Space News Update - January 18, 2019 - In the News Departments Story 1: NASA's Moon Data Sheds Light on Earth’s Asteroid Impact History Story 2: Saturn's Rings Are Relatively New Story 3: Making Stars When the Universe Was Half its Age Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities NASA-TV Highlights Space Calendar Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

NASA's Moon Data Sheds Light on Earth’s Asteroid Impact History 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)

Saturn's Rings Are Relatively New

Making Stars When the Universe Was Half its Age

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Friday, January 18 • Zero-magnitude Capella on high, and equally bright Rigel in Orion's foot, have almost the same right ascension. This means they cross your sky’s meridian at almost exactly the same time: around 9 or 10 p.m. now, depending on how far east or west you live in your time zone. So, whenever Capella passes its very highest, Rigel always marks true south over your landscape, and vice versa. And tonight, the bright Moon shines between them. Saturday, January 19 • The Moon shines in Gemini this evening, with Castor and Pollux to its left, Betelgeuse farther to its right, and Procyon down below. • After dinnertime, Sirius twinkles brightly under Orion in the southeast. Around 8 or 9 p.m., depending on your location, Sirius shines precisely below fiery Betelgeuse in Orion's shoulder. How accurately can you time this event for your location, perhaps using the vertical edge of a building? Of the two, Sirius leads early in the evening; Betelgeuse leads later. Sunday, January 20 • Full Moon, and total eclipse of the Moon high in a dark sky over the Americas. Partial eclipse begins at 10:34 p.m. EST, total eclipse begins at 11:41 p.m. EST, totality ends at 12:44 a.m. EST, partial eclipse ends at 1:51 a.m. EST. The eclipsed Moon will be in dim Cancer, with the Beehive star cluster about a binocular field-of-view to its east. See the timetable for your time zone, and things to watch for throughout, in Bob King's Guide to January’s Supermoon Total Lunar Eclipse or the cover story of the January Sky & Telescope. Prefer audio? Here's our special podcast for the eclipseby that voice of Sky & Telescope, Kelly Beatty. For most of Europe and Africa, the Moon will set around sunrise on the 21st either during totality or during the final partial phases, although westernmost Europe — including the British Isles — and northwestern Africa will be treated to the whole show before the Moon sets and the Sun rises. Cloudy where you are? Watch the Virtual Telescope Project's livestream of the eclipse.   Monday, January 21 • Venus, which has been approaching Jupiter for many days, appears closest to Jupiter tomorrow morning the 22nd. They'll be about 2½° apart in early dawn. And look for fainter Antares 8° to Jupiter's right. Think photo opportunity! Attach your camera or phone to a tripod, move around to frame the planet pair with some foreground scenery, and zoom in. Do it before dawn gets too bright! Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Sat Jan 19, 6:34 PM < 1 min 10° 10° above SSE Sun Jan 20, 7:17 PM 1 min 19° 10° above SW 19° above SW Mon Jan 21, 6:26 PM 3 min 32° 10° above SSW 31° above ESE Tue Jan 22, 5:36 PM 4 min 17° 10° above S 10° above E 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) No special programming listed Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Jan 18 - Comet 239P/LINEAR Closest Approach To Earth (0.694 AU) Jan 18 - Comet C/2017 M4 (ATLAS) Perihelion (3.252 AU) Jan 18 - Apollo Asteroid 1620 Geographos Closest Approach To Earth (0.611 AU) Jan 18 - Asteroid 10101 Fourier Closest Approach To Earth (1.136 AU) Jan 18 - Asteroid 230975 Rogerfederer Closest Approach To Earth (1.656 AU) Jan 18 - Asteroid 9725 Wainscoat Closest Approach To Earth (1.773 AU) Jan 18 - Asteroid 3341 Hartmann Closest Approach To Earth (2.074 AU) Jan 18 - Asteroid 2246 Bowell Closest Approach To Earth (2.779 AU) Jan 19 - [Jan 16] KH-11 17 (Crystal 17, NROL-71) Delta 4H Launch Jan 19 - Comet P/2017 S5 (ATLAS) At Opposition (2.559 AU) Jan 19 - Comet C/2017 U5 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (4.186 AU) Jan 19 - Asteroid 2638 Gadolin Occults HIP 62285 (6.5 Magnitude Star) Jan 19 - Asteroid 433 Eros Occults UCAC4 628-18644 (10.7 Magnitude Star) Jan 19 - Apollo Asteroid 2019 AB5 Near-Earth Flyby (0.019 AU) Jan 19 - Apollo Asteroid 515767 (2015 JA2) Near-Earth Flyby (0.063 AU) Jan 19 - Atira Asteroid 2017 YH Closest Approach To Earth (0.185 AU) Jan 19 - Asteroid 5040 Rabinowitz Closest Approach To Earth (1.980 AU) Jan 19 - Asteroid 5256 Farquhar Closest Approach To Earth (2.120 AU) Jan 19 - Asteroid 8208 Volta Closest Approach To Earth (2.165 AU) Jan 19 - Asteroid 4772 Frankdrake Closest Approach To Earth (2.172 AU) Jan 20 - Comet 247P/LINEAR Closest Approach To Earth (0.734 AU) Jan 20 - Comet 117P/Helin-Roman-Alu At Opposition (4.074 AU) Jan 20 - [Jan 12] Apollo Asteroid 2019 AO8 Near-Earth Flyby (0.027 AU) Jan 20 - [Jan 13] Apollo Asteroid 2019 AZ8 Near-Earth Flyby (0.035 AU) Jan 20 - Asteroid 2039 Payne-Gaposchkin Closest Approach To Earth (1.792 AU) Jan 20 - Asteroid 15092 Beegees Closest Approach To Earth (1.953 AU) Jan 20 - Apollo Asteroid 2329 Orthos Closest Approach To Earth (2.876 AU) Jan 20 - 150th Anniversary (1869), Angra dos Reis Meteorite Fall in Brazil Jan 21 - [Jan 14] Total Lunar Eclipse Jan 21 - [Jan 14] Super Moon Jan 21 - [Jan 11] Jilin-1 Hyperspectral-01 & 02 CZ-11 Launch Jan 21 - Comet 59P/Kearns-Kwee At Opposition (1.564 AU) Jan 21 - Comet 91P/Russell At Opposition (3.221 AU) Jan 21 - Asteroid 6032 Nobel Closest Approach To Earth (2.029 AU) Jan 21 - Asteroid 5540 Smirnova Closest Approach To Earth (2.090 AU) Jan 21 - Asteroid 7100 Martin Luther Closest Approach To Earth (2.130 AU) JPL Space Calendar

Japan Satellite Blasts into Space to Deliver Artificial Meteors Food for Thought Japan Satellite Blasts into Space to Deliver Artificial Meteors

Circumpolar Star Trails Image Credit & Copyright: Gabriel Funes Space Image of the Week Circumpolar Star Trails  Image Credit & Copyright: Gabriel Funes