1. Space News Update - August 8, 2017 - In the News Departments Story 1:
Twilight Observations Reveal Huge Storm on Neptune
Story 2:
Astronomers Identify Oldest Known Asteroid Family
Story 3: A Tale of Three Stellar Cities
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities
NASA-TV Highlights
Space Calendar
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week

2. Twilight Observations Reveal Huge Storm on Neptune
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. Astronomers Identify Oldest Known Asteroid Family

4. A Tale of Three Stellar Cities

5. The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, August 8
The Big Dipper hangs diagonally in the northwest after dusk. From its midpoint, look to the right to find Polaris (not very bright) glimmering due north as always.
Polaris is the handle-end of the Little Dipper. The only other parts of the Little Dipper that are even modestly bright — especially through the moonlight! — are the two stars forming the outer end of its bowl. On August evenings you'll find them to Polaris's upper left, by about a fist and a half at arm's length. They're called the Guardians of the Pole, since they circle around Polaris throughout the night and throughout the year.
Wednesday, August 9
The waning gibbous Moon rises in the east at about the end of twilight. Look to its upper left for the Great Square of Pegasus, balancing on one corner.
The radiant of the Perseid meteor shower is low in the northeastern sky by 11 p.m. for observers at mid-northern latitudes. Sky & Telescope diagram
Thursday, August 10
The W of Cassiopeia, tilted only a little, is nicely up in the northeast these evenings. Its right-hand side is the brightest. Watch it rise higher and tilt further through the night and through the next few months.
Friday, August 11
The Perseid meteor shower should be at its maximum late tonight and late tomorrow night. The nearly last-quarter Moon will light the sky late at night. But the brightest meteors will still shine through the moonlight, and there's a prediction out that this year's underlying shower may be somewhat richer than usual. You may see one every couple minutes on average, depending on the brightness of your sky.
Sky & Telescope

6. ISS Sighting Opportunities
ISS For Denver:
Date
Visible
Max Height
Appears
Disappears
Tue Aug 8, 8:27 PM
4 min
17°
12° above NNW
10° above ENE
Tue Aug 8, 10:04 PM
1 min
60°
29° above NW
60° above WNW
Wed Aug 9, 9:12 PM
3 min
50°
27° above NNW
24° above E
Wed Aug 9, 10:47 PM
< 1 min
11°
11° above W
Thu Aug 10, 9:55 PM
2 min
30°
16° above W
30° above SW
Fri Aug 11, 9:04 PM
63°
34° above WNW
22° above SE
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)
Wednesday, August 9
10 a.m. - ISS Expedition 52 In-Flight Media Event with KMA Radio, Shenandoah, IA and Space.com and NASA Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson (starts at 10:05 a.m.) (all channels)
Thursday, August 10
12:30 p.m. - ISS Expedition 52 In-Flight Event for a NASA JSC Podcast with NASA Flight Engineer Jack Fischer (all channels)
Friday, August 11
10 a.m. - ISS Expedition 52 In-Flight Interview for a JSC Facebook Live and NASA Flight Engineer Randy Bresnik (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
Aug 08 - Apollo Asteroid 2003 OT13 Near-Earth Flyby (0.093 AU)
Aug 08 - Aten Asteroid (2001 QP153) Near-Earth Flyby (0.095 AU)
Aug 08 - Asteroid Douglasadams Closest Approach To Earth (1.162 AU)
Aug 08 - Asteroid 3673 Levy Closest Approach To Earth (1.405 AU)
Aug 08 - Asteroid Haiku Closest Approach To Earth (1.412 AU)
Aug Conference: From Chandra to Lynx - Taking the Sharpest X-ray Vision Fainter and Farther, Cambridge, MA
Aug Conference: The Early History of Planetary Systems and Habitable Planets, Tartu, Estonia
Aug Meeting: Review of Planetary Protection Policy Development Processes, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Aug Workshop: Unlocking the Climate Record Stored within Mars' Polar Layered Deposits, Pasadena, California
Aug 09 - Moon Occults Neptune
Aug 09 - Comet 198P/ODAS Closest Approach To Earth (2.783 AU)
Aug 09 - Asteroid 6227 Alanrubin Closest Approach To Earth (1.809 AU)
Aug 09 - International Space Station Stakeholder Workshop, Washington DC
Aug 09 - Colloquium: KM3NeT - The Next Generation Neutrino Telescope, Sydney, Australia
Aug th Planetary Crater Consortium Meeting, Flagstaff, Arizona
Aug th World Science Fiction Convention (WORLDCON 75), Helsinki, Finland
Aug 10 - Comet 73P-AL/Schwassmann-Wachmann Closest Approach To Earth (0.277 AU)
Aug 10 - Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma At Opposition (3.978 AU)
Aug 10 - Amor Asteroid 2017 OF7 Near-Earth Flyby (0.049 AU)
Aug 10 - Apollo Asteroid 2015 XO128 Near-Earth Flyby (0.095 AU)
Aug 10 - Asteroid 945 Barcelona Closest Approach To Earth (2.029 AU)
Aug 10 - Asteroid Bardot Closest Approach To Earth (2.055 AU)
Aug 10 - Lecture: Black Holes' Last Tango in Space - LIGO and the Dawn of Gravitational-wave Astronomy, Kamuela, Hawaii
Aug Regional Workshop on Himalayan GEOSS, Kathmandu, Nepal
Aug 11 - Michibiki 3 (QZS-3) H-2A Launch
JPL Space Calendar

9. UCI Celestial Census Indicates That Black Holes Pervade the Universe
New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale
New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale
Food for Thought
UCI Celestial Census Indicates That Black Holes Pervade the Universe

10. Image Credit & Copyright: Anis Abdul
Space Image of the Week
The Dust Monster in IC 1396
Image Credit & Copyright: Anis Abdul