1. Space News Update - December 21, 2018 - In the News Departments
Story 1:
NASA's InSight Places First Instrument on Mars
Story 2:
A Faint Glow Within Abell S1063 Illuminates Dark Matter
Story 3: New Horizons Scientists Puzzled by Lack of a 'Light Curve'
from Their Kuiper Belt Flyby Target
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities
NASA-TV Highlights
Space Calendar
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week

2. NASA's InSight Places First Instrument on Mars
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. A Faint Glow Within Abell S1063 Illuminates Dark Matter

4. New Horizons Scientists Puzzled by Lack of a 'Light Curve‘ from Their Kuiper Belt Flyby Target

5. The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Friday, December 21
• By mid-evening the Moon, nearly full, forms an almost-isosceles triangle with Aldebaran to its upper right (shown here) and Betelgeuse to its lower right (not yet risen in this twilight scene). Aldebaran is an orange, K5 giant star 65 light-years away. Betelgeuse is an orange, slightly less hot M1 supergiant about 10 times more distant.
• This is the longest night of the year for the Northern Hemisphere; the longest day for the Southern Hemisphere. The solsticeoccurs at 5:23 p.m. EST, when the Sun reaches its farthest point south and begins its six-month return northward. That's when winter begins in the Northern Hemisphere, summer in the Southern.
Saturday, December 22
• Full Moon (exact at 12:49 p.m. EST). The Moon, near perigee, shines between the feet of the Castor figure and the dim Club of Orion.
Farther left or lower left of the Moon are brighter Castor and Pollux. Farther right or lower right of the Moon is Orion, with his belt almost vertical.
The full Moon of December rides higher across the sky in the middle of the night than it does in any other month (for Northern Hemisphere skywatchers), "giving luster of midday to objects below."
• Algol should be at minimum brightness for a couple hours centered on 11:36 p.m. EST. Algol takes several additional hours to fade and to rebrighten.
Sunday, December 23
• As the stars come out, face due north and look high. Cassiopeia is now a flattened M shape canted at about a 45° angle (depending on where you live). Yet hardly more than an hour later, the M has turned horizontal. Why so fast? Constellations passing near the zenith appear to rotate rapidly with respect to the direction "up."
Monday, December 24
• This is the time of year when Orion shines in the east-southeast after dinnertime. He's pretty high now, but his three-star Belt is still nearly vertical.
The Belt points up toward Aldebaran and, even higher, the Pleiades. In the other direction, it points down to where bright Sirius will rise around 7 or 8 p.m. to twinkle furiously. oup NGC 2244.
Every December, the Moon is nearly full when it crosses Taurus in the eastern evening sky.
Sky & Telescope

6. ISS Sighting Opportunities
ISS For Denver:
Date
Visible
Max Height
Appears
Disappears
Sat Dec 22, 6:45 AM
6 min
42°
11° above SSW
10° above ENE
Sun Dec 23, 5:54 AM
2 min
21°
11° above S
21° above SE
Mon Dec 24, 5:03 AM
1 min
11°
10° above SSE
11° above SE
Mon Dec 24, 6:37 AM
72°
10° above WSW
11° above NE
Tue Dec 25, 5:46 AM
5 min
55°
16° above SW
12° above ENE
Wed Dec 26, 4:56 AM
26°
26° above ESE
17° above E
Wed Dec 26, 6:30 AM
32°
11° above W
10° above NE
Thu Dec 27, 5:40 AM
3 min
56°
56° above NNW
Fri Dec 28, 4:51 AM
< 1 min
13°
13° above ENE
Fri Dec 28, 6:24 AM
4 min
19°
15° above NW
10° above NNE
Sat Dec 29, 5:35 AM
20°
20° above NNE
11° above NNE
Sun Dec 30, 6:18 AM
12° above NNW
Mon Dec 31, 5:28 AM
12°
12° 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)
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)
No special programming listed
Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

8. Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Dec 21 - Winter Solstice, 22:23 UT
Dec 21 - Mercury Passes 0.9 Degrees from Jupiter
Dec 21 - Comet 369P/Hill At Opposition (1.079 AU)
Dec 21 - Comet 375P/Hill Perihelion (1.895 AU)
Dec 21 - Comet 73P-AY/Schwassmann-Wachmann At Opposition (3.937 AU)
Dec 21 - Comet 73P-AZ/Schwassmann-Wachmann At Opposition (3.938 AU)
Dec 21 - [Dec 16] Apollo Asteroid 2018 XC4 Near-Earth Flyby (0.004 AU)
Dec 21 - [Dec 15] Apollo Asteroid 2018 XT3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.054 AU)
Dec 21 - Asteroid 6 Hebe Closest Approach To Earth (1.257 AU)
Dec 21 - Asteroid 876 Scott Closest Approach To Earth (2.004 AU)
Dec 21 - Binary Asteroid 90 Antiope Closest Approach To Earth (2.505 AU)
Dec th Anniversary (1978), Venera 12, Venus Landing
Dec th Anniversary (1968), Apollo 8 Launch (Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders)
Dec 21 - Don Brownlee's 75th Birthday (1943)
Dec 21 - Ira Bowen's 120th Birthday (1898)
Dec 22 - Ursids Meteor Shower Peak
Dec 22 - Comet 189P/NEAT At Opposition (2.973 AU)
Dec 22 - Comet 317P/WISE At Opposition (3.346 AU)
Dec 22 - Comet P/2017 U3 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (3.517 AU)
Dec 22 - Aten Asteroid (2003 SD220) Near-Earth Flyby (0.019 AU)
Dec 22 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 AO131 Near-Earth Flyby (0.052 AU)
Dec 22 - Apollo Asteroid 2018 WA2 Near-Earth Flyby (0.059 AU)
Dec 22 - Asteroid 8629 Chucklorre Closest Approach To Earth (2.057 AU)
Dec th Anniversary (1988), Discovery of the LEW Meteorite (Mars Meteorite)
Dec 22 - Stefano Sposetti's 60th Birthday (1958)
Dec 23 - Comet P/2017 U3 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (3.517 AU)
Dec 23 - Apollo Asteroid (2008 WM64) Near-Earth Flyby (0.043 AU)
Dec 23 - Apollo Asteroid 2010 GT7 Near-Earth Flyby (0.057 AU)
Dec 23 - Apollo Asteroid 2015 YQ1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.077 AU)
Dec 23 - [Dec 20] Aten Asteroid 2018 YG Near-Earth Flyby (0.077 AU)
Dec 23 - Asteroid 2266 Tchaikovsky Closest Approach To Earth (1.844 AU)
Dec 24 - Comet 370P/NEAT Closest Approach To Earth (2.088 AU)
Dec 24 - Comet C/2016 N6 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (2.367 AU)
Dec 24 - Comet 159P/LONEOS At Opposition (2.874 AU)
Dec 24 - [Dec 18] Apollo Asteroid 2018 XN5 Near-Earth Flyby (0.008 AU)
Dec 24 - Asteroid 2062 Aten Closest Approach To Earth (1.218 AU)
Dec 24 - Asteroid 8489 Boulder Closest Approach To Earth (2.482 AU)
Dec 24 - Plutino (2002 VE95) At Opposition ( AU)
Dec 24 - Kuiper Belt Object (2002 XW93) At Opposition ( AU)
Dec 24 - Deep Space Network's 55th Birthday (1963)
Dec 24 - James Joule's 200th Birthday (1818)
JPL Space Calendar

9. Mars Express Gets Festive: A Winter Wonderland on Mars
Food for Thought
Mars Express Gets Festive: A Winter Wonderland on Mars

10. Extraordinary Solar Halos Image Credit & Copyright: Magnus Edback
Space Image of the Week
Extraordinary Solar Halos  Image Credit & Copyright: Magnus Edback