Space News Update - October 8, 2019 - In the News Departments Story 1: Hayabusa 2 Has Sent its Last Rover to Ryugu Story 2: New Organic Compounds Found in Enceladus Ice Grains Story 3: NASA's Push to Save the Mars InSight Lander's Heat Probe Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities NASA-TV Highlights Space Calendar Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

Hayabusa 2 Has Sent its Last Rover to Ryugu 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)

New Organic Compounds Found in Enceladus Ice Grains

NASA's Push to Save the Mars InSight Lander's Heat Probe

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, Oct. 8 • Look lower left of the waxing gibbous Moon this evening, by about two fists at arm's length, and there will be Fomalhaut, the lonely Autumn Star twinkling away. It's particularly far from any other 1st-magnitude star, and the rest of its constellation — Piscis Austrinus, the Southern Fish — is extraordinarily dim. Wednesday, Oct. 9 • Now Fomalhaut is nearly straight below the Moon after dark. • Vega is the brightest star very high in the west at nightfall. Arcturus, equally bright, is getting quite low in the west-northwest. The brightest star in the vast expanse between them, about a third of the way from Arcturus up toward Vega, is Alphecca, magnitude 2.2 — the crown jewel of Corona Borealis. Alphecca is an eclipsing binary with a 17- day period, but its brightness dips are too slight for the eye to discern reliably. Thursday, Oct. 10 • Look to the right of Vega by 14° (nearly a fist and a half at arm's length) for Eltanin, the nose of Draco the Dragon. The rest of Draco's fainter, lozenge-shaped head is a little farther behind. Draco is always eyeing Vega. The main stars of Vega's own constellation Lyra, faint by comparison, now extend to Vega's left (by 7°). Friday, Oct. 11 • Soon after dark, you'll find zero-magnitude Arcturus low in the west-northwest at the same height as zero-magnitude Capella in the northeast. When this happens, turn to the south-southeast, and there will be 1st-magnitude Fomalhaut at the same height — if you're at latitude 43° north. Seen from south of that latitude Fomalhaut will appear higher; from north of there it will be lower.

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Tue Oct 8, 7:32 PM 4 min 86° 19° above NW 20° above SE Wed Oct 9, 8:21 PM 2 min 15° 14° above WSW 13° above SSW Thu Oct 10, 7:33 PM 3 min 27° 25° above WSW 10° above SSE Fri Oct 11, 6:47 PM 1 min 22° 22° above SSE 10° above SE 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) October 8, Tuesday 1 p.m. – Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) Mission Briefing (Public Channel) 1:05 p.m. - International Space Station Expedition 61 In-Flight Event for the European Space Agency with European Aerospace Universities and International Space Station Commander Luca Parmitano of ESA (Media Channel in native language) 3:20-3:30 p.m. – Live interview for KSN-TV, Wichita, Kansas,  with NASA astronaut Nick Hague (All Channels) 5 p.m., 9 p.m. – Replay of the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) Mission Briefing (All Channels)   October 9, Wednesday 9:15 p.m. – Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) launch coverage (All Channels) October 11, Friday 6:30 a.m. – Coverage of International Space Station Expedition 61 U.S. Spacewalk #57 to install new batteries on the P6 truss (Koch and Morgan; spacewalk begins at 7:50 a.m. EDT and is slated to last 6 ½ hours) (All Channels) Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar Oct 10 - [Oct 08Near-Earth Flyby (0.029 AU) JPL Space Calendar Oct 08 - Apollo Asteroid 2019 TW1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.004 AU) Oct 08 - Apollo Asteroid 2019 TC1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.009 AU) Oct 08 - Apollo Asteroid 2019 TU Near-Earth Flyby (0.011 AU) Oct 08 - Apollo Asteroid 2019 SB6 Near-Earth Flyby (0.020 AU) Oct 08 - Apollo Asteroid 2019 TS Near-Earth Flyby (0.022 AU) Oct 08 - Apollo Asteroid 2019 TM Near-Earth Flyby (0.024 AU) Oct 08 - Apollo Asteroid 2019 RK Near-Earth Flyby (0.043 AU) Oct 08 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 CW193 Near-Earth Flyby (0.088 AU) Oct 08 - Apollo Asteroid 469219 (2016 HO3) Closest Approach To Earth (0.151 AU) Oct 08 - Lecture: Living on the Moon: Why, When, Where, Who and How, London, United Kingdom Oct 08 - Colloquium: Characterizing the Incision of Ancient Lake Outlet Canyons on Mars, Tucson, Arizona Oct 08-10 - Conference: Satellite Innovation, Silicon Valley, California Oct 08-10 - Astro2020 Meeting 2: Panel on Stars, the Sun, and Stellar Populations, Washington DC Oct 08-10 - GRACE Follow-On Science Team Meeting, Pasadena, California Oct 09 - ICON (MIDEX 8) Pegasus XL Launch Oct 09 - Eutelsat 5 West B/ Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV-1) Proton-M/Briz-M P4 Launch Oct 09 - Draconids Meteor Shower Peaks Oct 09 - Apollo Asteroid 2019 SL7 Near-Earth Flyby (0.004 AU) Oct 09 - Apollo Asteroid 2019 TZ Near-Earth Flyby (0.021 AU) Oct 09 - Apollo Asteroid 2019 TV1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.044 AU) Oct 09-10 - International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight (ISPCS 2019), Las Cruces, New Mexico Oct 09-11 - Workshop: Topics In Cosmic Neutrinos, Batavia, Illinois Oct 10 - Jason-2/Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM), End of Mission Oct 10 - Comet P/2008 Y12 (SOHO) Perihelion (0.066 AU) Oct 10 - Apollo Asteroid 2019 SX5 Near-Earth Flyby (0.045 AU) Oct 10 - Event: Martian Feast 1010, Los Angeles, California Oct 10 - Colloquium: The Mystery of Methane on Mars - Fact, Folly or Figment?, Ithaca, New York

Scientists Start Mapping the Hidden Web that Scaffolds the Universe Food for Thought Scientists Start Mapping the Hidden Web that Scaffolds the Universe

Image Credit & Copyright: José Jiménez Priego Space Image of the Week The Horsehead Nebula Image Credit & Copyright: José Jiménez Priego