1. Space News Update - December 16, 2014 - In the News Story 1: New Horizons Awake for Pluto Encounter Story 2: MAVEN Finds New Particles, Ion Plume Story 3: Story 3: New Map Shows ‘Marsquakes’ Shook Wet Valles Marineris Sand, NASA Says Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

2. New Horizons Awake for Pluto Encounter

3. MAVEN Finds New Particles, Ion Plume

4. New Map Shows ‘Marsquakes’ Shook Wet Valles Marineris Sand, NASA Says

5. The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, December 16 Maybe you're familiar with the ET Cluster, NGC 457 in Cassiopeia. But what about its neighbor Sharpless 2-173, a faint nebula containing the weak cluster Mayer 1? Use the Queen's Kite asterism to get there, as Sue French shows in her Deep-Sky Wonders chart and column in the December Sky & Telescope, page 56. The waning Moon guides the way to Saturn in the eastern dawn on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. (Positions are exact for the middle of North America. The Moon is drawn three times actual size.) Wednesday, December 17 Having trouble spotting Saturn in the dawn? On Thursday morning the 18th the waning Moon points down to the spot, as shown here. Thursday, December 18 On Friday morning the 19th the Moon hangs closer over Saturn, as shown here. Algol is near its minimum light for a couple hours centered on 7:12 p.m. EST Thursday evening. Friday, December 19 Have you ever tried to catch Sirius actually rising? If you can find a good view down to the east-southeast horizon, watch for Sirius emerging about two fists at arm's length below Orion's Belt. It now rises sometime around 7:30 or 8 p.m. local time, depending on your location. When a star is very low, it tends to twinkle quite slowly and often in vivid colors. Sirius is bright enough to show these effects well.

6. ISS Sighting Opportunities Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting InformationSatellite Sighting Information ISS For Denver : DateVisibleMax HeightAppearsDisappears Wed Dec 17, 5:37 PM2 min10°10 above NNW10 above N Thu Dec 18, 6:24 PM< 1 min10°10 above NNW Fri Dec 19, 5:33 PM1 min10°10 above N10 above NNE Sat Dec 20, 6:19 PM< 1 min12°11 above NNW12 above NNW

7. NASA-TV Highlights (all times Eastern Time Zone) Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA websiteNASA website MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013 NASA MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013 NASA MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013 NASA Thursday, December 18 10 a.m. - Expedition One-Year Crew News Conference at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France (all channels) 11:30 a.m. - Space Station Live (all channels) 12 p.m. - Space X Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) -5 Prelaunch News Conference (all channels) 1:30 p.m. - NASA ISS Research and Technology Briefing (all channels) 3 p.m. - NASA ISS Earth Science Briefing: Cloud Aerosol Transport System (CATS) (all channels) Friday, December 19 11:45 a.m. - Video B-Roll of SpaceX/Dragon CRS-5 Processing (all channels) 12:15 p.m. - Coverage of the Launch of the SpaceX/Dragon CRS-5 Cargo Ship to the ISS (Launch scheduled at 1:20 p.m. ET) (all channels) 3 p.m. - SpaceX/Dragon CRS-5 Post-Launch News Conference – KSC (all channels)

8. Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar  Dec 16 - Yamal 401 Proton-M Briz-M Launch  Dec 16 - Asteroid 2014 WM365 Near-Earth Flyby (0.054 AU)  Dec 16 - Asteroid 3917 Franz Schubert Closest Approach To Earth (1.325 AU)  Dec 16 - Asteroid 15332 CERN Closest Approach To Earth (1.692 AU)  Dec 16 - Asteroid 14827 Hypnos Closest Approach To Earth (1.781 AU)  Dec 16 - Asteroid 14965 Bonk Closest Approach To Earth (1.896 AU)  Dec 16 - 20th Anniversary (1994), Discovery of QUE 94201 Meteorite (Mars Meteorite)  Dec 17 - Comet 191P/McNaught Closest Approach To Earth (1.675 AU)  Dec 17 - Comet 110P/Hartley Perihelion (2.475 AU)  Dec 18 - O3b FM9-12 Soyuz-STB/Fregat Launch  Dec 18 - Kondor E-2 Strela Launch  Dec 18 - Asteroid 702 Alauda Occults HIP 13832 (6.2 Magnitude Star)  Dec 18 - Asteroid 71885 Denning Closest Approach To Earth (1.050 AU)  Dec 18 - Asteroid 763 Cupido Closest Approach To Earth (1.095 AU)  Dec 18 - Asteroid 4513 Louvre Closest Approach To Earth (1.859 AU)  Dec 18 - Asteroid 29470 Higgs Closest Approach To Earth (1.964 AU)  Dec 18 - Gottfried Kirch's 375th Birthday (1639)  Dec 19 - CRS-5 Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS)/ AggieSat 4/ Bevo 2/ SERPENS Falcon 9R Launch (International Space Station)  Dec 19 - Comet 307P/LINEAR Perihelion (1.889 AU)  Dec 19 - Asteroid 38086 Beowolf Closest Approach To Earth (0.484 AU)  Dec 19 - Asteroid 3200 Phaethon Closest Approach To Earth (0.763 AU)  Dec 19 - Asteroid 316020 Linshuhow Closest Approach To Earth (1.720 AU)  Dec 19 - 15th Anniversary (1999), STS-103 Launch (Space Shuttle Discovery, Hubble Servicing Mission)  Dec 20 - Asteroid 5020 Asimov Closest Approach To Earth (1.367 AU)

9. Food for Thought Swarms of Pluto-Size Objects Kick Up Dust around Adolescent Sun-Like Star New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale

10. Space Image of the Week A Stunning Look at the Cliffs of Comet 67P/Churyumov-GerasimenkoCredits: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM, processing by Stuart Atkinson