1. Space News Update - February 28, 2017 - In the News Departments
Story 1:
NASA Kicks off Study to Add Crew to First Flight of Orion, SLS as Progress Continues to Send Humans to Deep Space
Story 2:
NASA’s New Horizons, IAU Set Pluto Naming Themes
Story 3: First Solar Images from NOAA's GOES-16 Satellite
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar
NASA-TV Highlights
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week

2. NASA Kicks off Study to Add Crew to First Flight of Orion, SLS as Progress Continues to Send Humans to Deep Space
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)

3. NASA’s New Horizons, IAU Set Pluto Naming Themes

4. First Solar Images from NOAA's GOES-16 Satellite

5. The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, February 28
Now the thickening Moon in twilight forms a roughly fist-sized triangle with bright Venus and fainter Mars, as shown here.
Wednesday, March 1
The Moon again hangs in the west at dusk, with Venus now about 15° to its lower right. As twilight deepens, look for Mars appearing about 5° to the Moon's right. After dark, can you still identify 6th- magnitude Uranus, now 2.1° below Mars? Uranus appears distinctly nonstellar at medium power in a telescope.
Algol is at minimum brightness, magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1, for a couple hours centered on 6:28 p.m. EST. It takes several more hours to rebrighten. Comparison-star chart, with star magnitudes given to the nearest tenth.
Thursday, March 2
This is the time of year when Orion stands straight upright due south as the stars come out. Later in the evening, and later in the month, he begins his long tilt down toward the west.
Certain deep-sky objects contain secret surprises within or near them. Get out your telescope and sky atlas for a go at Bob King's eight Hidden Gems in Common Deep-Sky Objects now in evening view.
Sky & Telescope

6. ISS Sighting Opportunities
ISS For Denver:
Date
Visible
Max Height
Appears
Disappears
Wed Mar 1, 5:37 AM
3 min
29°
11° above SSW
28° above ESE
Thu Mar 2, 4:45 AM
2 min
15°
11° above SSE
14° above ESE
Fri Mar 3, 5:29 AM
5 min
78°
16° above SW
19° above NE
Sat Mar 4, 4:39 AM
37°
37° above SSE
24° above E
Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

7. NASA-TV Highlights Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website
MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013
NASA
MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013
NASA
MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013
NASA
NASA-TV Highlights
(all times Eastern Time Zone)
Thursday, March 2
11 a.m. - ISS Expedition 50 In-Flight Event with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Aviation Summit Conference in Washington, D.C. and Commander Shane Kimbrough and Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson of NASA (starts at 11:10 a.m.) (all channels)
Friday, March 3
10 a.m. - ISS Expedition 50 In-Flight Educational Event with the Hartsfield Elementary School and 4-H Clubs of Houston and Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson (all channels)
Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

8. Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar
Feb 28 - Cassini, Distant Flyby of Janus & Pandora
Feb 28 - Comet 73P-BQ/Schwassmann-Wachmann Perihelion (0.974 AU)
Feb 28 - Comet 73P-BC/Schwassmann-Wachmann At Opposition (1.111 AU)
Feb 28 - Comet 73P-H/Schwassmann-Wachmann Closest Approach To Earth (1.338 AU)
Feb 28 - Comet P/2010 H2 (Vales) Closest Approach To Earth (2.267 AU)
Feb 28 - Comet 147P/Kushida-Muramatsu At Opposition (2.330 AU)
Feb 28 - Comet 306P/LINEAR At Opposition (3.969 AU)
Feb 28 - Comet C/2014 R3 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (6.831 AU)
Feb 28 - Apollo Asteroid 2017 DJ16 Near-Earth Flyby (0.010 AU)
Feb 28 - Asteroid 7672 Hawking Closest Approach To Earth (1.314 AU)
Feb 28 - Asteroid Whiterabbit Closest Approach To Earth (1.350 AU)
Feb 28 - Asteroid Hayabusa Closest Approach To Earth (2.016 AU)
Mar 01 - NROL-79 Atlas 5 Launch
Mar 01 - Comet 93P/Lovas Perihelion (1.700 AU)
Mar 01 - Comet 234P/LINEAR Closest Approach To Earth (1.903 AU)
Mar 01 - Comet C/2015 V4 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (4.743 AU)
Mar 01 - Comet P/2010 TO20 (LINEAR-Grauer) At Opposition (5.091 AU)
Mar 01 - Asteroid Normanrockwell Closest Approach To Earth (1.876 AU)
Mar 01 - Metal Asteroid 16 Psyche Closest Approach To Earth (2.237 AU)
Mar 01 - Asteroid Janeausten Closest Approach To Earth (3.385 AU)
Mar 02 - Moon Occults Dwarf Planet Ceres
Mar 02 - Comet P/2017 A2 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (1.701 AU)
Mar 02 - Comet 330P/Catalina At Opposition (2.283 AU)
Mar 02 - Comet P/2010 TO20 (LINEAR-Grauer) Closest Approach To Earth (5.091 AU)
Mar 02 - Aten Asteroid 2012 DR32 Near-Earth Flyby (0.007 AU)
Mar 02 - Apollo Asteroid 2011 OJ45 Near-Earth Flyby (0.079 AU)
Mar 02 - Apollo Asteroid 2017 BU6 Near-Earth Flyby (0.087 AU)
JPL Space Calendar

9. SpaceX Unveils Space Tourist Moon Flight, NASA Reacts
New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale
New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale
Food for Thought
SpaceX Unveils Space Tourist Moon Flight, NASA Reacts

10. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
Space Image of the Week
Layers and Dark Dunes
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona