1. Space News Update - July 9, 2019 - In the News Departments Story 1:
Hayabusa 2 Cleared for Second Touchdown on Asteroid
Story 2:
Methane Vanishing On Mars: Researchers Propose New Mechanism as an Explanation
Story 3:
A New Plan for Keeping NASA's Oldest Explorers Going
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities
NASA-TV Highlights
Space Calendar
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week

2. Hayabusa 2 Cleared for Second Touchdown on Asteroid
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. Methane Vanishing On Mars: Researchers Propose New Mechanism as an Explanation

4. A New Plan for Keeping NASA's Oldest Explorers Going

5. The Night Sky
Tuesday, July 9
• Now Spica shines below the Moon during and after dusk.
• Saturn is at opposition, shining upper left of the Sagittarius Teapot late these evenings at magnitude This week it's highest in the south for best telescopic viewing from about midnight to 2 a.m. daylight-saving time.
Wednesday, July 10
• After nightfall, Altair shines in the east- southeast. It's the second-brightest star on the eastern side of the sky, after Vega high to its upper left. (Jupiter and Saturn don't count.)
Above Altair by a finger-width at arm's length is little orange Tarazed. A bit more than a fist- width to Altair's lower left is little Delphinus, the Dolphin, leaping leftward.
Thursday, July 11
• One hour after sunset, as twilight is fading and the stars are coming out, you'll find the two brightest stars of summer, Vega and Arcturus, equally near the zenith: Vega toward the east, Arcturus toward the southwest (depending on your location).
Friday, July 12
• The Moon this evening forms a triangle with Jupiter to its lower left and Antares under it.
Sky & Telescope

6. ISS Sighting Opportunities
ISS For Denver:
Date
Visible
Max Height
Appears
Disappears
Wed Jul 10, 1:26 AM
< 1 min
15°
15° above NE
10° above NE
Wed Jul 10, 2:59 AM
2 min
14°
10° above NW
13° above N
Wed Jul 10, 4:38 AM
11°
10° above N
11° above N
Thu Jul 11, 2:11 AM
1 min
17°
17° above NNW
16° above N
Thu Jul 11, 3:48 AM
10°
10° above NNW
Fri Jul 12, 1:23 AM
18°
18° above NNE
10° above NNE
Fri Jul 12, 2:59 AM
Fri Jul 12, 4:36 AM
14° above N
No Sightings in Denver through Friday Apr 26th
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)
July 9, Tuesday
7 a.m., 2 p.m., 10 p.m. – Apollo 11 50th Anniversary – Moonwalk-1 Series: The Day Before (All Channels)
9 a.m., 6 p.m. – Apollo 11 50th Anniversary - Documentary: For All Mankind (All Channels)
4 p.m., 8 p.m. – Apollo 11 50th Anniversary - Crew Interviews with Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins (All Channels)
July 10, Wednesday
7 a.m., 2 p.m. – Apollo 11 50th Anniversary – Moonwalk-1 Series: The Day Before (All Channels)
10:45 a.m. –International Space Station Expedition 60 In-Flight Interviews with BBC World News and WRAL- TV, Raleigh, N.C., NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch (All Channels)
10 p.m. – Apollo 11 50th Anniversary – Moonwalk Series (All Channels)
Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

8. Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Jul 09 - Saturn At Opposition
Jul 09 - Saturn At Opposition
Jul 09 - Amor Asteroid 2019 MB4 Near-Earth Flyby (0.002 AU)
Jul 09 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 NO56 Near-Earth Flyby (0.021 AU)
Jul 09 - Apollo Asteroid 3200 Phaethon Closest Approach To Earth (0.810 AU)
Jul 09 - Asteroid Suzaku Closest Approach To Earth (0.966 AU)
Jul 09 - Asteroid 5899 Jedicke Closest Approach To Earth (1.014 AU)
Jul IAA Regional Symposium of Space Debris Observations from Basilicata, Potenza, Italy
Jul Workshop on International Cooperation in Spaceborne Imaging Spectroscopy, Rome, Italy
Jul Workshop: Stellar Magnetism - A Celebration of the Contributions of J.D. Landstreet, London, Canada
Jul Conference: High Energy Phenomena in Relativistic Outflows VII (HEPRO VII), Barcelona, Spain
Jul Strings 2019 Conference, Brussels, Belgium
Jul 10 - Comet 209P/LINEAR Closet Approach To Earth (0.668 AU)
Jul 10 - Comet P/2012 K3 (Gibbs) Closest Approach To Earth (1.105 AU)
Jul 10 - Amor Asteroid 2019 NN3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.002 AU)
Jul 10 - Comet C/2019 L2 (NEOWISE) Closest Approach To Earth (1.271 AU)
Jul John Glenn Memorial Symposium: Powering Innovation From the Sky to the Stars, Cleveland, Ohio
Jul th Workshop on Directional Dark Matter Searches (CYGNUS 2019), Rome, Italy
Jul European Physical Society Conference on High Energy Physics (EPS-HEP), Ghent, Belgium
Jul 11 - Hayabusa 2, 2nd Sample Collection of Asteroid Ryugu
Jul 11 - Lecture: Apollo 50th Anniversary, Pasadena, California
Jul 11 - Colloquia: Disentangling Nature from Nurture - Tracing the Origin of the First Black Holes, Barcelona, Spain
Jul NASA Planetary Volcanology Workshop in Hawaii: Analogs to Volcanic Features and Processes in Satellite and Rover Images, Hawaii
Jul 12 - Spektr-RG (SXG) Proton-M/DM-03 Launch
Jul 12 - Amor Asteroid 2016 NJ33 Near-Earth Flyby (0.038 AU)
Jul 12 - Apollo Asteroid 2019 KD3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.040 AU)
JPL Space Calendar

9. Food for Thought
Cyanide Compounds Discovered in Meteorites May Hold Clues to the Origin of Life

10. Cosmic Fireworks in Ultraviolet
Space Image of the Week
Cosmic Fireworks in Ultraviolet
Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of Arizona, Tucson), and J. Morse (BoldlyGo Institute, New York)