Space News Update - January 27, In the News Story 1: Five Things about NASA's SMAP Story 2: Gullies on Vesta Suggest Past Water-Mobilized Flows Story 3: Story 3: Big Earth-Buzzing Asteroid Has Its Own Moon Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

Five Things about NASA's SMAP

Gullies on Vesta Suggest Past Water- Mobilized Flows 1.Ratchet Wrench ‘ ed’ to Space Station

Big Earth-Buzzing Asteroid Has Its Own Moon

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, January 27 If I had to choose just one deep-sky object to demonstrate the appeal of binocular astronomy, it would probably be the Pleiades," writes Gary Seronik. The Pleiades are certainly a nice sight overall. But the cluster also holds a secret in its center: the 8th-magnitude double star South 437, barely resolvable with 10× glasses. Algol shines at its minimum brightness, magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1, for a couple hours tonight centered on 10:42 p.m. EST. Wednesday, January 28 Look for the Pleiades over the Moon at nightfall, as shown above. The scene rotates clockwise as the evening advances. Thursday, January 29 The Moon shines near Aldebaran and the Hyades at dusk, as shown to the right. Friday, January 30 The waxing gibbous Moon shines above Orion this evening. It's near Zeta Tauri, the fainter of the two stars that mark the tips of Taurus's long horns. Algol is at minimum brightness, magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1, for a couple hours centered on 7:31 p.m. EST. Saturday, January 31 With a small telescope, you can watch Jupiter's inner moon Io fade away into eclipse by Jupiter's shadow around 10:45 p.m. EST (7:45 p.m. PST). Io will be just barely off Jupiter's western limb when the eclipse happens. That's because we're only 6 days from Jupiter's opposition.

ISS Sighting Opportunities Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting InformationSatellite Sighting Information ISS For Denver : DateVisibleMax HeightAppearsDisappears Tue Jan 27, 5:11 AM2 min38°38 above ESE13 above SE Tue Jan 27, 6:46 AM< 1 min10°10 above WSW10 above SW Wed Jan 28, 5:54 AM2 min20°20 above SW11 above S Thu Jan 29, 5:05 AM< 1 min16°16 above SSE11 above SSE

NASA-TV Highlights Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA websiteNASA website MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013 NASA MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013 NASA MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013 NASA Tuesday, January 27 4 p.m. - NASA SMAP Mission Prelaunch News Conference – VAFB/KSC (all channels) 4:45 p.m. - NASA ELaNa CubeSat News Conference – VAFB/KSC (all channels) Wednesday, January 28 9:25 a.m. - ISS Expedition 42 In-Flight Interviews with the Air Force Times and the Houston Chronicle with ISS Commander Barry Wilmore and Flight Engineer Terry Virts of NASA and Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA (all channels) 12:30 p.m. - SMAP NASA Social (Includes SMAP Mission/Applied Science Briefing) – VAFB/KSC (all channels) 1 p.m. - STEM in 30: Composites (all channels) 4 p.m. - STEM in 30: Composites - NASM (all channels) Thursday, January 29 7 a.m. - SMAP Mission Live Launch Coverage and Commentary (NTV-1 (Public), NTV-3 (Media)) 8:50 a.m. - Live NASA Edge coverage of the launch of SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive) Mission (NTV-2 (Education)) (all times Eastern Time Zone)

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar  Jan 27 - Comet 132P/Helin-Roman-Alu At Opposition (1.850 AU)Comet 132P/Helin-Roman-Alu  Jan 27 - Comet 102P/Shoemaker At Opposition (3.011 AU)Comet 102P/Shoemaker  Jan 27 - Asteroid 2015 BQ Near-Earth Flyby (0.072 AU)Asteroid 2015 BQ  Jan 27 - Asteroid 2015 BM Near-Earth Flyby (0.087 AU)Asteroid 2015 BM  Jan 27 - Asteroid MANIAC Closest Approach To Earth (2.005 AU)Asteroid MANIAC  Jan 27 - Asteroid Kronk Closest Approach To Earth (2.064 AU)Asteroid Kronk  Jan 28 - Comet P/2014 V1 (PANSTARRS) Perihelion (2.521 AU)Comet P/2014 V1 (PANSTARRS)  Jan 28 - Comet P/2010 N1 (WISE) At Opposition (2.978 AU)Comet P/2010 N1 (WISE)  Jan 28 - Comet C/2012 U1 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (5.007 AU)Comet C/2012 U1 (PANSTARRS)  Jan 28 - Asteroid Big Ben Closest Approach To Earth (0.941 AU)Asteroid Big Ben  Jan 28 - Asteroid 916 America Closest Approach To Earth (1.578 AU)Asteroid 916 America  Jan 28 - Asteroid 128 Nemesis Closest Approach To Earth (1.860 AU)Asteroid 128 Nemesis  Jan 29 - Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP)/ GRIFEX/ ExoCube/ FIREBIRD C & D Delta 2 LaunchSoil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP)GRIFEXExoCubeFIREBIRD C & DDelta 2 Launch  Jan 29 - Comet 156P/Russell-LINEAR Closest Approach To Earth (2.134 AU)Comet 156P/Russell-LINEAR  Jan 29 - Comet P/2007 R2 (Gibbs) At Opposition (2.506 AU)Comet P/2007 R2 (Gibbs)  Jan 29 - Comet 172P/Yeung At Opposition (3.414 AU)Comet 172P/Yeung  Jan 29 - Comet 65P/Gunn At Opposition (3.646 AU)Comet 65P/Gunn  Jan 29 - Asteroid 2015 BE92 Near-Earth Flyby (0.008 AU)Asteroid 2015 BE92  Jan 29 - Asteroid 2015 BG92 Near-Earth Flyby (0.029 AU)Asteroid 2015 BG92  Jan 29 - Asteroid 2014 BA3 Closest Approach To Earth (0.534 AU)Asteroid 2014 BA3  Jan 29 - Asteroid 4758 Hermitage Closest Approach To Earth (2.645 AU)Asteroid 4758 Hermitage  Jan 30 - Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke Perihelion (1.239 AU)Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke  Jan 30 - Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) Perihelion (1.290 AU)Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy)  Jan 30 - Comet P/2013 T2 (Schwartz) At Opposition (3.297 AU)Comet P/2013 T2 (Schwartz)  Jan 30 - Comet P/2006 G1 (McNaught) At Opposition (4.046 AU)Comet P/2006 G1 (McNaught)

Food for Thought Oldest Planetary System Discovered, Improving the Chances for Intelligent Life Everywhere New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale

Space Image of the Week A Hubble Sweep of the Dust Filaments of NGC 4217 Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: R. Schoofs