Space News Update- January 24, 2014 -

In the News

Story 1: NASA's Opportunity at 10: New Findings from Old Rover

Story 2: NASA Launches TDRS-L a Third Generation Communications Satellite

Story 3: Rosetta's Comet Chase Is On

 Departments

The Night SkyISS Sighting Opportunities

Space CalendarNASA-TV Highlights

Food for ThoughtSpace Image of the Week

NASA's Opportunity at 10: New Findings from Old Rover

NASA Launches TDRS-L a Third Generation Communications

Satellite

Rosetta's Comet Chase Is On

The Night Sky

Friday, January 24 •Mercury is becoming easy to spot; look for it low in the west-southwest as twilight fades, as shown above. Don't confuse it with twinkly Fomalhaut, well off to its left in the southwest. Mercury is beginning its best evening apparition since last June for mid-northern skywatchers. See our article. •The Moon rises around 2 a.m. Saturday morning, with Saturn glowing just 1° or 2° from it (as seen from the Americas). They're high in the south together by dawn, as shown at right.

Saturday, January 25 •Algol is at minimum brightness, magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.3, for a couple hours centered on 10:09 p.m. EST. It takes several additional hours to fade and to rebrighten. •Jupiter's Great Red Spot transits Jupiter's central meridian around 11:01 p.m. EST.

Sky & Telescope

Sunday, January 26 •This is the frigid time of year when the Little Dipper (mostly dim) hangs straight down from Polaris shortly after dark. Look due north.  Monday, January 27 •In the dawn Tuesday morning the 28th, make a point to look low in the southeast to catch Venus with the waning crescent Moon to its right, as shown at lower right. A telescope shows that Venus too is a crescent!

ISS Sighting Opportunities

Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

ISS For Denver:

Date VisibleMax

HeightAppears Disappears

Sat Jan 25, 5:51 AM 3 min 32° 20 above NNW 23 above ENE

Sun Jan 26, 5:05 AM 1 min 21° 21 above NE 14 above ENE

Sun Jan 26, 6:38 AM 5 min 52° 10 above WNW 19 above SSE

Mon Jan 27, 5:52 AM 3 min 83° 35 above NW 25 above SE

Tue Jan 28, 5:05 AM 1 min 37° 37 above ENE 22 above E

Tue Jan 28, 6:39 AM 4 min 17° 10 above W 11 above S

NASA-TV Highlights

(all times Eastern Daylight Time)

January 24, Friday1 p.m. - Opportunity 10th Anniversary - HQ (All Channels)4 p.m. - Opportunity 10th Anniversary - HQ (All Channels)8 p.m. - Opportunity 10th Anniversary - HQ (All Channels) January 27, Monday8:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. - Coverage of ISS Expedition 38 Russian Spacewalk (Spacewalk begins at 9:10 a.m. ET) - JSC (All Channels)1 p.m. - Continued Coverage of ISS Expedition 38 Russian Spacewalk - JSC (NTV-1, NTV-2)1 - 3 p.m. - Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) L-30 Press Briefing - GSFC (NTV-3) 

Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar

JPL Space Calendar

Jan 24 - Comet 293P/Spacewatch At Opposition (1.142 AU) Jan 24 - Comet 121P/Shoemaker-Holt Closest Approach To Earth (2.831 AU) Jan 24 - [Jan 23] Asteroid 2014 BZ2 Near-Earth Flyby (0.015 AU) Jan 24 - Asteroid 25137 Seansolomon Closest Approach To Earth (1.775 AU) Jan 25 - [Jan 22] 10th Anniversary (2004), Mars Exploration Rover B (Opportunity), Mars Landing Jan 25 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #369 (OTM-369) Jan 25 - Moon Occults Saturn Jan 25 - Comet 80P/Peters-Hartley At Opposition (2.214 AU) Jan 25 - Comet P/2012 SB6 (Lemmon) At Opposition (2.661 AU) Jan 25 - Comet 121P/Shoemaker-Holt At Opposition (2.831 AU) Jan 25 - Asteroid 2 Pallas Occults TYC 6054-00157-1 (11.4 Magnitude Star) Jan 25 - Asteroid 2006 AL4 Near-Earth Flyby (0.051 AU) Jan 25 - Asteroid 295565 Hannover Closest Approach To Earth (1.775 AU) Jan 25 - Asteroid 6489 Golevka Closest Approach To Earth (2.728 AU) Jan 25 - 20th Anniversary (1994), Clementine Launch (USA Moon Orbiter) Jan 26 - [Jan 23] Asteroid 2014 BA3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.015 AU) Jan 26 - [Jan 24] Asteroid 2014 BE3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.082 AU) Jan 26 - Asteroid 4330 Vivaldi Closest Approach To Earth (1.236 AU) Jan 26 - Asteroid 51825 Davidbrown Closest Approach To Earth (1.912 AU) Jan 27 - Asteroid 602 Marianna Occults HIP 37265 (4.9 Magnitude Star) Jan 27 - Asteroid 1997 Leverrier Closest Approach To Earth (1.511 AU) Jan 27 - Asteroid 310 Margarita Closest Approach To Earth (1.642 AU) Jan 28 - [Jan 17] Comet P/2014 A3 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (3.073 AU) Jan 28 - [Jan 17] Comet P/2014 A3 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (3.073 AU) Jan 28 - Comet 267P/LONEOS At Opposition (3.190 AU) Jan 28 - Asteroid 1179 Mally Occults HIP 7097 (3.6 Magnitude Star) Jan 28 - Asteroid 2012 BX34 Near-Earth Flyby (0.025 AU) Jan 28 - Asteroid 2791 Paradise Closest Approach To Earth (1.141 AU) Jan 28 - Asteroid 58671 Diplodocus Closest Approach To Earth (1.724 AU) Jan 28 - Asteroid 6030 Zolensky Closest Approach To Earth (2.227 AU)

Food for ThoughtNASA Set for a Big Year in Earth Science with Five

New Missions

Space Image of the Week

Micro Moon over Super Moon Image Credit: Stefano Sciarpetti