1. Space News Update - December 18, 2015 - In the News Departments
Story 1:
NuSTAR Finds Cosmic Clumpy Doughnut Around Black Hole
Story 2:
FAA Moves Closer to Approving Falcon 9 Landings at Cape Canaveral
Story 3: China sends dark matter probe into orbit
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar
NASA-TV Highlights
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week

2. NuSTAR Finds Cosmic Clumpy Doughnut Around Black Hole
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. FAA Moves Closer to Approving Falcon 9 Landings at Cape Canaveral

4. China sends dark matter probe into orbit

5. The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Friday, December 18
• First-quarter Moon (exact at 10:14 a.m. EST). This evening the Moon shines more or less under the eastern (left) side of the Great Square of Pegasus. Can you see the Moon moving with respect to this line as the hours go by?
Saturday, December 19
• The little Pleiades cluster shines very high in the southeast after dinnertime, no bigger than your fingertip at arm's length. How many Pleiads can you count with your unaided eye? Take your time and keep looking. Most people can count 6. With sharp eyesight, a good dark sky, and dark-adapted eyes, you may be able to make out 8 or 9.
Sunday, December 20
• This is the time of year when Orion shines in the east-southeast after dinnertime. He's well up 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 is about to rise and twinkle furiously.
• You are remembered, Carl Sagan (November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996).
Monday, December 21
• Look above the gibbous Moon this evening for the two or three leading stars of little Aries. They're lined up more or less horizontally. A slightly greater distance left of the Moon are the Pleiades.
• This is the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. South of the equator, it's the longest day. Northern winter, and southern summer, begin at the solstice: 11:48 p.m. EST (4:48 December 22nd Universal Time). This is when the Sun reaches its southernmost declination and begins its six-month return northward.
Tuesday, December 22
• The Moon shines in Taurus this evening, with the Pleiades to its upper left and Aldebaran to its lower left as shown here.
• Mars is passing 3° north of Spica tonight and tomorrow night. They rise in the east-southeast around 1 or 2 a.m. (far lower left of Jupiter) and shine high in the south by dawn.
Sky & Telescope

6. ISS Sighting Opportunities
ISS For Denver:
Date
Visible
Max Height
Appears
Disappears
Fri Dec 18, 6:33 PM
1 min
16°
10° above NW
16° above NNW
Sat Dec 19, 5:41 PM
3 min
19°
10° above NNW
18° above NE
Sun Dec 20, 6:23 PM
2 min
41°
41° above NNW
Mon Dec 21, 5:31 PM
5 min
33°
14° above E
Mon Dec 21, 7:08 PM
< 1 min
18°
15° above W
18° above W
Tue Dec 22, 6:14 PM
55°
10° above WNW
22° above SSE
Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

7. 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)
3:30 a.m., Monday, December 21 - Coverage of the Launch of the ISS Progress 62 Cargo Craft to the ISS from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (Launch is Scheduled at 3:44 a.m. ET) (all channels)
Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

8. Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar
Dec 18 - [Dec 18] Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) CZ-2D Launch, Successful
Dec 18 - Comet 94P/Russell Closest Approach To Earth (2.031 AU)
Dec 18 - Comet 316P/LONEOS-Christensen Closest Approach To Earth (2.606 AU)
Dec 18 - Apollo Asteroid 2015 MW53 Near-Earth Flyby (0.045 AU)
Dec 18 - Aten Asteroid 2015 XX168 Near-Earth Flyby (0.047 AU)
Dec 18 - [Dec 17] Apollo Asteroid 2015 XU378 Near-Earth Flyby (0.065 AU)
Dec 18 - Asteroid 5062 Glennmiller Closest Approach To Earth (1.037 AU)
Dec 19 - [Dec 14] Orbcomm 2 (FM102-FM118) Falcon 9 Launch
Dec 19 - [Dec 17] Cassini, Enceladus Flyby
Dec 19 - Cassini, Distant Flyby of Aegaeon & Calypso
Dec 19 - Comet 230P/LINEAR At Opposition (0.565 AU)
Dec 19 - Comet 252P/LINEAR At Opposition (0.594 AU)
Dec 19 - Comet P/2007 S1 (Zhao) At Opposition (1.868 AU)
Dec 19 - Comet 193P/LINEAR-NEAT At Opposition (2.342 AU)
Dec 19 - Comet 316P/LONEOS-Christensen At Opposition (2.606 AU)
Dec 19 - [Dec 18] Apollo Asteroid 2015 YB Near-Earth Flyby ( AU)
Dec 19 - [Dec 16] Apollo Asteroid 2015 XA378 Near-Earth Flyby (0.026 AU)
Dec 19 - Apollo Asteroid 2015 XE1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.034 AU)
Dec 19 - Amor Asteroid 2015 XF Near-Earth Flyby (0.064 AU)
Dec 19 - Asteroid Jefferson Closest Approach To Earth (1.295 AU)
Dec 19 - Asteroid Dancingangel Closest Approach To Earth (1.602 AU)
Dec 19 - Asteroid Galapagos Closest Approach To Earth (1.835 AU)
Dec th Anniversary (1960), Mercury 1A Launch (Unmanned)
Dec 20 - Moon Occults Uranus
Dec 20 - Comet C/2015 X2 (Catalina) Perihelion (1.932 AU)
Dec 20 - Comet C/2015 X4 (Elenin) At Opposition (2.439 AU)
Dec 20 - Comet 170P/Christensen Closest Approach To Earth (2.775 AU)
Dec 20 - Comet P/2010 H2 (Vales) At Opposition (2.921 AU)
Dec 20 - Asteroid (1998 FN11) Occults HIP  (5.4 Magnitude Star)
Dec th Anniversary (1920), 1st Stellar Diameter Measured (Betelgeuse) by Francis Pease
Dec th Anniversary (1900), Michel Giacobini's Discovery of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner
JPL Space Calendar

9. Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar
Dec 21 - [Dec 14] Progress MS-1 Soyuz U Launch (International Space Station 62P)
Dec 21 - Comet C/2015 X2 (Catalina) Closest Approach To Earth (1.463 AU)
Dec 21 - Comet 284P/McNaught Closest Approach To Earth (2.674 AU)
Dec 21 - Comet 314P/Montani Closest Approach To Earth (3.531 AU)
Dec 21 - Asteroid Bora-Bora Closest Approach To Earth (1.514 AU)
Dec 21 - Asteroid Attenborough Closest Approach To Earth (1.761 AU)
Dec 21 - Asteroid Catalina Closest Approach To Earth (1.798 AU)
Dec  8th Black Holes Workshop, Lisbon, Portugal
Dec 22 - [Dec 13] Winter Solstice, 04:48 UT
Dec 22 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #434 (OTM-434)
Dec 22 - Ursids Meteor Shower Peak
Dec 22 - Comet 73P-S/Schwassmann-Wachmann At Opposition (4.588 AU)
Dec 22 - Apollo Asteroid 1981 Midas Closest Approach To Earth (1.502 AU)
Dec 22 - Asteroid 2554 Skiff Closest Approach To Earth (1.610 AU)
Dec 22 - Plutino 2002 XV93 At Opposition ( AU)
Dec 22 - Kuiper Belt Object (2002 XW93) At Opposition ( AU)
Dec th Anniversary (1870), 1st Observation of the Sun Flash Spectrum by Charles Augustus Young
JPL Space Calendar

10. Study Shows Climate Change Rapidly Warming World’s Lakes
Food for Thought
Study Shows Climate Change Rapidly Warming World’s Lakes

11. NASA Releases New High-Resolution Earthrise Image
Space Image of the Week
NASA Releases New High-Resolution Earthrise Image