1. Space News Update - December 19, 2017 - In the News Departments
Story 1:
NASA's Juno Probes the Depths of Jupiter's Great Red Spot
Story 2:
How a Student Satellite Solved a Major Space Mystery
Story 3: Bright Areas on Ceres Suggest Geologic Activity
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities
NASA-TV Highlights
Space Calendar
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week

2. NASA's Juno Probes the Depths of Jupiter's Great Red Spot
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. How a Student Satellite Solved a Major Space Mystery

4. Bright Areas on Ceres Suggest Geologic Activity

5. The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, December 19
The five brightest stars of Cassiopeia are usually called a W. At dusk the W stands nearly on end very high in the northeast. It soon turns over to become a flattened M even higher in the north.
Wednesday, December 20
This is the time of year when M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, passes your zenith soon after dark if you live in the mid- northern latitudes. The exact time depends on your longitude. Binoculars will show M31 just off the upraised knee of the Andromeda constellation's stick figure.
Algol, the prototype eclipsing binary star, shines at its minimum brightness, magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.3, for about two hours centered on 11:11 p.m. EST (8:11 p.m. PST).
You are remembered, Carl Sagan (November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996).
Thursday, December 21
Today is the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, and the longest day in the Southern Hemisphere. The December solstice occurs at 11:28 a.m.
Finding M31
The first path to Andromeda starts from the constellation Cassiopeia (the “W” at the upper left in the chart). With a binocular and a dark sky, Andromeda will appear like a small pale puff of smoke, slightly elongated.
The second path to Andromeda requires a bit more star knowledge, but will get you more precisely to the right spot. This path starts with the Great Square of Pegasus (lower right in the chart).
Source: Space.com
EST, when the Sun reaches its southernmost declination for 2017 and begins its six-month return northward.
The weak Ursid meteor shower should be at its peak tonight and/or tomorrow night. Its radiant (its perspective point of origin) is circumpolar, near Kochab at the bowl of the Little Dipper. So the shower is active to some degree from dusk to dawn. But, barring a rare outburst, you're likely to see only a few Ursids per hour of steady watching.
Sky & Telescope

6. ISS Sighting Opportunities
ISS For Denver:
Date
Visible
Max Height
Appears
Disappears
Tue Dec 19, 5:28 PM
< 1 min
11°
11° above SSW
10° above SSW
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)
Tuesday, December 19
5 a.m. - ISS Expedition 54-55/Soyuz MS-07 Hatch Opening and Welcoming Ceremony (Shkaplerov, Tingle, Kanai; hatch opening scheduled at appx. 5:35 a.m. ET) (all channels)
8 a.m., 10 a.m., 2 p.m., 5 p.m., 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. - Video File of ISS Expedition 54-55/Soyuz MS-07 Docking, Hatch Opening and Other Activities ((NTV-1 (Public) and NTV-3 (Media))
1:30 p.m. - Facebook Live: “Hubble Holiday Lights: Seeing the Winter Sky via Both Space and Backyard Telescopes” (NTV-1 (Public))
Wednesday, December 20
8 a.m. - Live Post-Flight Interviews for European Media with Expedition 53 Flight Engineer Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency (NTV-3 (Media))
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 Aug PSLV Launch JPL Space Calendar
Dec 19 - Comet C/2017 A3 (Elenin) Closest Approach To Earth (3.720 AU)
Dec 19 - Asteroid 4149 Harrison Occults HIP (6.5 Magnitude Star)
Dec 19 - Apollo Asteroid 2017 XY61 Near-Earth Flyby (0.006 AU)
Dec 19 - Aten Asteroid 2011 YD29 Near-Earth Flyby (0.045 AU)
Dec 19 -] Apollo Asteroid 2017 XV61 Near-Earth Flyby (0.087 AU)
Dec 19 - Asteroid Oppenheimer Closest Approach To Earth (0.974 AU)
Dec 19 - Asteroid 20 Massalia Closest Approach To Earth (1.093 AU)
Dec 19 - Asteroid Palermo Closest Approach To Earth (1.190 AU)
Dec 19 - Asteroid 1816 Liberia Closest Approach To Earth (1.200 AU)
Dec 19 - Asteroid Aesop Closest Approach To Earth (1.213 AU)
Dec 19 - Asteroid Vellinga Closest Approach To Earth (1.617 AU)
Dec 19 - Asteroid 780 Armenia Closest Approach To Earth (2.148 AU)
Dec 20 - Comet 231P/LINEAR-NEAT Closest Approach To Earth (2.892 AU)
Dec 20 - Comet C/2016 X1 (Lemmon) At Opposition (7.187 AU)
Dec 20 - Asteroid 31 Euphrosyne Closest Approach To Earth (1.601 AU)
Dec 20 - Asteroid Coulomb Closest Approach To Earth (1.649 AU)
Dec 20 - Asteroid Cuba Closest Approach To Earth (2.615 AU)
Dec Workshop: Axion Physics and Dark Matter Cosmology, Osaka, Japan
Dec Conference: Prospects in Neutrino Physics (NuPhys2017), London, United Kingdom
Dec 21 - Winter Solstice, 16:28 UT
Dec 21 - Comet 353P/McNaught Perihelion (2.214 AU)
Dec 21 - Comet 188P/LINEAR-Mueller Closest Approach To Earth (2.317 AU)
Dec 21 - Apollo Asteroid 2017 WX12 Near-Earth Flyby (0.026 AU)
Dec 21 - Apollo Asteroid 2017 XR60 Near-Earth Flyby (0.033 AU)
JPL Space Calendar

9. Mars Mission Sheds Light on Habitability of Distant Planets
New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale
Food for Thought
Mars Mission Sheds Light on Habitability of Distant Planets

10. Space Image of the Week A Celestial Snow Globe of Stars
Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)