Space News Update - September 9, In the News Story 1: Scientists Find Evidence of ‘Diving’ Tectonic Plates on Jupiter’s Moon Europa Story 2: NASA's MAVEN Spacecraft Makes Final Preparations for Mars Story 3: Story 3: Researchers Discover New Clues to Determining the Solar Cycle Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

Scientists Find Evidence of ‘Diving’ Tectonic Plates on Jupiter’s Moon Europa

NASA's MAVEN Spacecraft Makes Final Preparations for Mars

Researchers Discover New Clues to Determining the Solar Cycle

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, September 9 Arcturus is the bright star fairly high due west at nightfall. It's an orange giant 37 light-years away. Off to its right in the northwest is the Big Dipper, most of whose stars are about 80 light-years away. Wednesday, September 10 The gibbous Moon, still big, rises in the east in late twilight. Look well above it for the bottom corner of the up-tilted Great Square of Pegasus. Thursday, September 11 A winter preview: If you're up before dawn this week, the sky displays the same starry panorama as it will at dusk early next February: Orion stands high in the southeast, Sirius and Canis Major sparkle to Orion's lower left, Gemini occupies the east to Orion's left, and Jupiter shines far below Gemini's Castor and Pollux. Come February, Jupiter will still be near there. Follow the Antares-Mars-Saturn lineup as it changes day by day. On September 17th Mars will pass just ½° above Delta Scorpii. Friday, September 12 Antares, Mars, and Saturn now form an almost equally spaced straight line, as shown at right. Mars continues to move east against its starry background. Watch for it to pass 3° north of Antares on September 27th and 28th. This evening one of Saturn's moons, 10th-magnitude Rhea, will occult (cover up) a much brighter star, 7.8 magnitude SAO , as seen from North Carolina northward. Telescope users farther south will witness a near miss.

ISS Sighting Opportunities Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting InformationSatellite Sighting Information ISS For Denver : DateVisibleMax HeightAppearsDisappears Wed Sep 10, 6:04 AM3 min30°10 above SSW28 above ESE Thu Sep 11, 5:16 AM3 min17°10 above S14 above ESE Fri Sep 12, 6:03 AM5 min87°10 above SW31 above NE

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 Tuesday, September 9 5:15 p.m. - ISS Expedition 40/41 Change of Command Ceremony (Swanson hands over ISS command to Suraev) (all channels) Wednesday, September 10 3:15 p.m. - ISS Expedition 40 Farewells and Hatch Closure Coverage (hatch closure scheduled at 3:35 p.m. ET) (all channels) 6 p.m - Live Coverage of NEEMO 19 Google+ Hangout with Aquanaut Crew (NTV-2 (Education)) 6:45 p.m. - ISS Expedition 40/Soyuz TMA-12M Undocking Coverage (undocking scheduled at 7:02 p.m. ET) (all channels) 9:15 p.m. - ISS Expedition 40/Soyuz TMA-12M Deorbit Burn and Landing Coverage (all channels) Thursday, September 11 Midnight - Video File of the ISS Expedition 40/Soyuz TMA-12M Landing and Post-Landing Activities (all channels) 12 p.m. - Video File of the ISS Expedition 40/Soyuz TMA-12M Landing and Post-Landing Activities; scheduled to include a post-landing interview with Expedition 40 Commander Steve Swanson of NASA and the return of Cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev (all channels) 10 p.m. - The Theodore von Kármán Lecture Series: Sam Thurman, Deputy Project Manager of the Upcoming SMAP Mission on Measuring Soil Moisture from Space - JPL (all channels) Friday, September a.m. - Video File of the ISS Expedition 41/42 Crew Departure from Star City, Russia for Baikonur, Kazakhstan (all channels) 12 p.m. - NASA News Conference - Space Launch System Opens Vertical Assembly Center at Michoud (all channels)

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar  Sep 09 - Comet P/2014 L2 (NEOWISE) Closest Approach To Earth (1.299 AU)Comet P/2014 L2 (NEOWISE)  Sep 09 - Asteroid 12 Victoria At Opposition (9.0 Magnitude)Asteroid 12 Victoria  Sep 09 - Asteroid 33 Polyhymnia At Opposition (9.8 Magnitude)Asteroid 33 Polyhymnia  Sep 09 - Asteroid 2013 RZ53 Near-Earth Flyby (0.005 AU)Asteroid 2013 RZ53  Sep 09 - Asteroid 2014 QQ362 Near-Earth Flyby (0.059 AU)Asteroid 2014 QQ362  Sep 09 - Asteroid de Vico Closest Approach To Earth (1.174 AU)Asteroid de Vico  Sep 09 - Asteroid Roche Closest Approach To Earth (1.551 AU)Asteroid Roche  Sep 09 - Asteroid Peterbrown Closest Approach To Earth (2.518 AU)Asteroid Peterbrown  Sep 10 - Comet C/2013 G8 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (4.737 AU)Comet C/2013 G8 (PANSTARRS)  Sep 10 - Asteroid 253 Mathilde Occults TYC (10.6 Magnitude Star)Asteroid 253 Mathilde Occults TYC  Sep 10 - Asteroid Galapagos Closest Approach To Earth (1.653 AU)Asteroid Galapagos  Sep 10 - Asteroid 1022 Olympiada Closest Approach To Earth (2.045 AU)Asteroid 1022 Olympiada  Sep 11 - MEASAT 3b (Jabiru 2)/ Optus 10 Ariane 5 LaunchMEASAT 3b (Jabiru 2)Optus 10  Sep 11 - Moon Occults UranusMoon Occults Uranus  Sep 11 - Comet 284P/McNaught Closest Approach To Earth (1.291 AU)Comet 284P/McNaught  Sep 11 - Asteroid Attenborough Closest Approach To Earth (1.918 AU)Asteroid Attenborough  Sep 11 - Asteroid 6349 Acapulco Closest Approach To Earth (1.958 AU)Asteroid 6349 Acapulco  Sep 11 - Asteroid 2191 Uppsala Closest Approach To Earth (1.969 AU)Asteroid 2191 Uppsala  Sep 11 - Asteroid 2197 Shanghai Closest Approach To Earth (2.427 AU)Asteroid 2197 Shanghai  Sep 12 - Comet 307P/LINEAR Closest Approach To Earth (1.184 AU)Comet 307P/LINEAR  Sep 12 - Comet P/2006 S6 (Hill) Closest Approach To Earth (1.859 AU)Comet P/2006 S6 (Hill)  Sep 12 - Asteroid 5841 Stone Closest Approach To Earth (0.759 AU)Asteroid 5841 Stone

Food for Thought Falling on the Moon: How Much Gravity Do Astronauts Really Need? New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale

Space Image of the Week Cloud, Clusters and Comet Siding Spring Image Credit & Copyright: Rolando Ligustri (CARA Project, CAST)