1. Space News Update - March 1, 2016 - In the News Departments Story 1:
ExoMars 2016 Orbiter and Lander Mated for March Launch
Story 2:
Supermassive Black Holes Banish Matter into Cosmic Voids
Story 3: MAVEN Observes Mars Moon Phobos in the Mid- and Far-Ultraviolet
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar
NASA-TV Highlights
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week

2. ExoMars 2016 Orbiter and Lander Mated for March 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. Supermassive Black Holes Banish Matter into Cosmic Voids

4. MAVEN Observes Mars Moon Phobos in the Mid- and Far-Ultraviolet

5. The Night Sky Sky & Telescope
Look east after sunset to see Jupiter rising with the stars of Leo.
Sky & Telescope diagram
Tuesday, March 1
Look east after dusk this week for the constellation Leo already climbing well up the sky. Its brightest star is Regulus, and the Sickle of Leo extends upper left from there. As the saying goes, Leo announces spring.
Last-quarter Moon (exact at 6:11 p.m. EST). The Moon rises in tandem with Saturn around 1 or 2 a.m. tonight and shines left of Saturn during early dawn of Tuesday the 2nd.
Wednesday, March 2
This is a fine week to look for the zodiacal light if you live in the mid-northern latitudes. At a clear, clean, dark site, look west at the very end of twilight for a vague but huge, tall pyramid of pearly light. It's tilted left to align along the constellations of the zodiac. What you're seeing is sunlit interplanetary dust orbiting the Sun near the ecliptic plane. Believe it or not, seen from interstellar distances this would be the solar system's most prominent feature after the Sun itself. The "zodiacal lights" of dust around other stars may be a real obstacle to someday seeing their small, terrestrial planets.
Thursday, March 3
Have you ever seen Canopus, the second-brightest star after Sirius? In one of the many interesting coincidences that devoted skywatchers know about, Canopus lies almost due south of Sirius: by 36°. That's far enough south that it never appears above your horizon unless you're below latitude 37° N (southern Virginia, southern Missouri, and central California). And there you'll need a flat south horizon. Canopus crosses the south point on the horizon just 21 minutes before Sirius does. When to look? Canopus is due south when Beta Canis Majoris — Mirzim the Announcer, the star a few finger-widths to the right of Sirius — is at its highest point due south (about 7 or 8 p.m. now, depending on how far east or west you are in your time zone).

6. ISS Sighting Opportunities
ISS For Denver:
Date
Visible
Max Height
Appears
Disappears
Thu Mar 3, 5:25 AM
< 1 min
10°
10° above SE
Fri Mar 4, 6:06 AM
13°
10° above SW
13° above SSW
Sat Mar 5, 5:15 AM
3 min
25°
11° above S
24° above ESE
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, March 1
4 p.m. - ISS Expedition 46 Farewells and Hatch Closure Coverage (Kelly, Kornienko, Volkov; hatch closure scheduled at appx. 4:40 p.m. ET) (Starts at 4:15p.m.) (all channels)
7:30 p.m. - ISS Expedition 46/Soyuz TMA-18M Undocking Coverage (Kelly, Kornienko, Volkov; undocking scheduled at 8:02 p.m. ET) (Starts at 7:45p.m.) (all channels)
10 p.m. - ISS Expedition 46/Soyuz TMA-18M Deorbit Burn and Landing Coverage (Kelly, Kornienko, Volkov; deorbit burn scheduled at 10:32 p.m. ET; landing near Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan scheduled at 11:25 p.m. ET) (Starts at 10:15p.m.) (all channels)
Wednesday, March 2
1:30 a.m. - Video File of the ISS Expedition 46/Soyuz TMA-18M Landing and Post-Landing Activities (Kelly, Kornienko, Volkov) (all channels)
7:30 a.m. - Video File of the ISS Expedition 46/Soyuz TMA-18M Post-Landing Activities and Interviews; scheduled to include post-landing interviews with ISS Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly and Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko of Roscosmos) (all channels)
11:30 p.m. - Live Coverage of the Return to Ellington Field, Houston of ISS Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly of NASA After A Year in Space (time subject to change) (all channels)
Thursday, March 3
7 a.m. - Video File of ISS Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly’s Return to Ellington Field, Houston (recorded on March 2) (all channels)
10 a.m. - Video File of the ISS Expedition Crew Departure from Star City, Russia for Baikonur, Kazakhstan (Ovchinin, Skripochka, J. Williams) (all channels)
Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

8. Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar
Mar 01 - Soyuz TMA-18M Return to Earth (International Space Station)
Mar 01 - Comet 73P-AJ/Schwassmann-Wachmann At Opposition (1.255 AU)
Mar 01 - Comet 309P/LINEAR Closest Approach To Earth (2.723 AU)
Mar 01 - Comet P/2007 R2 (Gibbs) At Opposition (3.994 AU)
Mar 01 - Aten Asteroid 2011 EH17 Near-Earth Flyby (0.028 AU)
Mar 01 - Asteroid 2001 Einstein Closest Approach To Earth (0.872 AU)
Mar 01 - Asteroid 5790 Nagasaki Closest Approach To Earth (1.902 AU)
Mar 01 - Asteroid 3768 Monroe Closest Approach To Earth (2.668 AU)
Mar 01 - Kuiper Belt Object 2013 FZ27 At Opposition ( AU)
Mar 02 - Comet 73P-BR/Schwassmann-Wachmann Closest Approach To Earth (1.956 AU)
Mar 02 - Comet 194P/LINEAR Perihelion (1.698 AU)
Mar 02 - Comet 323P/SOHO Closest Approach To Earth (2.718 AU)
Mar 02 - Comet C/2014 G3 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (4.572 AU)
Mar 02 - Asteroid 253 Mathilde Occults UCAC (12.2 Magnitude Star)
Mar 02 - Amor Asteroid 2016 CB138 Near-Earth Flyby (0.042 AU)
Mar 02 - Atira Asteroid 2015 DR215 Near-Earth Flyby (0.071 AU)
Mar 02 - Asteroid 4523 MIT Closest Approach To Earth (1.337 AU)
Mar 02 - Asteroid Jimmypage Closest Approach To Earth (1.441 AU)
Mar 02 - Asteroid Jayleno Closest Approach To Earth (1.471 AU)
Mar 02 - Asteroid Rio de Janeiro Closest Approach To Earth (2.026 AU)
Mar 03 - Comet 73P-BD/Schwassmann-Wachmann Closest Approach To Earth (1.865 AU)
Mar 03 - Comet 73P-BG/Schwassmann-Wachmann Closest Approach To Earth (1.901 AU)
Mar 03 - Comet 215P/NEAT At Opposition (4.095 AU)
Mar 03 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 DV1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.003 AU)
Mar 03 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 DM1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.015 AU)
Mar 03 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 DU1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.033 AU)
Mar 04 - Comet 73P-V/Schwassmann-Wachmann Closest Approach To Earth (1.916 AU)
JPL Space Calendar

9. (Some Real) Food for Thought
New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale
New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale
(Some Real) Food for Thought
NASA Plant Researchers Explore Question of Deep-Space Food Crops

10. Space Image of the Week Flying Through the Aurora's Green Fog
Image Credit: Image Credit: ESA/NASA