1. Space News Update - October 23, 2014 - In the News Departments
Story 1:
OSIRIS-REx spacecraft completes assembly stage, begins environmental testing
Story 2:
SpaceX Sets Ambitious Falcon 9 ‘Return to Flight’ Agenda with Dual December Blastoffs
Story 3: NASA's K2 Finds Dead Star Vaporizing a Mini 'Planet'
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar
NASA-TV Highlights
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week

2. OSIRIS-REx spacecraft completes assembly stage, begins environmental testing
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. SpaceX Sets Ambitious Falcon 9 ‘Return to Flight’ Agenda with Dual December Blastoffs

4. NASA's K2 Finds Dead Star Vaporizing a Mini 'Planet'

5. The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Friday, October 23
The Venus-Jupiter-Mars assemblage at dawn finally reaches its peak on Saturday through Monday mornings, as shown above. The best views should be about an hour before your local sunrise time. Mercury, very far below them, shows best a little later in the dawn as it edges higher. See our story Venus-Jupiter Conjunction This Weekend, and pass it on to your family and friends!
Saturday, October 24
Look upper left of the waxing gibbous Moon this evening for the Great Square of Pegasus balancing on one corner.
Venus and Jupiter are in conjunction in the dawns of Sunday and Monday, 1.1° apart as seen from the time zones of the Americas.
Sky & Telescope

6. The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Sunday, October 25
The Venus-Jupiter conjunction continues at dawn Monday morning. And Venus happens to be at its greatest elongation, 46° west of the Sun.
Monday, October 26
The brightest asteroid, 4 Vesta, is visible in binoculars at magnitude 6.8 this week. It's in the tail (western) end of Cetus, well up in the southeast to south after dinnertime.
Tuesday, October 27
Full Moon (exact at 8:05 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time). The Moon rises shortly after sunset for North America. After dark look above it, by about a fist and a half at arm's length, for the two or three brightest stars of Aries lined up horizontally. The brightest, Alpha Arietis or Hamal (on the left), is an orange giant.
Sky & Telescope

7. ISS Sighting Opportunities
Date
Visible
Max Height
Appears
Disappears
Fri Oct 23, 6:30 PM
1 min
25°
25° above ESE
11° above ESE
Fri Oct 23, 8:04 PM
2 min
15°
14° above WSW
12° above SSW
Sat Oct 24, 7:12 PM
3 min
29°
29° above SW
10° above SSE
Mon Oct 26, 7:03 PM
< 1 min
11°
11° above SW
10° above SSW
Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

8. 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)
10 p.m., Friday, October 23 - Replay of NASA Television Presents “Hunting Planets: Celebrating 20 Years of Exoplanets” – a Carnegie Institution for Science Program (all channels)
12 p.m., Saturday, October 24 - Replay of NASA Television Presents “Hunting Planets: Celebrating 20 Years of Exoplanets” – a Carnegie Institution for Science Program (all channels)
9 p.m., Saturday, October 24 - Replay of NASA Television Presents “Hunting Planets: Celebrating 20 Years of Exoplanets” – a Carnegie Institution for Science Program (all channels)
Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

9. Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar
Oct 23 - Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke At Opposition (2.030 AU)
Oct 23 - Comet 326P/Hill Perihelion (2.780 AU)
Oct 23 - Asteroid 203 Pompeja Closest Approach To Earth (1.588 AU)
Oct 23 - Asteroid 2700 Baikonur Closest Approach To Earth (1.843 AU)
Oct 23 - Neptune Trojan 2001 QR322 At Opposition ( AU)
Oct 23 - Kuiper Belt Object (2002 TX300) At Opposition ( AU)
Oct th Anniversary (1975), Venera 10, Venus Orbit Insertion (USSR Venus Orbiter/Lander)
Oct 24 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #427 (OTM-427)
Oct 24 - Comet 61P/Shajn-Schaldach Closest Approach To Earth (1.135 AU)
Oct 24 - Comet 202P/Scotti At Opposition (1.881 AU)
Oct 24 - Asteroid 2991 Bilbo Closest Approach To Earth (1.363 AU)
Oct 24 - Asteroid Howard Closest Approach To Earth (2.522 AU)
Oct 24 - Workshop: Toys in Space and Mass vs. Weight, Pasadena, California
Oct th Anniversary (1960), Nedelin Disater - Launch Pad Explosion, Over 100 People Killed
Oct 25 - European Summer Time Ends - Set Clock Back 1 Hour (European Union)
Oct 25 - Venus Passes 1.0 Degrees From Jupiter
Oct 25 - Comet 22P/Kopff Perihelion (1.558 AU)
Oct 25 - Asteroid 29 Amphitrite At Opposition (8.5 Magnitude)
Oct 25 - Apollo Asteroid 1998 XN2 Near-Earth Flyby (0.078 AU)
Oct 25 - Asteroid 9000 Hal Closest Approach To Earth (1.166 AU)
Oct 25 - Asteroid Triathlon Closest Approach To Earth (1.845 AU)
Oct 25 - Asteroid Thumper Closest Approach To Earth (1.881 AU)
Oct th Anniversary (1975), Venera 10, Venus Landing (USSR Venus Orbiter/Lander)
Oct 25 - David Schramm's 70th Birthday (1945)
Oct 25 - Rusty Schweikart's 80th Birthday (1935)
Oct 26 - Venus At Its Greatest Western Elongation (46 Degrees)
Oct 26 - Moon Occults Uranus
Oct 26 - Comet C/2014 S2 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (1.870 AU)
Oct 26 - Comet P/2005 L1 (McNaught) Closest Approach To Earth (3.133 AU)
Oct 26 - Comet 91P/Russell At Opposition (3.856 AU)
Oct 26 - Asteroid 1541 Estonia Closest Approach To Earth (1.956 AU)
Oct 26 - Phobos and Deimos Webcast: Origin of Phobos - Capture
Oct 26 - Gennadi Strekalov's 75th Birthday (1940)
Oct 27 - Comet 51P/Harrington At Opposition (0.859 AU)
Oct 27 - [Oct 17] Apollo Asteroid 2015 TL238 Near-Earth Flyby (0.034 AU)
Oct 27 - Apollo Asteroid 2015 TL20 Near-Earth Flyby (0.063 AU)
Oct 27 - Apollo Asteroid 2015 TF Near-Earth Flyby (0.077 AU)
Oct 27 - Kuiper Belt Object (1992 QB1) At Opposition ( AU)
Oct 27 - Oleg Kotov's 50th Birthday (1965)
Oct 27 - Gustave Solomon's 85th Birthday (1930)
JPL Space Calendar

10. A possible – not likely – alien megastructure
Food for Thought
A possible – not likely – alien megastructure

11. Daily Views of Earth Available on New NASA Website
Space Image of the Week
Daily Views of Earth Available on New NASA Website