Space News Update - May 20, In the News Story 1: Construction to Begin on NASA Mars Lander Scheduled to Launch in 2016 Story 2: Venus Express Gets Ready to Take the Plunge Story 3: Story 3: New Meteor Shower from Comet Could Dazzle Stargazers This Week Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

Construction to Begin on NASA Mars Lander Scheduled to Launch in 2016

Venus Express Gets Ready to Take the Plunge

New Meteor Shower from Comet Could Dazzle Stargazers This Week

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, May 20 As the stars come out, Saturn in the southeast, Vega in the northeast, Capella in the northwest, and Procyon in the west-southwest are all at about the same altitude (as seen from about 40° north latitude). Wednesday, May 21 The western twilight Arch of Spring is sinking, but you can still catch this big landmark when the stars come out. Jupiter in the west lies within it. Pollux and Castor, above Jupiter, are lined up roughly horizontally; they're the Arch's top. Look far to their lower left for Procyon, and farther to their lower right for Menkalinen and then bright Capella. Jupiter is moving closer to the Arch's upper-left side. Thursday, May 22 As twilight fades, spot Mercury low in the west- northwest. It's about 2½ fists to the lower right of bright Jupiter. This evening Mercury is between the horn-tips of Taurus: Beta Tauri (El Nath) to its upper right, and Zeta Tauri to its lower left. Binoculars will help. Friday, May 23 New meteor shower? A possible strong meteor shower may arrive in the early-morning hours of Saturday the 24th, timed for North America (perhaps peaking around 3 a.m. EDT, midnight PDT). For just a few hours we'll pass through the predicted debris trail of Comet 209P/LINEAR, which is making an unusually close flyby of Earth. There's even a (slim) possibility that the shower could approach "meteor storm" proportions. The comet itself is closest on May 29th, but it's very small and faint and may reach 11th magnitude at best. As dawn brightens on Saturday morning the 24th, look for Venus well to the lower left of the waning crescent Moon, as shown above.

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 May 20, 3:15 AM2 min33°33 above E13 above ENE Tue May 20, 4:48 AM4 min24°11 above W18 above NNE Wed May 21, 2:28 AM< 1 min11°11 above ENE Wed May 21, 4:00 AM3 min35°23 above W25 above NNE Thu May 22, 3:13 AM1 min51°51 above N24 above NE Thu May 22, 4:48 AM3 min14°10 above NW11 above NNE Fri May 23, 2:26 AM1 min20°20 above ENE11 above NE Fri May 23, 3:59 AM3 min18°11 above WNW15 above N

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 May 20, Tuesday a.m. - Live Interviews with Expedition 39 Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA - JSC (All Channels) 11:10 a.m. - ISS Expedition 40 In-Flight Interview with CNN’s Original Video Division - JSC (All Channels) 11:30 a.m. - Space Station Live - JSC (All Channels) May 21, Wednesday 1 p.m. - Video File of the ISS Expedition 40/41 Crew Activities in Baikonur, Kazakhstan - JSC via Baikonur, Kazakhstan (All Channels) 2 p.m. - ISS Expedition 40 Mission Overview Briefing - JSC (All Channels) 3:30 p.m. - Destination Station: ISS Science Forum - JSC (All Channels) May 23, Friday 6 a.m p.m. - Live Media Interviews on New Meteor Shower produced by comet 209P/LINEAR - GSFC (NTV-3)

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar May 20 - Comet 272P/NEAT At Opposition (2.841 AU) May 20 - Comet 141P/Machholz At Opposition (3.233 AU) May 20 - Comet 226P/Pigott-LINEAR-Kowalski At Opposition (4.163 AU) May 20 - Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann At Opposition (5.144 AU) May 20 - Asteroid (2005 UK1) Near-Earth Flyby (0.094 AU) May 20 - Asteroid 9250 Chamberlin Closest Approach To Earth (1.544 AU) May 20 - Asteroid 4345 Rachmaninoff Closest Approach To Earth (1.940 AU) May 20 - Asteroid Moron Closest Approach To Earth (2.015 AU) May 21 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #380 (OTM-380) May 21 - Comet 132P/Helin-Roman-Alu Perihelion (1.908 AU) May 21 - Comet P/2014 E1 (Larson) Perihelion (2.141 AU) May 21 - Comet 134P/Kowal-Vavrova Perihelion (2.571 AU) May 21 - Comet C/2014 G1 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (4.682 AU) May 21 - Asteroid 2011 JR13 Near-Earth Flyby (0.051 AU) May 21 - Asteroid 4487 Pocahontas Approach To Earth (1.047 AU) May 21 - Asteroid 7784 Watterson Closest Approach To Earth (1.180 AU) May 21 - Asteroid 4238 Audrey Closest Approach To Earth (1.286 AU) May 21 - Asteroid 2000 Herschel Closest Approach To Earth (2.147 AU) May 21 - Asteroid 1024 Hale Closest Approach To Earth (2.204 AU) May 22 - Quasar 19 (NROL-33) Atlas 5 Launch May 22 - Comet C/2014 F2 (Tenagra) Closest Approach To Earth (4.020 AU) May 22 - Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann Closest Approach To Earth (5.144 AU) May 22 - Asteroid 9770 Discovery Closest Approach To Earth (1.002 AU) May 22 - Asteroid Mjolnir Closest Approach To Earth (1.418 AU) May 22 - Asteroid 3693 Barringer Closest Approach To Earth (2.463 AU) May 23 - Comet P/2013 A2 (Scotti) At Opposition (2.794 AU)

Food for Thought NASA's Asteroid-Capture Mission May Test New Method to Defend Earth New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale

Space Image of the Week Hubble's Jupiter and the Amazing Shrinking Great Red Spot Credit: NASA, ESA, and Amy Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center) et al