1. Space News Update - July 28, 2014 - In the News Departments Story 1:
Rosetta: Preparing for Perihelion
Story 2:
NASA's Curiosity Rover Inspects Unusual Bedrock
Story 3: New Names and Insights at Ceres
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar
NASA-TV Highlights
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week

2. Rosetta: Preparing for Perihelion
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. NASA's Curiosity Rover Inspects Unusual Bedrock

4. New Names and Insights at Ceres

5. The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, July 28
After dark, the Big Dipper hangs diagonally in the northwest. Most of its stars are about 80 light-years away. Follow the curve of its handle around by a little more than a Dipper-length and there's bright Arcturus, due west. Arcturus is the nearest orange-giant star, 37 light-years away.  
Wednesday, July 29
We're not quite halfway through summer, but Cassiopeia, a constellation associated with fall and winter, is already climbing up in the north-northeast after dark. And the Great Square of Pegasus, emblem of fall, is up and balancing on one corner on the east-northeast horizon.
Thursday, July 30
Full Moon tonight and tomorrow (exactly full at 6:43 a.m. Friday morning Eastern Daylight Time). On Thursday evening the Moon rises just before sunset. After dark, can you see through the moonlight that it's in dim Capricornus? This is the second full Moon in the month, sometimes called a "Blue Moon."
Friday, July 31
This evening, skywatchers in the Americas see the Moon rise about a half day past the moment when it's exactly full.
In the last week, Saturn has moved almost not at all with respect to the stars of Scorpius. That's because it's near the stationary point of its retrograde loop, which it reaches on August 2nd.
Sky & Telescope

6. ISS Sighting Opportunities
ISS For Denver:
Date
Visible
Max Height
Appears
Disappears
Wed Jul 29, 2:52 AM
< 1 min
11°
10 above N
11 above N
Wed Jul 29, 4:27 AM
6 min
31°
10 above NW
11 above E
Thu Jul 30, 1:59 AM
10°
Thu Jul 30, 3:35 AM
5 min
20°
11 above NNW
11 above ENE
Thu Jul 30, 5:10 AM
59°
10 above WNW
10 above SE
Thu Jul 30, 9:49 PM
62°
10 above SW
Thu Jul 30, 11:26 PM
2 min
19°
19 above NNW
Fri Jul 31, 2:42 AM
4 min
15°
10 above NE
Fri Jul 31, 4:17 AM
66°
10 above ESE
Fri Jul 31, 8:56 PM
29°
10 above SSW
10 above ENE
Fri Jul 31, 10:32 PM
30°
11 above W
11 above NNE
Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

7. NASA-TV Highlights (all times Eastern Time Zone) Thursday, July 30
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)
Thursday, July 30
1:30 p.m. - ISS Expedition 44 Interviews with Fox News Channel’s “America’s News Headquarters" and Reuters TV with NASA Flight Engineer Scott Kelly and Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (all channels)
Friday, July 31
12:30 p.m., - ISS Expedition 44 In-Flight Educational Event with the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland and NASA Flight Engineers Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren (starts at 12:35 p.m.) (all channels)
Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

8. Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar
Jul 28 - Asteroid 3167 Babcock Occults HIP (6.4 Magnitude Star)
Jul 28 - Asteroid 2013 ND15 (Venus Trojan) Closest Approach To Earth (0.541 AU)
Jul 28-Aug 04 - Heliophysics Summer School: Seasons In Space - Cycles of Variability of Sun-Planet Systems, Boulder, Colorado
Jul 29 - South Delta-Aquarids Meteor Shower Peak
Jul 29 - Comet C/2015 M3 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (3.115 AU)
Jul 29 - Asteroid 6594 Tasman Closest Approach To Earth (1.341 AU)
Jul 29 - Asteroid 4252 Godwin Closest Approach To Earth (1.577 AU)
Jul 29 - Asteroid Goodall Closest Approach To Earth (1.755 AU)
Jul 29 - Asteroid 8889 Mockturtle Closest Approach To Earth (1.907 AU)
Jul 29 - Asteroid Bettiepage Closest Approach To Earth (2.053 AU)
Jul 29 - Asteroid 433 Eros Closest Approach To Earth (2.149 AU)
Jul th Anniversary (1985), STS-51-F Launch (Space Shuttle Challenger, Spacelab)
Jul 30 - Cosmos Soyuz-2.1v/Volga Launch
Jul 30 - Asteroid 6469 Armstrong Closest Approach To Earth (0.753 AU)
Jul 30 - Asteroid Texas Closest Approach To Earth (0.769 AU)
Jul 30 - Asteroid 8837 London Closest Approach To Earth (1.194 AU)
Jul 30 - Asteroid Orvillewright Closest Approach To Earth (1.226 AU)
Jul 30 - Asteroid 301 Bavaria Closest Approach To Earth (1.568 AU)
Jul 30 - Asteroid 1031 Arctica Closest Approach To Earth (2.235 AU)
Jul 30 - Dennis di Cicco's 65th Birthday (1950)
Jul th Anniversary (1610), Galileo Observes Saturn's Rings
Jul 31 - Venus Passes 6.5 Degrees From Jupiter
Jul 31 - Comet 297P/Beshore Closest Approach To Earth (2.059 AU)
JPL Space Calendar

9. Lasers Could Blast Tiny Spacecraft to the Stars
Food for Thought
Lasers Could Blast Tiny Spacecraft to the Stars

10. Image Credit: GALEX, JPL-Caltech, NASA
Space Image of the Week
Ultraviolet Rings of M31
Image Credit: GALEX, JPL-Caltech, NASA