Space News Update - February 25, In the News Story 1: NASA, JAXA Prepare Rain and Snow Satellite for Launch Story 2: NASA’s Chandra Sees Runaway Pulsar Firing an Extraordinary Jet Story 3: Story 3: NASA's IBEX Helps Paint Picture of the Magnetic System beyond the Solar Wind Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

NASA, JAXA Prepare Rain and Snow Satellite for Launch

NASA’s Chandra Sees Runaway Pulsar Firing an Extraordinary Jet

NASA's IBEX Helps Paint Picture of the Magnetic System beyond the Solar Wind

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, February 25 During dawn on Wednesday the 26th, Venus shines upper right of the waning Moon low in the southeast, as shown here. At the time of dawn in the Americas they appear closer together than they did on Tuesday morning. Several hours earlier, the Moon passes right across — occults — Venus for central and western Africa, India, and parts of China and Southeast Asia (at roughly 5h Universal Time February 26th). Wednesday, February 26 About 30 minutes before sunrise Thursday morning, scan with binoculars very low in the east-southeast (far lower left of Venus) for the super-thin crescent Moon with Mercury to its lower left, as shown here (as seen from North America). Thursday, February 27 Sirius shines at its highest in the south by 8 or 9 p.m. Use binoculars to look for the dim open star cluster M41 straight below it by 4°. That's a little less than the width of a typical binocular's field of view. With a moderate to large telescope on a night of very fine seeing, this is when to try to detect the white-dwarf companion of Sirius, now 10.2 arcseconds east of the bright primary. Friday, February 28 Have you ever seen Canopus, the second-brightest star after Sirius? In one of the many interesting coincidences that devoted skywatchers know about, Canopus lies almost due south of Sirius: by 36°. That's far enough south that it never appears above your horizon unless you're below latitude 37° N (southern Virginia, southern Missouri, central California). And there you'll need a flat south horizon. Canopus crosses the south point on the horizon just 21 minutes before Sirius does.

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 Feb. 25, 6:27 PM5 min65°27 above WNW11 above SE Wed Feb. 26, 7:15 PM1 min12°12 above SW10 above SSW Thu Feb. 27, 6:27 PM2 min21°21 above SW10 above S

NASA-TV Highlights (all times Eastern Time Zone) 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 February 25, Tuesday 1:35 p.m. - ISS Expedition 38 In-Flight Interview with WLS Radio, Chicago - JSC (All Channels) February 27, Thursday 11:30 a.m. - Live Coverage of GPM Mission Launch - JAXA/GSFC (NTV-1 & NTV-2) 11:50 a.m. - ISS Expedition 38 In-Flight Educational Event with Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa. - JSC TBD - Joined in Progress Live Coverage of GPM Mission Launch (Clean Feed) - JAXA/GSFC (NTV-3) February 28, Friday 10 a.m. - ISS Expedition 38 In-Flight Educational Event with the School of the Osage, Osage Beach, Mo. - JSC (All Channels)

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Feb 25 - Uragan-M #42 Soyuz-2-1b Fregat-M Launch Feb 25 - Comet 266P/Christensen At Opposition (1.601 AU) Feb 25 - Comet P/1996 R2 (Lagerkvist) At Opposition (3.541 AU) Feb 25 - Comet 242P/Spahr At Opposition (3.975 AU) Feb 25 - Asteroid South Dakota Closest Approach To Earth (1.739 AU) Feb 25 - Asteroid Berndpauli Closest Approach To Earth (3.509 AU) Feb 26 - MAVEN, Trajectory Correction Maneuver #2 (TCM-2) Feb 26 - Moon Occults Venus Feb 26 - Comet 277P/LINEAR At Opposition (1.925 AU) Feb 26 - Comet 88P/Howell At Opposition (2.545 AU) Feb 26 - Comet 10P/Tempel At Opposition (3.276 AU) Feb 26 - Comet P/2006 F1 (Kowalski) At Opposition (4.176 AU) Feb 26 - Asteroid 2 Pallas At Opposition (6.3 Magnitude) Feb 26 - Asteroid Duende Closest Approach To Earth (0.767 AU) Feb 26 - Asteroid 4716 Urey Closest Approach To Earth (1.839 AU) Feb 26 - Asteroid 2597 Arthur Closest Approach To Earth (2.228 AU) Feb 27 - GPM/DPR/ STARS 2/ ShindaiSat/ OPUSAT/ INVADAR/ ITF-1/ TeikyoSat 3/KSAT 2 H-2A Launch Feb 27 - Kondor-E 1 Strela Launch Feb 27 - Comet P/2012 WA34 (Lemmon-PANSTARRS) At Opposition (2.833 AU) Feb 27 - Comet 273P/Pons-Gambart At Opposition (4.538 AU) Feb 27 - Asteroid 2 Pallas At Opposition (7.0 Magnitude) Feb 28 - Comet 265P/LINEAR At Opposition (4.023 AU) Feb 28 - Comet P/2006 F1 (Kowalski) Closest Approach To Earth (4.175 AU)

Food for Thought How We Will Retrieve Dead Satellites In The Future? Hint: It Likely Won’t Be Using Astronauts New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale

Space Image of the Week Coronal Loops in an Active Region of the Sun Image Credit: NASA/Solar Dynamics Observatory