Space News Update - September 13, 2019 - In the News Departments Story 1: First water detected on potentially 'habitable' planet Story 2: Towering Balloon-like Features Discovered Near The Center Of The Milky Way Story 3: Newly Discovered Comet Is Likely Interstellar Visitor Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities NASA-TV Highlights Space Calendar Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

First water detected on potentially 'habitable' planet 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)

Towering Balloon-like Features Discovered Near The Center Of The Milky Way

Newly Discovered Comet Is Likely Interstellar Visitor

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Friday, Sept. 13 • Full Harvest Moon (exact at 11:33 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time). The Moon rises in the east shortly after sunset for North America, a lovely sight as twilight descends. After dark, look upper left of the Moon for the Great Square of Pegasus balancing on one corner (outside the frame above). The Square is made of 2nd- and 3rd-magnitude stars. And then watch for 1st-magnitude Fomalhaut rising to the Moon's lower right, by about two fists at arm's length. How early can you see it? The farther south you live, the higher and easier Fomalhaut will be. The sky scenes here are always drawn for latitude 40° north. Saturday, Sept. 14 • By the end of twilight the bright Moon is shining low in the east. Look a couple of fists to its upper left for the Great Square of Pegasus, tipped onto one corner. The Square's lower left side points diagonally down at the Moon. Sunday, Sept. 15 • Now the Moon rises around the end of twilight. Watch for it to come above the horizon due east, below the Great Square of Pegasus. Monday, Sept. 16 • As autumn approaches (the equinox is on the night of September 22-23 this year), the Sagittarius Teapot moves west of south and tips increasingly far over to the right during evening, as if pouring out the last of summer. Spot the Teapot under Saturn. Tuesday, Sept. 17 • You know the season is changing; we've reached the time of year when, just after nightfall, Cassiopeia has already climbed a little higher in the northeast than the Big Dipper has sunk in the northwest. Cas reigns high in early evening during the chilly fall-winter half of the year. The Big Dipper takes over for the milder evenings of spring and summer. Almost midway between them stands Polaris. It's currently a little above their midpoint. Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities ISS For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Fri Sep 13, 5:16 AM 6 min 54° 15° above NW 10° above ESE Sat Sep 14, 4:30 AM 3 min 32° 32° above NE 10° above E Sat Sep 14, 6:03 AM 5 min 27° 11° above WNW 10° above SSE Sun Sep 15, 5:17 AM 4 min 50° 44° above WSW 10° above SE Mon Sep 16, 4:31 AM < 1 min 14° 14° above SE 11° above SE Tue Sep 17, 8:19 PM 1 min 19° 11° above S 19° above SSE Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

NASA-TV Highlights (all times Eastern Time Zone) September 13, Friday 10:55 a.m. – International Space Station Expedition 60 In-Flight education event with the National STEM Cell Foundation in Louisville, Kentucky, and NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Andrew Morgan (All Channels) 12 p.m. – SpaceCast Weekly (All Channels) September 16, Monday 11:35 a.m. – International Space Station Expedition 60 In-Flight Event with NASA astronaut Nick Hague (All Channels)   Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Aug 13 - Comet P/2002 S7 (SOHO) Closest Approach To Earth (2.081 AU) Aug 13 - Amor Asteroid 2019 QG6 Near-Earth Flyby (0.048 AU) Aug 13 - Aten Asteroid 2017 QK18 Near-Earth Flyby (0.076 AU) Aug 13 - Apollo Asteroid 5143 Heracles Closest Approach To Earth (0.673 AU) Aug 13 - Asteroid 10799 Yucatan Closest Approach To Earth (1.080 AU) Aug 13 - Aten Asteroid 5381 Sekmet Closest Approach To Earth (1.292 AU) Aug 13 - Asteroid 19367 Pink Floyd Closest Approach To Earth (1.319 AU) Aug 13 - Asteroid 48472 Mossbauer Closest Approach To Earth (1.429 AU) Aug 13 - Anders Angstrom's 205th Birthday (1814) Aug 14 - Chandrayaan 2, Trans-Lunar Injection Maneuver, Successful Aug 14 - Apollo Asteroid 2019 QT6 Near-Earth Flyby (0.033 AU) Aug 14 - Asteroid 4864 Nimoy Closest Approach To Earth (1.034 AU) Aug 14 - Asteroid 278141 Tatooine Closest Approach To Earth (1.623 AU) Aug 14 - Asteroid 72432 Kimrobinson Closest Approach To Earth (1.652 AU) Aug 14 - Centaur Object 365756 ISON At Opposition (7.598 AU) Aug 14 - Kuiper Belt Object 2015 UH87 At Opposition (80.619 AU) Aug 14 - 20th Anniversary (1999), Galileo, Callisto 22 Flyby Aug 15 - Dwarf Planet Ceres Occults UCAC5 344-074929 (12.2 Magnitude Star) Aug 15 - Apollo Asteroid 2019 QD1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.018 AU) Aug 15 - Asteroid 9937 Triceratops Closest Approach To Earth (0.996 AU) Aug 15 - 30th Anniversary (1989), Sixiangkou Meteorite Fall (Hit House in China) Aug 16 - Comet 79P/du Toit-Hartley Closest Approach To Earth (2.322 AU) Aug 16 - Comet C/2018 R5 (Lemmon) Closest Approach To Earth (3.325 AU) Aug 16 - Comet C/2019 K7 (Smith) Closest Approach To Earth (4.153 AU) Aug 16 - Apollo Asteroid 2019 PJ Near-Earth Flyby (0.022 AU) Aug 16 - Amor Asteroid 3757 Anagolay Closest Approach To Earth (1.237 AU) Aug 16 - Asteroid 6524 Baalke Closest Approach To Earth (1.312 AU) Aug 16 - Valeri Ryumin's 80th Birthday (1939) Aug 16 - Pierre Mechain's 275th Birthday (1744) Aug 17 - Qiancheng 01/ Tianqi 2 Jielong-1 F1 Launch, Successful Aug 17 - Comet 112P/Urata-Niijima At Opposition (1.394 AU) Aug 17 - Comet P/2012 K3 (Gibbs) Perihelion (2.089 AU) Aug 17 - Comet 366P/Spacewatch At Opposition (2.259 AU) Aug 17 - Amor Asteroid 2019 PH3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.009 AU) Aug 17 - Amor Asteroid 2019 QU Near-Earth Flyby (0.048 AU) Aug 17 - Atira Asteroid 481817 (2008 UL90) Closest Approach To Earth (0.577 AU) Aug 17 - Comet 25D/Neujmin Closest Approach To Earth (2.275 AU) Aug 17 - Apollo Asteroid 141593 (2002 HK12) Near-Earth Flyby (0.062 AU) Aug 17 - Jupiter Trojan 588 Achilles At Opposition (4.574 AU) JPL Space Calendar

Astronauts Try Mixing Concrete in Space Food for Thought Astronauts Try Mixing Concrete in Space On the left is C3S paste, a type of cement, mixed at 1G, and on the right is the same paste mixed in microgravity. Both are 56 days old. The large round structures on the right are trapped air bubbles. The microgravity sample on the right also has greater microporosity. Image Credit: Neves et. al., 2019.

Hubble Reveals Latest Portrait of Saturn Space Image of the Week Hubble Reveals Latest Portrait of Saturn Image Credit Image Credit: NASA, ESA