1. Space News Update - February 12, 2016 - In the News Departments
Story 1:
Gravitational Wave Detection Heralds New Era of Astronomy
Story 2:
Putting Pluto’s Geology on the Map
Story 3: Apollo 11 Crew Wrote on Moon Ship Walls, Smithsonian 3D Scan Reveals
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar
NASA-TV Highlights
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week

2. Gravitational Wave Detection Heralds New Era of Astronomy
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. Putting Pluto’s Geology on the Map

4. Apollo 11 Crew Wrote on Moon Ship Walls, Smithsonian 3D Scan Reveals

5. The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Friday, February 12
• The sky's biggest well-known asterism (informal star pattern) is the Winter Hexagon. It fills the heavens toward the east and south these evenings. Start with brilliant Sirius at its bottom. Going clockwise from there, march through Procyon, Pollux and Castor, Beta Aurigae and Capella near the zenith, Aldebaran over and down to Capella's lower right, down to Rigel in Orion's foot, and back to Sirius.
Saturday, February 13
• Orion is now high in the south-southeast right after dark. Left of it is Gemini, headed by Castor and Pollux at far left. The stick-figure Twins are still lying on their sides. Well below their legs is bright Procyon in little Canis Minor: the doglet whose top is barely seen in profile in a dark sky. He's vertical at twilight's end. Procyon marks his rump.
Sunday, February 14
• First-quarter Moon for Valentine's Evening (exactly first-quarter at 2:46 a.m. Monday morning EST). Right after dark you'll find the canted Moon shining under the Pleiades, and lower right of Aldebaran and the Hyades.
Monday, February 15
• This evening the Moon is in the Hyades for North Americans. It creeps along the Hyades's southern arm, with its dark limb occulting 4th-magnitude and fainter stars one by one.
Then comes Aldebaran. By the time the Moon reaches Aldebaran only the West Coast will still have a view, and even there the Moon will be low in the west on its way to setting. The dark limb snaps up Aldebaran at 1:05 a.m. PST for Los Angeles, 1:03 a.m. for the San Francisco area, and around 1:10 a.m. for Portland. From Seattle, the Moon barely misses it.
Tuesday, February 16
• After dusk, the Moon shines above Orion, left of orange Aldebaran, and below Beta Tauri (El Nath), the brighter of Taurus's two horn-tips.
• Jupiter's big, slow moon Ganymede casts its relatively prominent shadow onto Jupiter tonight, from 10:57 p.m. to 2:18 a.m. EST. Ganymede itself crosses Jupiter from 12:58 to 4:06 a.m. EST. Meanwhile, Jupiter's Great Red Spot transits the planet's central meridian around 2:36 a.m. EST. Subtract three hours from these times to get PST.
Sky & Telescope

6. ISS Sighting Opportunities
ISS For Denver:
Date
Visible
Max Height
Appears
Disappears
Fri Feb 12, 6:06 PM
< 1 min
10°
10° above N
Fri Feb 12, 7:42 PM
10° above NNW
Sat Feb 13, 6:49 PM
2 min
14°
14° above NNE
Sun Feb 14, 5:57 PM
11°
10° above NNE
Sun Feb 14, 7:32 PM
1 min
17°
10° above NW
17° above NNW
Mon Feb 15, 6:40 PM
3 min
20°
11° above NNW
19° above NE
Tue Feb 16, 7:23 PM
45°
45° above NNW
Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

7. NASA-TV Highlights (all times Eastern Time Zone)
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)
12 p.m., Tuesday, February 16 - ISS Expedition 46 In-Flight Educational Event for the Bob Bullock State Museum in Austin, Texas with Flight Engineer Tim Kopra of NASA (starts at 11:55 a.m.) (all channels)
Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

8. Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar
Feb 12 - Asteroid 253 Mathilde Occults TYC  (9.8 Magnitude Star)
Feb 12 - [Feb 08] Apollo Asteroid 2016 CD31 Near-Earth Flyby (0.009 AU)
Feb 12 - [Feb 08] Apollo Asteroid 2016 CW30 Near-Earth Flyby (0.013 AU)
Feb 12 - [Feb 06] Apollo Asteroid 2016 CF29 Near-Earth Flyby (0.031 AU)
Feb 12 - Asteroid Johnnyweir Closest Approach To Earth (1.901 AU)
Feb 12 - Asteroid 5811 Keck Closest Approach To Earth (2.424 AU)
Feb th Anniversary (2001), NEAR, Asteroid Eros Landing
Feb 12 - Fang Lizhi's 80th Birthday (1936)
Feb 13 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #442 (OTM-442)
Feb 13 - Comet P/2007 VA85 (LINEAR) Closest Approach To Earth (0.527 AU)
Feb 13 - Comet 73P-AM/Schwassmann-Wachmann Closest Approach To Earth (2.618 AU)
Feb 13 - Comet 323P/SOHO At Opposition (2.776 AU)
Feb 13 - Comet P/2014 W1 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (3.200 AU)
Feb 13 - Comet C/2013 G9 (Tenagra) Closest Approach To Earth (5.265 AU)
Feb 13 - Apollo Asteroid 3671 Dionysus Closest Approach To Earth (2.022 AU)
Feb 13 - Amor Asteroid 4957 Brucemurray Closest Approach To Earth (2.074 AU)
Feb 13 - Asteroid Poe Closest Approach To Earth (2.550 AU)
Feb 14 - Cassini, Distant Flyby of Polydeuces
Feb 14 - Comet P/2010 V1 (Ikeya-Murakami) Closest Approach To Earth (0.654 AU)
Feb 14 - Comet 73P-BP/Schwassmann-Wachmann At Opposition (1.710 AU)
Feb 14 - Comet 73P-BI/Schwassmann-Wachmann At Opposition (1.711 AU)
Feb 14 - Comet 73P-BM/Schwassmann-Wachmann At Opposition (1.711 AU)
Feb 14 - Comet 73P-BH/Schwassmann-Wachmann At Opposition (1.712 AU)
Feb 14 - Comet 73P-BA/Schwassmann-Wachmann At Opposition (1.722 AU)
Feb 14 - Apollo Asteroid 2014 EK24 Near-Earth Flyby (0.036 AU)
Feb 14 - Aten Asteroid Apophis Closest Approach To Earth (1.505 AU)
Feb 14 - Asteroid Mauna Kea Closest Approach To Earth (1.825 AU)
Feb th Anniversary (2011), Stardust, Comet Tempel 1 Flyby
Feb 14 - Arthur Milne's 120th Birthday (1896)
Feb 15 - Galileo Day
Feb 15 - Cassini, Distant Flyby of Telesto, Epimetheus & Titan
Feb 15 - Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko Closest Approach To Earth (1.485 AU)
Feb 15 - Comet 73P-BE/Schwassmann-Wachmann At Opposition (1.690 AU)
Feb 15 - Comet C/2015 Y1 (LINEAR) Closest Approach To Earth (1.743 AU)
Feb 15 - Comet 187P/LINEAR Closest Approach To Earth (3.665 AU)
Feb 15 - Asteroid 5 Astraea At Opposition (8.7 Magnitude)
Feb 15 - Aten Asteroid 2006 XP4 Near-Earth Flyby (0.064 AU)
JPL Space Calendar

9. Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar
Feb 15 - Amor Asteroid 3122 Florence Closest Approach To Earth (1.294 AU)
Feb 15 - Asteroid 1069 Planckia Closest Approach To Earth (1.836 AU)
Feb 15 - Apollo Asteroid Peleus Closest Approach To Earth (1.872 AU)
Feb 15 - Asteroid 1886 Lowell Closest Approach To Earth (2.040 AU)
Feb 15 - Asteroid 3866 Langley Closest Approach To Earth (2.709 AU)
Feb 15 - George Stoney's 190th Birthday (1826)
Feb 15 - Emmanuel Liais' 190th Birthday (1826)
Feb 16 - Cassini, Titan Flyby
Feb 16 - [Feb 05] Sentinel 3A Rokot/Briz-KM Launch
Feb 16 - Moon Occults Aldebaran
Feb 16 - Comet C/2015 YG1 (NEOWISE) Closest Approach To Earth (1.703 AU)
Feb 16 - Comet 73P-U/Schwassmann-Wachmann Closest Approach To Earth (2.474 AU)
Feb 16 - Comet P/2014 M4 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (3.004 AU)
Feb 16 - Comet 15P/Finlay At Opposition (3.076 AU)
Feb 16 - Apollo Asteroid Ahau Closest Approach To Earth (0.894 AU)
Feb 16 - Asteroid Lederman Closest Approach To Earth (1.699 AU)
Feb 16 - Asteroid 5816 Potsdam Closest Approach To Earth (2.086 AU)
Feb 16 - Asteroid Bepicolombo Closest Approach To Earth (2.144 AU)
Feb 16 - Asteroid 7231 Porco Closest Approach To Earth (2.421 AU)
Feb th Anniversary (1876), Judesegeri Meteorite Fall (Hit Water Tank in India)
Feb 16 - Kaspar Schweizer's 200th Birthday (1816)
JPL Space Calendar

10. Food for Thought
Earth scores an unimpressive 82% chance of sustaining life in 'habitability' calculation

11. Young star lights up reflection nebula IC 2631 Credit: ESO
Space Image of the Week
Young star lights up reflection nebula IC Credit: ESO