1. Space News Update - December 2, 2016 - In the News Departments
Story 1:
Russian space station cargo freighter lost on launch
Story 2:
First Views of Mars Show Potential for ESA’s New Orbiter
Story 3: First signs of weird quantum property of empty space?
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar
NASA-TV Highlights
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week

2. Russian space station cargo freighter lost on launch
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. First Views of Mars Show Potential for ESA’s New Orbiter

4. First signs of weird quantum property of empty space?

5. The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Friday, December 2
• For the next two evenings, the thickening crescent Moon poses with bright Venus in the southwest at dusk. This evening Venus and the Moon are 7° or 8° apart at the time of twilight for the Americas, with the Moon on the right, as shown here.
Saturday, December 3
• Now the Moon shines above Venus during and after dusk, as shown below. They're once again about 7° apart for the Americas. Although they may look like they're keeping each other company, Venus is currently 370 times more distant than the Moon.
Sunday, December 4
• The Moon shines about 5° or 6° to the right of little orange Mars in early evening, with Venus blazing far to their lower right. Farther to the Moon's lower left, you'll find twinkly Fomalhaut.
Monday, December 5
• At nightfall, look lower right of the Moon for Mars and much farther lower right from there for bright Venus. Meanwhile, well to the Moon's lower left is Fomalhaut.
Tuesday, December 6
• In late twilight, the Moon, Mars, and Venus form a long diagonal line in the south to southwest. Well below the Moon twinkles Fomalhaut.
Sky & Telescope

6. ISS Sighting Opportunities
ISS For Denver:
Date
Visible
Max Height
Appears
Disappears
Fri Dec 2, 6:09 PM
2 min
44°
25° above W
34° above N
Sat Dec 3, 5:17 PM
4 min
83°
36° above WSW
11° above NE
Sat Dec 3, 6:53 PM
< 1 min
14°
11° above WNW
14° above NW
Sun Dec 4, 6:01 PM
3 min
23°
15° above WNW
19° above N
Mon Dec 5, 5:10 PM
35°
23° above W
10° above NE
Mon Dec 5, 6:47 PM
10°
10° above NW
Tue Dec 6, 5:54 PM
15°
13° above N
Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

7. Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website
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)
9 a.m., 4 p.m., 8 p.m., Saturday, December 3 - Replay of the NASA Education Event at the Langley Research Center (Recorded 12/1/16) (all channels)
10 a.m., 5 p.m., 9 p.m., Saturday, December 3 - Replay of the ISS Expedition Crew (Yurchikhin, Fischer) News Conference (Recorded 11/30/16 (all channels)
8 a.m., 5 p.m., 9 p.m., Sunday, December 4 - Replay of the NASA Education Event at the Langley Research Center (Recorded 12/1/16) (all channels)
9 a.m., 6 p.m., 10 p.m., Sunday, December 4 - Replay of the ISS Expedition Crew (Yurchikhin, Fischer) News Conference (Recorded 11/30/16) (all channels)
8:30 a.m., Tuesday, December 6 - ISS Expedition 50 In-Flight Event for ESA with the French Academy of Sciences in Paris and Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency (NTV-1 with English interpretation; NTV-3 in native language) (all channels)
Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

8. Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar
Dec 02 - Comet 56P/Slaughter-Burnham At Opposition (1.746 AU)
Dec 02 - Comet 246P/NEAT At Opposition (4.180 AU)
Dec 02 - Asteroid Calgary Closest Approach To Earth (1.376 AU)
Dec 02 - Asteroid Peru Closest Approach To Earth (1.533 AU)
Dec 02 - Asteroid Kimrobinson Closest Approach To Earth (1.943 AU)
Dec 02 - Asteroid Spirit Closest Approach To Earth (2.202 AU)
Dec 02 - Asteroid Rigaux Closest Approach To Earth (2.364 AU)
Dec th Anniversary (1971), Mars 3, Mars Orbit Insertion
Dec 03 - Asteroid 1833 Shmakova Occults HIP  (5.8 Magnitude Star)
Dec 03 - [Dec 02] Apollo Asteroid 2016 WU9 Near-Earth Flyby (0.047 AU)
Dec 03 - Apollo Asteroid 2007 VM184 Near-Earth Flyby (0.074 AU)
Dec 03 - Asteroid Motorhead Closest Approach To Earth (1.719 AU)
Dec 03 - Asteroid Arvidson Closest Approach To Earth (1.845 AU)
Dec 03 - Kuiper Belt Object (2005 RM43) At Opposition ( AU)
Dec 04 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #467 (OTM-467)
Dec 04 - Cassini, Distant Flyby of Methone & Pan
Dec 04 - Comet 10P/Tempel Closest Approach To Earth (2.441 AU)
Dec 04 - Comet C/2016 B1 (NEOWISE) Perihelion (3.206 AU)
Dec 04 - Comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina) At Opposition (4.280 AU)
Dec 04 - Asteroid (1999 VA5) Occults HIP 20533 (6.3 Magnitude Star)
Dec 04 - Aten Asteroid 2005 WS3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.065 AU)
Dec 04 - Asteroid 193 Ambrosia Closest Approach To Earth (0.890 AU)
Dec 04 - Asteroid 4763 Ride Closest Approach To Earth (1.805 AU)
Dec 04 - Asteroid 1832 Mrkos Closest Approach To Earth (2.017 AU)
Dec 04 - Asteroid Chesley Closest Approach To Earth (2.098 AU)
Dec th Anniversary (1996), Mars Pathfinder Launch
Dec 04 - Wilhelm Tempel's 195th Birthday (1821)
Dec 05 - [Nov 29] Gokturk 1A Vega Launch
Dec 05 - [Nov 28] Apollo Asteroid 2016 WB8 Near-Earth Flyby (0.009 AU)
Dec 05 - Aten Asteroid 2010 TK7 (Earth Trojan) Closest Approach To Earth (0.200 AU)
Dec 05 - Apollo Asteroid Tjelvar Closest Approach To Earth (0.548 AU)
Dec 05 - Centaur Object 8405 Asbolus At Opposition ( AU)
Dec th Anniversary (2001), STS-108 Launch (Space Shuttle Endeavour, International Space Station)
Dec 06 - Moon Occults Neptune
Dec 06 - Comet 227P/Catalina-LINEAR Closest Approach To Earth (1.517 AU)
Dec 06 - [Nov 26] Apollo Asteroid 2016 WD7 Near-Earth Flyby (0.011 AU)
Dec 06 - [Dec 02] Apollo Asteroid 2016 WH10 Near-Earth Flyby (0.015 AU)
Dec 06 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 TD18 Near-Earth Flyby (0.046 AU)
Dec 06 - Amor Asteroid 2016 UN36 Near-Earth Flyby (0.054 AU)
Dec 06 - Asteroid Santiago Closest Approach To Earth (1.173 AU)
Dec 06 - Asteroid 9885 Linux Closest Approach To Earth (1.229 AU)
Dec 06 - Asteroid Moron Closest Approach To Earth (1.578 AU)
Dec 06 - Asteroid Okina-Ouna Closest Approach To Earth (1.966 AU)
Dec 06 - Asteroid Jeffgrossman Closest Approach To Earth (2.138 AU)
Dec 06 - Niccolo Zucchi's 430th Birthday (1586)
JPL Space Calendar

9. Culprit Found in Blurry Astronaut Vision Mystery
Food for Thought
Culprit Found in Blurry Astronaut Vision Mystery
Magnetic-resonance (MR) image of an astronauts eye before and after a long-duration space flight. Credit: RSNA

10. Credit: NASA, ESA/Hubble, A. Fabian
Space Image of the Week
Dusty filaments in NGC 4696
Credit: NASA, ESA/Hubble, A. Fabian