Space News Update- December 11, 2015 -

In the News

Story 1: NASA Telescopes Detect Jupiter-Like Storm on Small Star

Story 2:Bright Spots on Ceres: Mystery Solved?

Story 3:

Soyuz lands in Kazakhstan, bringing three station crewmen back to Earth

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NASA Telescopes Detect Jupiter-Like Storm on Small Star

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Bright Spots on Ceres: Mystery Solved?

1. Ratchet Wrench ‘E-mailed’ to Space Station

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Soyuz lands in Kazakhstan, bringing three station crewmen

back to Earth

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The Night Sky

Sky & Telescope

Friday, December 11• Sirius is, famously, the brightest star in the night sky. 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 into view. It's about two fists at arm's length below Orion's Belt. It rises around 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. now (depending on where you live).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 especially well.

• Keep an eye out for early Geminid meteors! The shower is due to peak late Sunday and Monday nights.• New Moon (exact at 5:29 a.m. EST). Saturday, December 12• Vega still glitters brightly in the northwest early these evenings. Deneb is the brightest star above it, in second place. Deneb is also the head of the big Northern Cross, which now extends to Deneb's lower right. By 9 or 10 p.m. the Northern Cross swings down and around to plant itself upright on the northwest horizon (as seen from mid-northern latitudes).

Sunday, December 13• The Geminid Meteor shower should reach its peak late tonight and tomorrow night, December 13–14 and 14–15. The sky will be moonless. See the December Sky & Telescope, page 44, or our online article Geminids in 2015: Moonless and Marvelous.

Monday, December 14• The Geminids continue. See above.• Sirius, the Dog Star, and Procyon, the Little Dog Star 25° to its left, shine low in the east by 9 p.m. If you live around latitude 30° N (Tijuana, New Orleans, Jacksonville), the two canine stars will be at the same height above your horizon. If you're north of that latitude, Procyon will be higher. If you're south of there, Sirius will be the higher one.

Tuesday, December 15• The waxing crescent Moon hangs in the southwest at nightfall. Look above it for the two brightest stars of Aquarius: Beta (β) and, higher, Alpha (α) Aquarii. Alpha is the bottom-right point of the Water Jar asterism. 

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ISS Sighting Opportunities

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

No sightings for Denver

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Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013NASAMAVEN Launch November 18, 2013NASAMAVEN Launch November 18, 2013NASA

 

8 p.m., Friday, December 11 - Replay of Video File of the ISS Expedition 45/Soyuz TMA-17M Landing and Post-Landing Activities (all channels)

9 p.m., Friday, December 11 - Video File of the ISS Expedition 45/Soyuz TMA-17M Landing and Post-Landing Activities; Scheduled to Include Post-Landing Interviews with ISS Expedition 45 Flight Engineers Kjell Lindgren of NASA and Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (all channels)

10 p.m., Friday, December 11 - Replay of Video File of the ISS Expedition 45/Soyuz TMA-17M Landing and Post-Landing Activities (all channels)

11 a.m., Sunday, December 13 - Video File of the Soyuz TMA-19M Rocket Mating, Rollout to the Launch Pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and Launch Pad Interviews (all channels)

12 p.m., Monday, December 14 - Video File of the Russian State Commission Meeting and Final ISS Expedition 46-47 Pre-Launch Crew News Conference in Baikonur, Kazakhstan (all channels)

4:30 a.m., Tuesday, December 15 - B-Roll Feed of ISS Expedition 46-47 Crew Launch Day Pre-Launch Activities (Starts at 4:45 a.m.) (all channels) 

(all times Eastern Time Zone)

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JPL Space Calendar

Dec 11 -[Dec 11] Elektro-L N2 Zenit-3SLBF/Fregat-SB Launch, SuccessfulDec 11 - Comet 194P/LINEAR At Opposition (0.936 AU)Dec 11 - Comet 303P/NEAT At Opposition (2.898 AU)Dec 11 - Comet P/2011 S1 (Gibbs) Closest Approach To Earth (6.045 AU)Dec 11 - Aten Asteroid 33342 (1998 WT24) Near-Earth Flyby (0.028 AU)Dec 11 - Asteroid 157064 Sedona Closest Approach To Earth (2.099 AU)Dec 11 - Kuiper Belt Object 2004 XR190 At Opposition (56.491 AU)Dec 11 - Royal Astronomical Society Ordinary Meeting, London, United KingdomDec 12 - Comet 327P/Van Ness Perihelion (1.560 AU)Dec 12 - Comet 204P/LINEAR-NEAT Perihelion (1.930 AU)Dec 12 - Comet 286P/Christensen At Opposition (3.637 AU)Dec 12 -[Dec 11] Apollo Asteroid 2015 XA169 Near-Earth Flyby (0.019 AU)Dec 12 - Asteroid 7784 Watterson Closest Approach To Earth (1.567 AU)Dec 12 - Asteroid 9860 Archaeopteryx Closest Approach To Earth (2.355 AU)Dec 12 - 45th Anniversary (1970), Explorer 42 Launch (1st X-Ray Satellite)Dec 13 -[Dec 10] Garpun N2 Proton M/Briz M P1 LaunchDec 13 - Geminids Meteor Shower PeakDec 13 - Comet 180P/NEAT Perihelion (2.488 AU)Dec 13 - Comet 197P/LINEAR At Opposition (3.643 AU)Dec 13 - Comet P/2011 S1 (Gibbs) At Opposition (6.045 AU)Dec 13 -[Dec 11] Apollo Asteroid 2015 XR169 Near-Earth Flyby (0.003 AU)Dec 13 - Apollo Asteroid 2015 WK Near-Earth Flyby (0.055 AU)Dec 13 - Asteroid 1896 Beer Closest Approach To Earth (1.242 AU)Dec 13 - Asteroid 2830 Greenwich Closest Approach To Earth (1.514 AU)Dec 13 - Asteroid 18132 Spector Closest Approach To Earth (1.705 AU)Dec 13 - Asteroid 30444 Shemp Closest Approach To Earth (1.805 AU)Dec 13 - Centaur Object 154783 (2004 PA44) At Opposition (18.186 AU)Dec 13 - Kuiper Belt Object 19521 Chaos At Opposition (40.446 AU)Dec 14 - Comet 92P/Sanguin At Opposition (2.328 AU)Dec 14 - Comet 183P/Korlevic-Juric Closest Approach To Earth (3.459 AU)Dec 14 - Comet P/2014 L2 (NEOWISE) At Opposition (3.668 AU)

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JPL Space Calendar

Dec 14 -[Dec 09] Apollo Asteroid 2015 XX128 Near-Earth Flyby (0.006 AU)Dec 14 -[Dec 11] Aten Asteroid 2015 XX169 Near-Earth Flyby (0.022 AU)Dec 14 - Asteroid 18499 Showalter Closest Approach To Earth (1.635 AU)Dec 14 - Asteroid 5281 Lindstrom Closest Approach To Earth (1.854 AU)Dec 14 - Asteroid 12760 Maxwell Closest Approach To Earth (2.153 AU)Dec 14 - Asteroid 11739 Baton Rouge Closest Approach To Earth (2.325 AU)Dec 14 - 25th Anniversary (1990), Creation of the Canadian Space AgencyDec 14 - 115th Anniversary (1900), Max Planck Formulates Quantum Physics HypothesisDec 15 -[Dec 08] Soyuz TMA-19M Soyuz-FG Launch (International Space Station 46S)Dec 15 -[Dec 08] 50th Anniversary (1965), Gemini 6 Launch (Walter Schirra & Thomas Stafford)Dec 15 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #433 (OTM-433)Dec 15 -[Dec 07] Apollo Asteroid 2015 XN55 Near-Earth Flyby (0.006 AU)Dec 15 - Atira Asteroid 2013 JX28 Closest Approach To Earth (0.680 AU)Dec 15 - Asteroid 3115 Baily Closest Approach To Earth (1.241 AU)Dec 15 - Asteroid 42487 Angstrom Closest Approach To Earth (1.549 AU)Dec 15 - Apollo Asteroid 2212 Hephaistos Closest Approach To Earth (2.433 AU)Dec 15 - 45th Anniversary (1970), Venera 7, Venus Landing (USSR)Dec 15 - 50th Anniversary (1965), 1st Manned Spacecraft Rendezvous (Gemini 6 & 7)

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Kepler’s Giant Exoplanets — Real or Not?

New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the ScaleNew Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale

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Pluto’s Close-up, Now in ColorCredit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI