1. Space News Update - May 30, 2017 - In the News Departments Story 1:
NASA Moves Up Launch of Psyche Mission to a Metal Asteroid
Story 2:
New NASA Mission to Study Mysterious Neutron Stars, Aid in Deep Space Navigation
Story 3: New Horizons Deploys Global Team for Rare Look at Next Flyby Target
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities
NASA-TV Highlights
Space Calendar
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week

2. NASA Moves Up Launch of Psyche Mission to a Metal Asteroid
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. New NASA Mission to Study Mysterious Neutron Stars, Aid in Deep Space Navigation

4. New Horizons Deploys Global Team for Rare Look at Next Flyby Target

5. The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, May 30
"Cassiopeia" usually means "Cold!" Late fall and winter are when this landmark constellation stands high overhead (seen from mid-northern latitudes). But even in late spring's warm evenings, it still lurks in view low. As twilight fades out, look for it down near the north horizon: a wide, upright W. The farther north you are the higher it'll appear, but even as far south as San Diego and Atlanta it's completely above the horizon.
Wednesday, May 31
As the stars come out, look a few degrees to the right of the Moon to pick up Regulus. Once it's dark, you'll see that the Moon is under the belly of stick-figure Leo. He's walking down toward the lower right.
Late tonight, telescope users in most of the U.S. and Canada can watch the dark limb of the Moon occult Rho Leonis, magnitude 3.8. Here's a timetable for hundreds of cities and towns. (The first third of the table gives disappearance times; the second third, reappearance times of the star on the Moon's bright limb, much harder to observe.)
The star is binary, magnitudes 4.3 and 5.4. But with its separation of only 0.1 arcsecond, the two steps of the occultation will happen only about a fifth of a second apart or less at most locations — pretty hard to distinguish.
Thursday, June 1
First-quarter Moon (exact at 8:42 a.m. EDT). The Moon is now under Leo's tail star, Denebola.
Friday, June 2
The Moon, Jupiter, and Spica form a gently curving arc this evening, as shown at right.!
When the Moon appears to pair with Jupiter on the evening of June 3rd, Jupiter will be a hefty 1,860 times farther away. (The blue 10° scale is about the width of your fist at arm's length. The Moon in these scenes is always shown three times its actual apparent size, and it is positioned for an observer near the middle of North America.)

6. ISS Sighting Opportunities
ISS For Denver:
Date
Visible
Max Height
Appears
Disappears
Tue May 30, 9:16 PM
1 min
14°
14° above N
10° above NNE
Tue May 30, 10:53 PM
< 1 min
10°
10° above N
Wed May 31, 00:30 AM
18°
18° above N
Wed May 31, 10:01 PM
Wed May 31, 11:38 PM
2 min
15°
14° above NE
Thu Jun 1, 9:09 PM
11°
11° above N
Thu Jun 1, 10:45 PM
12°
12° above N
10° above NE
Fri Jun 2, 00:20 AM
17°
10° above NW
17° 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)
Tuesday, May 30
11:30 a.m. - ISS Expedition 51 In-Flight Interviews for KMGH-TV, Denver with Flight Engineer Jack Fischer of NASA (Starts at 11:45 p.m.) (all channels)
Wednesday, May 31
11 a.m. - NASA Announcement about First Mission to Touch Sun from the University of Chicago (NTV-1 (Public))
11 a.m. - ISS Expedition 51 In-Flight Interviews for Reuters Video News and “O, the Oprah Magazine” with ISS Commander Peggy Whitson of NASA (starts at 11:10 a.m.) (NTV-3 (Media))
1 p.m. - “What’s On Board” CRS-11 Science Briefing (all channels)
4 p.m. - CRS-11 Prelaunch News Conference (all channels)
Thursday, June 1
11:30 a.m., - ISS Expedition 51/52 Change of Command Ceremony (Whitson hands over ISS command to Yurchikhin) (Starts at 11:50 a.m.) (all channels)
5 p.m. - Coverage of the SpaceX/Dragon CRS-11 Launch (Launch scheduled at 5:55 p.m. EDT) (Starts at 5:15 p.m.) (all channels)
7:30 p.m. - CRS-11 Post launch News Conference (all channels)
Friday, June 2
3 a.m. - ISS Expedition 51/Soyuz MS-03 Farewells and Hatch Closing (Novitskiy, Pesquet; hatch closing scheduled at appx. 3:35 a.m. EDT) (all channels)
6:30 a.m. - ISS Expedition 51/Soyuz MS-03 Undocking from the ISS (Novitskiy, Pesquet; undocking scheduled at 6:50 a.m. EDT) (all channels)
8:30 a.m. - ISS Expedition 51/Soyuz MS-03 Deorbit Burn and Landing Coverage (Novitskiy, Pesquet; deorbit burn scheduled at 9:17 a.m. EDT; landing near Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan scheduled at 10:09 a.m. EDT) (Starts at 8:45 a.m.) (all channels)
Tue May 30, 9:16 PM
1 min
14°
14° above N
10° above NNE
Tue May 30, 10:53 PM
< 1 min
10°
10° above N
Wed May 31, 00:30 AM
18°
18° above N
Wed May 31, 10:01 PM
Wed May 31, 11:38 PM
2 min
15°
14° above NE
Thu Jun 1, 9:09 PM
11°
11° above N
Thu Jun 1, 10:45 PM
12°
12° above N
10° above NE
Fri Jun 2, 00:20 AM
17°
10° above NW
17° above NNW
Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

8. Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar
May 30 - Aten Asteroid 2017 KR31 Near-Earth Flyby (0.065 AU)
May 30 - Comet 207P/Hill At Opposition (2.686 AU)
May 30 - Comet 137P/Shoemaker-Levy At Opposition (3.529 AU)
May 30 - Apollo Asteroid 2017 KJ27 Near-Earth Flyby (0.015 AU)
May 30 - Asteroid 8249 Gershwin Closest Approach To Earth (1.132 AU)
May 30 - Asteroid 2004 Lexell Closest Approach To Earth (1.332 AU)
May 30 - Asteroid 4758 Hermitage Closest Approach To Earth (2.244 AU)
May 30 - Asteroid 4513 Louvre Closest Approach To Earth (2.252 AU)
May 30 - Asteroid 886 Washingtonia Closest Approach To Earth (2.384 AU)
May 31 - Michibiki 2 H-2A Launch Proton-M/Briz-M P4 Launch
May 31 - Moon Occults Regulus
May 31 - Comet 216P/LINEAR At Opposition (2.325 AU)
May 31 - Comet C/2015 TQ209 (LINEAR) At Opposition (2.749 AU)
May 31 - Apollo Asteroid 2017 KW31 Near-Earth Flyby (0.003 AU)
May 31 - Comet C/2016 E1 (PANSTARRS) Perihelion (8.177 AU)
May 31 - Atira Asteroid 2013 JX28 Closest Approach To Earth (1.145 AU)
May 31 - Asteroid 4487 Pocahontas Closest Approach To Earth (2.098 AU)
Jun 01 - CRS-11/ NICER/ CREAM Falcon 9 Launch (International Space Station)
Jun 01 - QZS-2 H-2A Launch
Jun 01 - ViaSat 2/ Eutelsat 172B Ariane 5 Launch
Jun 01 - Moon Occults Asteroid 16 Psyche
Jun 01 - Comet 71P/Clark At Opposition (0.598 AU)
Jun 01 - Comet P/2009 Q4 (Boattini) At Opposition (3.648 AU)
Jun 01 - Apollo Asteroid (2007 WV4) Near-Earth Flyby (0.020 AU)
Jun 01 - Apollo Asteroid 2017 KX4 Near-Earth Flyby (0.039 AU)
Jun 01 - Amor Asteroid 3908 Nyx Closest Approach To Earth (1.478 AU)
Jun 01 - Asteroid 8088 Australia Closest Approach To Earth (1.483 AU)
Jun 02 - Soyuz MS-3 Return to Earth (International Space Station
JPL Space Calendar

9. Do Gravitational Waves Permanently Alter the Nature of Space-Time?
New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale
New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale
Food for Thought
Do Gravitational Waves Permanently Alter the Nature of Space-Time?

10. Jupiter Ring, With Orion Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI
Space Image of the Week
Jupiter Ring, With Orion
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI