1. Space News Update - July 31, 2018 - In the News Departments Story 1:
TESS’s Planet Hunt Begins
Story 2:
Where Martian Dust Comes From
Story 3: NASA’s Parker Solar Probe and the Curious Case of the Hot Corona
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities
NASA-TV Highlights
Space Calendar
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week

2. TESS’s Planet Hunt Begins
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. Where Martian Dust Comes From

4. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe and the Curious Case of the Hot Corona

5. The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, July 31
• Starry Scorpius is sometimes called "the Orion of Summer" for its brightness and its prominent red supergiant (Antares in the case of Scorpius, Betelgeuse for Orion). But Scorpius passes a lot lower in the south than Orion for those of us at mid-northern latitudes. That means it has only one really good evening month: July. Catch Scorpius due south just after dark, before it starts to tilt lower toward the southwest.
Wednesday, August 1
• With the advance of summer the Sagittarius Teapot, now moving into the south after dark, is starting to tilt and pour from its spout to the right. The Teapot will tilt farther and farther for the rest of the summer — or for much of the night if you stay out late.
Thursday, August 2
• Bright Vega passes closest to overhead around 10 or 11 p.m. daylight time, 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 by looking?
Then Deneb crosses closest to the zenith almost exactly two hours after Vega.
Friday, August 3
• Action in Sagittarius. Less than 3° to the lower right of Saturn this week lies M8, the Lagoon Nebula and its associated star cluster. The Lagoon is the brightest emission nebula of the summer skies. In a dark sky it's obvious to the naked eye as a small Milky Way patch if you know where to look: above the spout of the Sagittarius Teapot.
Above M8 by 1.4°, and perhaps a little to the right, is fainter M20, the Trifid Nebula and its adjacent little cluster M21. This nebula generally needs a telescope.
Sky & Telescope

6. ISS Sighting Opportunities
ISS For Denver:
Date
Visible
Max Height
Appears
Disappears
Tue Jul 31, 10:03 PM
3 min
15°
12° above NNW
12° above NE
Tue Jul 31, 11:38 PM
< 1 min
13°
10° above NW
13° above NW
Wed Aug 1, 9:11 PM
12°
10° above N
10° above NE
Wed Aug 1, 10:48 PM
28°
21° above NNW
28° above N
Thu Aug 2, 9:56 PM
2 min
24°
17° above NNW
21° above NE
Thu Aug 2, 11:31 PM
10°
10° above WNW
Fri Aug 3, 9:04 PM
4 min
17°
13° above NNW
10° above ENE
Fri Aug 3, 10:40 PM
36°
23° above NW
36° above NW
Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

7. NASA-TV Highlights July 31, Tuesday (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)
 July 31, Tuesday
10:55 a.m. - Space Station In-Flight Educational Event with the Las Cruces Museum of Nature and Science in Las Cruces, New Mexico and NASA astronauts Ricky Arnold and Serena Aunon-Chancellor (All Channels)
2:30 p.m. – University of Chicago briefing on Parker Solar Probe, with Professor Eugene Parker (All Channels)
August 2, Thursday
10:25 a.m. – Space Station In-Flight Educational Event with the Wallops Flight Facility Education Office in Wallops Island, Virginia, and Space Station Commander Drew Feustel and astronaut Ricky Arnold of NASA (All Channels)
12 p.m. – NASA Honor Awards Ceremony (All Channels)
August 3, Friday
11 a.m. – Commercial Crew Program Crew Assignment Announcement Event for the first Boeing CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX Crew Dragon Missions (All Channels)
4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. – Live Shot Interviews with the crewmembers Assigned to the first Commercial Crew Program Boeing CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX Crew Dragon Missions (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
Jul 31 - Comet 3D/Biela Closest Approach To Earth (1.717 AU)
Jul 31 - Comet 3D/Biela At Opposition (1.717 AU)
Jul 31 - Comet 76P/West-Kohoutek-Ikemura At Opposition (2.868 AU)
Jul 31 - Asteroid Richardcook Closest Approach To Earth (1.210 AU)
Jul 31 - Asteroid 55 Pandora Closest Approach To Earth (1.588 AU)
Jul 31 - Asteroid Mandelbrot Closest Approach To Earth (1.832 AU)
Aug 01 - Alpha Capricornids Meteor Shower Peak
Aug 01 - Comet C/2018 N1 (NEOWISE) Perihelion (1.307 AU)
Aug 01 - Comet C/2017 T3 (ATLAS) Closest Approach To Earth (1.351 AU)
Aug 01 - Apollo Asteroid (2012 HF31) Near-Earth Flyby (0.072 AU)
Aug 01 - Asteroid 1896 Beer Closest Approach To Earth (1.025 AU)
Aug 01 - Asteroid Slocum Closest Approach To Earth (1.289 AU)
Aug 01 - Asteroid 2157 Ashbrook Closest Approach To Earth (1.584 AU)
Aug 01 - Asteroid 3197 Weissman Closest Approach To Earth (1.825 AU)
Aug 02 - Asteroid ISON Closest Approach To Earth (7.776 AU)
Aug 02 - Kuiper Belt Object 2013 AT183 At Opposition ( AU)
Aug 03 - Comet 349P/Lemmon At Opposition (2.113 AU)
Aug 03 - Amor Asteroid 1580 Betulia Closest Approach To Earth (1.620 AU)
Aug 03 - Asteroid Peters Closest Approach To Earth (2.135 AU)
Aug 03 - Centaur Object Crantor At Opposition (17.832)
Aug 03 - British Interplanetary Society Branch Meeting, Elgin, United Kingdom
Aug 04 - Asteroid 2672 Pisek Occults HIP (4.1 Magnitude Star)
JPL Space Calendar

9. Mars Terraforming Not Possible Using Present-Day Technology
Food for Thought
Mars Terraforming Not Possible Using Present-Day Technology

10. Space Image of the Week Layers of the South Pole of Mars
Image Credit & License: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin; Bill Dunford