, Pesquet) (all channels) 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, October 26 - NASA Television Video File News Feed of the ISS Expedition 50-51 Crew’s Ceremonial Visit to the Gagarin Museum at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center and their Visit to Red Square and the Kremlin in Moscow (starts at 4:45 p.m.) (all channels) Thursday, October 27 6:30 a.m. - Video B-Roll Feed of Training and Previous Missions of ISS Expedition 50-51 Astronaut Peggy Whitson of NASA (all channels) 7 a.m., - Live Shot Interviews with ISS Expedition 50-51 Astronaut Peggy Whitson of NASA from the Gagarin CosmonautCosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia (all channels) Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Oct 25 - Comet 73P-BB/Schwassmann-Wachmann Closest Approach To Earth (1.572 AU) Oct 25 - Comet P/2002 EJ57 (LINEAR) At Opposition (4.008 AU) Oct 25 - Amor Asteroid 2016 PY78 Near-Earth Flyby (0.083 AU) Oct 25 - Aten Asteroid 2015 KA Near-Earth Flyby (0.097 AU) Oct 25 - Asteroid 2712 Keaton Closest Approach To Earth (1.196 AU) Oct 25 - Asteroid 10221 Kubrick Closest Approach To Earth (1.452 AU) Oct 25 - Centaur Object 49036 Pelion At Opposition (19.668 AU) Oct 25-28 - Geological Society of America (GSA) Annual Meeting, Denver, Colorado Oct 26 - Aten Asteroid 2016 UY5 Near-Earth Flyby (0.042 AU) Oct 26 - Amor Asteroid 2016 UH Near-Earth Flyby (0.051 AU) Oct 26 - Aten Asteroid 2016 TA57 Near-Earth Flyby (0.061 AU) Oct 26 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 TV10 Near-Earth Flyby (0.070 AU) Oct 26 - Amor Asteroid 2016 TJ56 Near-Earth Flyby (0.093 AU) Oct 26 - Amor Asteroid 7088 Ishtar Closest Approach To Earth (0.658 AU) Oct 26 - Asteroid 6312 Robheinlein Closest Approach To Earth (1.085 AU) Oct 26 - Aten Asteroid 3362 Khufu Closest Approach To Earth (1.221 AU) Oct 26 - Apollo Asteroid 29075 (1950 DA) Closest Approach To Earth (1.785 AU) Oct 26 - Asteroid 7755 Haute-Provence Closest Approach To Earth (2.519 AU) Oct 26-29 - Enchanted Skies Star Party, Magdalena, New Mexico Oct 27 - Comet 136P/Mueller At Opposition (2.108 AU) Oct 27 - Comet 94P/Russell Perihelion (2.230 AU) Oct 27 - Comet 317P/WISE At Opposition (2.687 AU) Oct 27 - Aten Asteroid 413260 (2003 TL4) Near-Earth Flyby (0.026 AU) Oct 27 - Aten Asteroid 2012 UA34 Near-Earth Flyby (0.095 AU) Oct 27 - Asteroid 3487 Edgeworth Closest Approach To Earth (1.559 AU) Oct 27 - Asteroid 6984 Lewiscarroll Closest Approach To Earth (2.546 AU) Oct 27 - Kuiper Belt Object 15760 (1992 QB1) At Opposition (40.285 AU) JPL Space Calendar

The Universe Is Expanding At An Accelerating Rate – Or Is It? Food for Thought The Universe Is Expanding At An Accelerating Rate – Or Is It?

Schiaparelli Landing Site? Image Credit: ESA and NASA Space Image of the Week Schiaparelli Landing Site? Image Credit: ESA and NASA