1. Space News Update - January 6, 2017 - In the News Departments Story 1:
Hubble Provides Interstellar Road Map for Voyagers’ Galactic Trek
Story 2:
Arecibo Observatory Sets New Standard for Universal Constant
Story 3: NASA Study Finds Solar Storms Could Spark Soils at Moon's Poles
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar
NASA-TV Highlights
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week

2. Hubble Provides Interstellar Road Map for Voyagers’ Galactic Trek
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. Arecibo Observatory Sets New Standard for Universal Constant

4. NASA Study Finds Solar Storms Could Spark Soils at Moon's Poles

5. The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Friday, January 6
• Look above the Moon this evening for the two or three brightest stars of Aries.
• This is the time of the year when Cassiopeia passes highest, just north of overhead, right after dark. When it's in this position, Cassiopeia is a flattened letter M.
Saturday, January 7
• Aldebaran shines well to the left of the waxing gibbous Moon this evening. Upper right of Aldebaran, spot the Pleiades through the moonlight.
• In this coldest time of the year, the dim Little Dipper hangs straight down from Polaris after dinnertime — as if, per Leslie Peltier, from a nail on the cold north wall of the sky.
• The Big Dipper, meanwhile, is creeping up in the north-northeast. Its handle is very low and its bowl is to the upper right.
• The deep, flat-bottomed eclipsing binary star RW Tauri drops from 8th to 12th magnitude and back this evening (centered on 9:30 p.m. EST). See the observing project in the January Sky & Telescope, page 48.
Sunday, January 8
• The waxing gibbous Moon shines below the Pleiades and left of Aldebaran this evening.
• Late tonight the dark limb of the Moon occults 4th-magnitude Gamma Tauri for most of western and central North America; map and timetables.
Monday, January 9
• Now Aldebaran shines to the Moon's lower left during evening for North America. The Moon occults Aldebaran for Arabia, India, China, and Japan; map and timetables.
Tuesday, January 10
• Algol shines at minimum light, magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1, for a couple hours centered on 9:19 p.m. EST (6:19 p.m. PST).
Sky & Telescope

6. ISS Sighting Opportunities
ISS For Denver:
Date
Visible
Max Height
Appears
Disappears
Fri Jan 6, 5:33 AM
< 1 min
12°
12° above NNE
10° above NNE
Sat Jan 7, 6:15 AM
1 min
10°
10° above NNW
10° above N
Mon Jan 9, 6:09 AM
Tue Jan 10, 6:52 AM
3 min
14°
10° above NE
Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

7. 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)
5:30 a.m., Friday, January 6 - Coverage of ISS Expedition 50 U.S. EVA # 38 (Kimbrough and Whitson; spacewalk scheduled to begin at 7:05 a.m. ET; will last appx. 6 ½ hours) (all channels)
9 a.m., Tuesday, January 10 - ISS Expedition 50 In-Flight Educational Event with the Lovett School in Atlanta and ISS Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA (all channels)
Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

8. Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar
Jan 06 -[Jan 06] CZ-3B Launch, Successful
Jan 06 - Comet 73P-U/Schwassmann-Wachmann Closest Approach To Earth (1.931 AU)
Jan 06 - Comet 127P/Holt-Olmstead At Opposition (1.963 AU)
Jan 06 - Comet 74P/Smirnova-Chernykh At Opposition (2.789 AU)
Jan 06 - Comet 249P/LINEAR At Opposition (3.100 AU)
Jan 06 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 XJ2 Near-Earth Flyby (0.071 AU)
Jan 06 - Asteroid 5634 Victorborge Closest Approach To Earth (1.342 AU)
Jan 06 - Asteroid 896 Sphinx Closest Approach To Earth (1.621 AU)
Jan 06 - Michael Foale's 60th Birthday (1957)
Jan 07 - Comet P/2015 TO19 (Lemmon-PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (2.448 AU)
Jan 07 - Comet 197P/LINEAR At Opposition (2.623 AU)
Jan 07 - Apollo Asteroid (1999 JV6) Near-Earth Flyby (0.069 AU)
Jan 08 -[Jan 06] Iridium NEXT 1-10 Falcon 9 Launch
Jan 08 - Comet 328P/LONEOS-Tucker Closest Approach To Earth (2.647 AU)
Jan 08 - Comet 326P/Hill At Opposition (2.652 AU)
Jan 08 - Comet P/2015 P4 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (2.734 AU)
Jan 08 - Comet 105P/Singer Brewster At Opposition (2.998 AU)
Jan 08 - Comet 73P-S/Schwassmann-Wachmann At Opposition (3.713 AU)
Jan 08 - Comet 308P/Lagerkvist-Carsenty At Opposition (4.156 AU)
Jan 08 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 YK Near-Earth Flyby (0.035 AU)
Jan 08 - Asteroid Springsteen Closest Approach To Earth (1.203 AU)
Jan 08 - Asteroid 21 Lutetia Closest Approach To Earth (1.729 AU)
Jan 08 - Asteroid Alvanclark Closest Approach To Earth (1.861 AU)
Jan 08 - Apollo Asteroid Hypnos Closest Approach To Earth (3.698 AU)
Jan th Anniversary (1992), Sakigake, Earth Flyby
Jan 08 - Stephen Hawking's 75th Birthday (1942)
Jan 08 - Johannes Fabricius' 430th Birthday (1587)
Jan 09 - Cassini, Distant Flyby of Atlas, Ephimetheus, Daphnis & Prometheus
Jan 09 - Comet 74P/Smirnova-Chernykh Closest Approach To Earth (2.788 AU)
Jan 09 - Asteroid 474 Prudentia Occults HIP 69773 (6.5 Magnitude Star)
Jan 09 - Asteroid (2000 AM203) Occults HIP 48341 (6.0 Magnitude Star)
Jan 09 - Asteroid 1198 Atlantis Closest Approach To Earth (1.614 AU)
Jan 10 - Comet 73P-U/Schwassmann-Wachmann Perihelion (0.981 AU)
Jan 10 - Comet P/2005 JN (Spacewatch) Closest Approach To Earth (2.818 AU)
Jan 10 - Comet 73P-Y/Schwassmann-Wachmann At Opposition (3.911 AU)
Jan 10 - Asteroid 3350 Scobee Closest Approach To Earth (1.702 AU)
Jan 10 - Asteroid 1024 Hale Closest Approach To Earth (2.018 AU)
Jan 10 - Eugene Delporte's 135th Birthday (1882)
JPL Space Calendar

9. Commercial Crew's Role in Path to Mars
Food for Thought
Commercial Crew's Role in Path to Mars

10. Space Image of the Week
Clouds of Andromeda  Image Credit & Copyright: Rogelio Bernal Andreo (Deep Sky Colors)