1. Space News Update - October 2, 2014 - In the News Departments Story 1:
Charon takes center stage in new batch of New Horizons images
Story 2:
Scientists Tantalized as Dawn Yields Global Mineral and Topographic Maps of Ceres
Story 3: Rosetta's First Peek at the Comet's Dark Side
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar
NASA-TV Highlights
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week

2. Charon takes center stage in new batch of New Horizons images
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. Scientists Tantalized as Dawn Yields Global Mineral and Topographic Maps of Ceres

4. Rosetta's First Peek at the Comet's Dark Side

5. The Night Sky Friday, October 2
After dark, look just above the northeast horizon — far below Cassiopeia — for bright Capella on the rise. How soon Capella rises, and how high you'll find it, depend on your latitude. The farther north you are, the sooner and higher.
Saturday, October 3
By about 11 or midnight, the waning Moon rises in the east-northeast. To its right in the east, Orion is also rising. The first bright star you hit looking to the right from the Moon is Betelgeuse: Orion's orange shoulder.
Sunday, October 4
Last-quarter Moon (exact at 5:06 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time). The Moon rises around midnight tonight, just beneath the horizontal stick figures of Gemini (for North America).
Monday, October 5
Look low in the southeast at nightfall for Fomalhaut coming up. It passes highest in the south about 11 p.m.
Tuesday, October 6
Vesta, the brightest asteroid, is still magnitude 6.2 a week past its opposition. It's easy in binoculars in western Cetus, especially now that the Moon has gone. Use the finder charts in the September Sky & Telescope, pages 48–49.
Uranus, magnitude 5.7, is also nearby! Finder chart.
Sky & Telescope

6. ISS Sighting Opportunities
Date
Visible
Max Height
Appears
Disappears
Fri Oct 2, 8:38 PM
1 min
23°
10 above SW
23 above SW
Sat Oct 3, 7:46 PM
4 min
46°
11 above SSW
32 above E
Sun Oct 4, 6:58 PM
2 min
20°
20 above ESE
10 above ENE
Sun Oct 4, 8:32 PM
36°
24 above W
36 above NNW
Mon Oct 5, 7:39 PM
66°
23 above WSW
18 above NE
Tue Oct 6, 8:25 PM
17 above NW
19 above N
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)
10 a.m., Monday, October 5 - ISS Expedition 45 In-Flight Educational Event with the Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax, Virginia and ISS Commander Scott Kelly with Flight Engineers Kjell Lindgren of NASA and Kimiya Yui of JAXA (starts at 10:20 p.m.) (all channels)
Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

8. Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar
Oct 02 - [Sep 26] MEXSAT 2 (Morelos 3) Atlas 5 Launch
Oct 02 - Moon Occults Aldebaran
Oct 02 - Comet 61P/Shajn-Schaldach Perihelion (2.114 AU)
Oct 02 - Asteroid 15 Eunomia At Opposition (7.4 Magnitude)
Oct 02 - Apollo Asteroid 2000 SM10 Near-Earth Flyby (0.030 AU)
Oct 02 - Asteroid 6563 Steinheim Closest Approach To Earth (1.281 AU)
Oct 02 - Asteroid 8275 Inca Closest Approach To Earth (1.349 AU)
Oct 02 - Giuseppe (Bepi) Colombo's 95th Birthday (1920)
Oct 03 - Comet 88P/Howell Closest Approach To Earth (1.337 AU)
Oct 03 - Apollo Asteroid 2015 SR Near-Earth Flyby (0.038 AU)
Oct 03 - Apollo Asteroid 2012 CL19 Near-Earth Flyby (0.045 AU)
Oct 03 - Apollo Asteroid 2009 DB43 Near-Earth Flyby (0.070 AU)
Oct th Anniversary (1985), STS-51-J Launch (Space Shuttle Atlantis, DOD)
Oct 03 - Walter Alvarez's 75th Birthday (1940)
Oct 03 - Charles Duke's 80th Birthday (1935)
Oct 04 - Soyuz TMA-18M Soyuz-FG Launch (International Space Station)
Oct 04 - Comet C/2014 W5 (Lemmon-PANSTARRS) At Opposition (2.108 AU)
Oct 04 - Comet 33P/Daniel Closest Approach To Earth (2.319 AU)
Oct 04 - Comet 117P/Helin-Roman-Alu Closest Approach To Earth (2.940 AU)
Oct 04 - Apollo Asteroid 2015 FS332 Near Earth Flyby (0.048 AU)
Oct 04 - Asteroid Kriegh Closest Approach To Earth (1.313 AU)
Oct 04 - Asteroid 1284 Latvia Closest Approach To Earth (1.340 AU)
Oct 04 - Asteroid Rafaelnadal Closest Approach To Earth (1.637 AU)
Oct 04 - Viktor Knorre's 175th Birthday (1840)
Oct 04 - Eustachio Divini's 405th Birthday (1610)
Oct [Sep 27] World Space Week
Oct 05 - Jilin 1A/1B/1C CZ-2D Launch
Oct 05 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #423 (OTM-423)
Oct 05 - Amor Asteroid 2009 TK Near-Earth Flyby (0.045 AU)
Oct 05 - Pavel Popovich's 85th Birthday (1930)
Oct 05 - Paul Wild's 90th Birthday (1925)
Oct 06 - Comet 205P-B/Giacobini Perihelion (1.540 AU)
Oct 06 - Kuiper Belt Object 2008 ST291 At Opposition ( AU)
Oct th Anniversary (1990), STS-41 Launch (Space Shuttle Discovery, Ulysses Deployment)
Oct 06 - David Brin's 65th Birthday (1950)
Oct 06 - Jorgen Christensen-Dalsgaard's 65th Birthday (1950)
Oct 06 - Jesse Ramsden's 280th Birthday (1735)
JPL Space Calendar

9. Rock samples from Western US teach how to hunt for life on Mars
Food for Thought
Rock samples from Western US teach how to hunt for life on Mars

10. Hubble Zooms in on the Veil Nebula
Space Image of the Week
Hubble Zooms in on the Veil Nebula