1. Space News Update - August 4, 2017 - In the News Departments Story 1:
Standard Model of the Universe Withstands Most Precise Test by Dark Energy Survey
Story 2:
New Horizons' Next Target Just Got a Lot More Interesting
Story 3: Hubble Detects Exoplanet with Glowing Water Atmosphere
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities
NASA-TV Highlights
Space Calendar
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week

2. Standard Model of the Universe Withstands Most Precise Test by Dark Energy Survey
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 Horizons' Next Target Just Got a Lot More Interesting

4. Hubble Detects Exoplanet with Glowing Water Atmosphere

5. The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Friday, August 4
• As soon as it's dark, look lower right of the bright Moon for the Teapot of Sagittarius. It's about the size of your fist at arm's length, tilting to pour to the right, as shown here.
Saturday, August 5
• The Moon shines low in the southeast as the stars come out. How early can you spot Altair, three fists at arm's length to the Moon's upper left? How about brighter Vega, now nearing the zenith from the east?
Sunday, August 6
• Bright Vega passes closest to overhead around 10 or 11 p.m., depending on how far east or west you are in your time zone. How closely it misses your zenith depends on how far north or south you are. It passes right through your zenith if you're at latitude 39° north (Washington DC, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Lake Tahoe). How closely can you judge this just by looking?
Monday, August 7
• Full Moon (exact at 2:11 p.m. EDT). The Moon rises around sunset. Once it's dark, can you see through the moonlight that
it's in dim Capricornus? That's about where the full Moon at this time of year always resides.
• A shallow partial eclipse of the Moon is visible tonight from eastern Europe, most of Africa and Asia, and Australia. Details. By no coincidence, we're two weeks — half a lunar orbit — from the total eclipse of the Sun on August 21st.
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.
Sky & Telescope

6. ISS Sighting Opportunities
ISS For Denver:
Date
Visible
Max Height
Appears
Disappears
Fri Aug 4, 8:44 PM
1 min
10°
10° above N
10° above NNE
Fri Aug 4, 10:20 PM
22°
17° above N
22° above NNE
Sat Aug 5, 9:28 PM
3 min
16°
12° above NNW
11° above ENE
Sat Aug 5, 11:03 PM
< 1 min
19°
16° above NW
19° above NW
Sun Aug 6, 8:35 PM
12°
10° above NNW
10° above NE
Sun Aug 6, 10:12 PM
39°
21° above NNW
39° above NNE
Mon Aug 7, 9:19 PM
25°
16° above NNW
17° above ENE
Mon Aug 7, 10:55 PM
17°
10° above WNW
17° above WNW
Tue Aug 8, 8:27 PM
4 min
10° above ENE
Tue Aug 8, 10:04 PM
60°
29° above NW
60° above WNW
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)
2 p.m., Friday, August 4 - Replay of SpaceCast Weekly (all channels)
6 p.m., Friday, August 4 - Replay of SpaceCast Weekly (all channels)
9 p.m., Friday, August 4 - Replay of SpaceCast Weekly (all channels)
TBD, Monday, August 7 - ISS Expedition 52 In-Flight Educational Event with the Boy Scouts of the Bay Area in Pleasant Hill, California and NASA Flight Engineer Jack Fischer (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 04 - [Jul 28] 10th Anniversary (2007), Phoenix Launch (Mars Lander)
Aug 04 - Comet 2P/Encke At Opposition (1.288 AU)
Aug 04 - Apollo Asteroid 2011 CN22 Near-Earth Flyby (0.040 AU)
Aug 04 - Asteroid Jenniferharris Closest Approach To Earth (1.216 AU)
Aug 04 - Asteroid 4970 Druyan Closest Approach To Earth (1.484 AU)
Aug 04 - Asteroid 216 Kleopatra Closest Approach To Earth (1.670 AU)
Aug 04 - Asteroid 6676 Monet Closest Approach To Earth (2.626 AU)
Aug 05 - [Aug 03] 5th Anniversary (2012), Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), Mars Landing
Aug 05 - Comet 339P/Gibbs Closest Approach To Earth (2.688 AU)
Aug 05 - Comet 116P/Wild Closest Approach To Earth (2.866 AU)
Aug 05 - [Aug 01] Apollo Asteroid 2017 OR19 Near-Earth Flyby (0.059 AU)
Aug 05 - Kuiper Belt Object 2008 OG19 At Opposition ( AU)
Aug 05 - Brian Marsden's 80th Birthday (1937)
Aug 05 - Niels Abel's 215th Birthday (1802)
Aug  Tehran Meeting on Cosmology, Tehran, Iran
Aug 06 - Southern Iota Aquarids Meteor Shower Peak
Aug 06 - Comet 189P/NEAT Perihelion (1.213 AU)
Aug 06 - Comet 353P/McNaught Closest Approach To Earth (1.461 AU)
Aug 06 - Comet 259P/Garradd Perihelion (1.809 AU)
Aug 06 - Comet 171P/Spahr At Opposition (3.037 AU)
Aug 06 - Asteroid 5247 Krylov Occults HIP  (6.1 Magnitude Star)
Aug 06 - [Jul 29] Apollo Asteroid 2017 NB7 Near-Earth Flyby (0.017 AU)
Aug 06 - [Jul 29] Apollo Asteroid 2017 OJ7 Near-Earth Flyby (0.078 AU)
Aug 06 - Asteroid 1258 Sicilia Closest Approach To Earth (2.108 AU)
Aug 06 - Sylvain Arend's 115th Birthday (1902)
Aug 06 - Johann Bernoulli's 350th Birthday (1667)
Aug 07 - [Aug 02] Partial Lunar Eclipse
Aug 07 - Cassini, Distant Flyby of Janus, Atlas & Epimetheus
Aug 07 - Comet 236P/LINEAR At Opposition (1.118 AU)
Aug 07 - Comet C/2017 D2 (Barros) Closest Approach To Earth (1.506 AU)
Aug 07 - Apollo Asteroid 1991 VG Near-Earth Flyby (0.057 AU)
Aug 07 - [Aug 02] Amor Asteroid 2017 OE20 Near-Earth Flyby (0.064 AU)
JPL Space Calendar

9. Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar
Aug 07 - Apollo Asteroid 1991 VG Near-Earth Flyby (0.057 AU)
Aug 07 - [Aug 02] Amor Asteroid 2017 OE20 Near-Earth Flyby (0.064 AU)
Aug 07 - Apollo Asteroid 2007 PS9 Near-Earth Flyby (0.077 AU)
Aug 07 - [Jul 29] Apollo Asteroid 2017 OL7 Near-Earth Flyby (0.085 AU)
Aug 07 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 YR Near-Earth Flyby (0.095 AU)
Aug 07 - Asteroid 3672 Stevedberg Closest Approach To Earth (1.171 AU)
Aug 07 - Asteroid 8664 Grigorijrichters Closest Approach To Earth (1.279 AU)
Aug 07 - Asteroid 3351 Smith Closest Approach To Earth (1.527 AU)
Aug 07 - Asteroid 5553 Chodas Closest Approach To Earth (2.217 AU)
Aug th Anniversary (1997), STS-85 Launch (Space Shuttle Discovery, CRISTA-SPAS)
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 th Anniversary (2007), STS-118 Launch (Space Shuttle Endeavour, International Space Station)
Aug th Anniversary (1977), Salyut 5 Space Station Burnup
Aug 08 - Ferdinand Quenisset's 145th Birthday (1872)
JPL Space Calendar

10. Five Years Ago and 154 Million Miles Away: Touchdown!
New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale
New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale
Food for Thought
Five Years Ago and 154 Million Miles Away: Touchdown!

11. Space Image of the Week
North North Temperate Zone Little Red Spot  Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, SwRI, MSSS; Processing: Gerald Eichstadt, Damian Peach