1. Space News Update - April 19, 2019 - In the News Departments Story 1:
Astronomers Find a Chunk of a Comet Inside a Meteorite
Story 2:
Hubble celebrates its 29th birthday with unrivaled view of the Southern Crab Nebula
Story 3:
A Closer Look at Mercury’s Spin and Gravity Reveals the Planet’s Inner Solid Core
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities
NASA-TV Highlights
Space Calendar
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week

2. Astronomers Find a Chunk of a Comet Inside a Meteorite
NASA's InSight Prepares to Take Mars' Temperature
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. Hubble celebrates its 29th birthday with unrivaled view of the Southern Crab Nebula

4. A Closer Look at Mercury’s Spin and Gravity Reveals the Planet’s Inner Solid Core

5. The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Friday, April 19
• Full Moon (exact at 7:12 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time). This evening look for Spica upper right of the Moon by about a fist and a half at arm's length, and brighter Arcturus about twice that far to the Moon's upper left.
Saturday, April 20
• About an hour after dark, the Pointer stars forming the end of the Big Dipper's bowl point straight down toward Polaris. Face north and look way up. Polaris is about three fists at arm's length from the Pointers.
Sunday, April 21
• Arcturus shines brightly in the east early these evenings. The Big Dipper, very high in the northeast, points its curving handle to the lower right more or less toward it.
Arcturus forms the pointy end of a long, narrow kite asterism formed by the brightest stars of Bootes, the Cowherd. The kite is currently lying on its side to Arcturus's left. The head of the kite, at the far left, is bent slightly upward. The kite is 23° long, about two fists at arm's length. Look soon after dark before the Moon rises.
Monday, April 22
• The Lyrid meteor shower, usually weak to begin with, will be largely spoiled by bright moonlight during the shower's early-morning active hours tonight and tomorrow night.
• However, if you are outside in the hours before dawn, you'll find Jupiter just a degree or two from the waning gibbous Moon (as seen from the longitudes of the Americas). Jupiter is currently 1,800 times farther than the Moon — which it why it looks like just a dot even though it's 40 times larger in diameter.
Tuesday, April 23
• Right after dark, the Sickle of Leo stands vertical high in the south. Its bottom star is Regulus, the brightest of Leo. Leo himself is walking horizontally westward. The Sickle forms his front leg, chest, mane, and part of his head. Denebola, about two and a half fists left of Regulus, is his tail-tip.
• As dawn begins to brighten on Wednesday morning, the waning gibbous Moon shines almost midway between Jupiter to its right and Saturn to its left.
Sky & Telescope

6. ISS Sighting Opportunities
ISS For Denver:
No sightings for Denver through 4/25
Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

7. NASA-TV Highlights (all times Eastern Time Zone)
April 19, Friday 4 a.m. - Coverage of the rendezvous and capture of the Northrop Grumman Cygnus CRS-11 cargo craft at the Space Station; capture scheduled at approximately 5:30 a.m. EDT (All Channels) 7 a.m. - Coverage of the Installation of the Northrop Grumman Cygnus CRS-11 cargo craft to the Unity Module of the Space Station (All Channels) 10 a.m. – SpaceCast Weekly (All Channels) 11:10 a.m. – International Space Station In-Flight Event with Military Officers Magazine with NASA astronaut Nick Hague (All Channels) (SpaceCast Weekly will be preempted on Friday, April 19 by other programming) 2 p.m. – International Space Station Expedition Crew News Conference (Skvortsov, Morgan, Parmitano) (All Channels) TBD – International Space Station Expedition 59 In-Flight Event with Military Officers Magazine with NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nick Hague (All Channels)
April 22, Monday 3 p.m. – NASA Science Live: Our Weird Home (All Channels)
Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

8. Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar
Apr 19 - Comet P/2017 S8 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (2.299 AU)
Apr 19 - Comet C/2017 X1 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (4.248 AU)
Apr 19 - Aten Asteroid (2016 JP) Near-Earth Flyby (0.049 AU)
Apr 19 - Asteroid 2409 Chapman Closest Approach To Earth (1.588 AU)
Apr 19 - Asteroid 1489 Attila Closest Approach To Earth (1.776 AU)
Apr 19 - Asteroid 7000 Curie Closest Approach To Earth (2.063 AU)
Apr 19 - Gertrude Bacon's 145th Birthday (1874)
Apr 20 - [Apr 17] BeiDou 3 CZ-3A Launch
Apr 20 - Comet P/2002 EJ57 (LINEAR) At Opposition (2.535 AU)
Apr 20 - Comet P/2007 Q2 (Gilmore) At Opposition (4.062 AU)
Apr 20 - Apollo Asteroid 2019 GZ3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.026 AU)
Apr 20 - Apollo Asteroid (2016 HO3) Closest Approach To Earth (0.151 AU)
Apr 20 - Apollo Asteroid Hypnos Closest Approach To Earth (1.222 AU)
Apr 20 - Asteroid Nagano Closest Approach To Earth (1.323 AU)
Apr 20 - Asteroid 1913 Sekanina Closest Approach To Earth (2.098 AU)
Apr 20 - Asteroid 8889 Mockturtle Closest Approach To Earth (2.478 AU)
Apr 20 - Asteroid 2848 ASP Closest Approach To Earth (2.820 AU)
Apr 20 - Amor Asteroid 9172 Abhramu Closest Approach To Earth (2.936 AU)
Apr 20 - Vincenzo Cerulli's 160th Birthday (1859)
Apr 21 - Easter Sunday
Apr 21 - Comet P/2005 GF8 (LONEOS) Closest Approach To Earth (2.077 AU)
Apr 21 - Apollo Asteroid 2019 GM Near-Earth Flyby (0.050 AU)
Apr 21 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 WQ3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.073 AU)
Apr 21 - Asteroid 5608 Olmos Closest Approach To Earth (1.625 AU)
Apr 21 - Asteroid Batavia Closest Approach To Earth (1.688 AU)
Apr 21 - Asteroid Samthurman Closest Approach To Earth (1.787 AU)
Apr 21 - Asteroid Opportunity Closest Approach To Earth (3.557 AU)
Apr 21 - Jupiter Trojan 3451 Mentor At Opposition (4.192 AU)
Apr 21 - Jean-Bapiste Biot's 245th Birthday (1774)
JPL Space Calendar

9. Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar
Apr 21 - Jan van Riebeeck's 400th Birthday (1619)
Apr 22 - [Apr 15] Earth Day
Apr 22 - Lyrids Meteor Shower Peak
Apr 22 - Comet 17P/Holmes At Opposition (3.400 AU)
Apr 22 - Comet P/2017 U3 (PANSTARRS) Perihelion (4.444 AU)
Apr 22 - Amor Asteroid 2019 FV2 Near-Earth Flyby (0.040 AU)
Apr 22 - Atira Asteroid 2015 DR215 Closest Approach To Earth (1.305 AU)
Apr 22 - Asteroid 67 Asia Closest Approach To Earth (1.452 AU)
Apr 22 - Asteroid Eileen Closest Approach To Earth (2.127 AU)
Apr 22 - Immanuel Kant's 295th Birthday (1724)
Apr 23 - Comet P/2010 TO20 (LINEAR-Grauer) At Opposition (4.846 AU)
Apr 23 - Comet C/2017 F2 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (6.684 AU)
Apr 23 - Apollo Asteroid 2019 GM4 Near-Earth Flyby (0.023 AU)
Apr 23 - Apollo Asteroid (2012 UV136) Near-Earth Flyby (0.074 AU)
Apr 23 - Asteroid 4352 Kyoto Closest Approach To Earth (2.240 AU)
JPL Space Calendar

10. Independent report concludes 2033 human Mars mission is not feasible
Food for Thought
Independent report concludes 2033 human Mars mission is not feasible

11. The Leo Trio Image Credit & Copyright: Markus Bauer
Space Image of the Week
The Leo Trio  Image Credit & Copyright: Markus Bauer