Space News Update- July 22, 2014 -

In the News

Story 1: Apollo 11 Moon Landing 45 Years Ago on July 20, 1969: Relive the Moment

Story 2:Sparks Fly on Mars as Curiosity Laser Blasts Red Planet Rock

Story 3: Rosetta's target is 'double' comet

Departments

The Night SkyISS Sighting Opportunities

NASA-TV HighlightsSpace CalendarFood for Thought

Space Image of the Week

Apollo 11 Moon Landing 45 Years Ago on July 20, 1969: Relive the Moment

Sparks Fly on Mars as Curiosity Laser Blasts Red Planet Rock

Rosetta's target is 'double' comet

The Night SkyTuesday, July 22Vega is the brightest star very high in the east. Far down to its lower right shines Altair, almost as bright. Altair is flagged by little Tarazed a finger-width above it, an orange-giant star far in Altair's background.. . . on its way to passing Venus lower down two mornings later. (The visibility of the fainter objects in bright twilight is exaggerated here. These scenes are drawn for the middle of North America. European observers: move each Moon symbol a quarter of the way toward the one for the previous date. For clarity, the Moon is shown three times actual size.) Wednesday, July 23As dawn brightens on Thursday morning the 24th, spot Venus low in the east-northeast with the waning crescent Moon to its right and Mercury still to its lower left, as shown here. Thursday, July 24In a really dark sky, the Milky Way now forms a magnificent arch high across the whole eastern sky after darkness is complete. It runs all the way from below Cassiopeia in the north-northeast, up and across Cygnus and the Summer Triangle in the east, and down past the spout of the Sagittarius Teapot in the south. Friday, July 25Mars and Spica still shine low in the southwest as night comes on. Mars keeps pulling farther away from Spica; they're now 6° apart. Saturn glows to their upper left. Arcturus sparkles high to their upper right. Saturday, July 26Summer is hardly more than a third over, astronomically speaking. But already the Great Square of Pegasus, symbol of the coming fall, heaves up from behind the east-northeast horizon at dusk and climbs higher in the east through the evening. It's balancing on one corner.

Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities

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

ISS For Denver:

Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Tue Jul 22, 2:35 AM 1 min 20° 20 above ENE 11 above ENE Tue Jul 22, 4:08 AM 3 min 20° 13 above WNW 17 above N Wed Jul 23, 3:21 AM 1 min 27° 27 above NNW 21 above N Wed Jul 23, 4:57 AM 2 min 11° 10 above NNW 10 above NNE Thu Jul 24, 2:34 AM < 1 min 21° 21 above NNE 18 above NNE Thu Jul 24, 4:08 AM 3 min 13° 10 above NW 12 above N Fri Jul 25, 3:20 AM 2 min 16° 14 above NW 14 above N Fri Jul 25, 4:58 AM 1 min 11° 10 above NNW 10 above NNE Sat Jul 26, 2:33 AM < 1 min 19° 19 above N 17 above N Sat Jul 26, 4:09 AM 1 min 11° 10 above NNW 10 above N

NASA-TV Highlights

(all times Eastern Daylight Time)

Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Wednesday, July 23 8 a.m., Wednesday, July 23 - Live Interviews with the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) Crew in the “Aquarius” Underwater Research Vessel (all channels)5:30 p.m., Wednesday, July 23 - Coverage of the Launch of the ISS Progress 56 Cargo Ship from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan (all channels)11 p.m., Wednesday, July 23 - Coverage of the Docking of the ISS Progress 56 Cargo Ship to the ISS (all channels)

Thursday, July 2410 a.m., Thursday, July 24 - Space Station Live (all channels)11:20 a.m., Thursday, July 24 - ISS Expedition 40 In-Flight Event with the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space and Technology (all channels)

Space Calendar

JPL Space Calendar

Jul 22 - [Jul 15] Progress Return To Earth (International Space Station) Jul 22 - Comet P/2008 WZ96 (LINEAR) At Opposition (1.656 AU) Jul 22 - Asteroid 26616 (2000 GG6) Occults HIP 87847 (5.4 Magnitude Star) Jul 22 - Asteroid 4581 Asciepius Closest Approach To Earth (0.286 AU) Jul 22 - Asteroid 14764 Kilauea Closest Approach To Earth (1.198 AU) Jul 22 - Asteroid 2002 Euler Closest Approach To Earth (1.344 AU) Jul 22 - Asteroid 6984 Lewiscarroll Closest Approach To Earth (3.688 AU) Jul 22 - Friedrich Bessel's 230th Birthday (1784) Jul 23 - [Jul 16] Progress M-24 Soyuz U Launch (International Space Station 56P) Jul 23 - Rosetta, Trajectory Correction Maneuver Jul 23 - GSSAP1 & 2 (AFSPC 4)/ ANGELS Delta 4 Launch Jul 23 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #386 (OTM-386) Jul 23 - Comet C/2014 N2 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (1.445 AU) Jul 23 - Comet 250P/Larson At Opposition (4.255 AU) Jul 23 - Asteroid 2014 MA6 Near-Earth Flyby (0.049 AU) Jul 23 - Asteroid 2014 MJ55 Near-Earth Flyby (0.074 AU) Jul 23 - Asteroid 2014 DJ80 Near-Earth Flyby (0.083 AU) Jul 23 - Asteroid 6542 Jacquescousteau Closest Approach To Earth (1.555 AU) Jul 23 - Asteroid 9252 Goddard Closest Approach To Earth (1.721 AU) Jul 23 - Asteroid 2700 Baikonur Closest Approach To Earth (1.989 AU) Jul 23 - 15th Anniversary (1999), Chandra X-Ray Observatory Launch Jul 23 - 30th Anniversary (1984), Discovery of Neptune's Rings Jul 24 - Comet 287P/Christensen Closest Approach To Earth (2.153 AU) Jul 24 - Comet 19P/Borrelly At Opposition (2.314 AU) Jul 24 - Asteroid 91007 Ianfleming Closest Approach To Earth (1.294 AU) Jul 25 - Comet P/2014 L3 (Hill) Closest Approach To Earth (0.874 AU) Jul 25 - Comet P/2003 O3 (LINEAR) Perihelion (1.253 AU) Jul 25 - Comet 193P/LINEAR-NEAT At Opposition (1.334 AU) Jul 25 - Asteroid 2014 MG55 Near-Earth Flyby (0.066 AU) Jul 25 - Asteroid 8672 Morse Closest Approach To Earth (1.059 AU) Jul 25 - Asteroid 4257 Ubasti Closest Approach To Earth (1.653 AU) Jul 25 - Asteroid 16626 Thumper Closest Approach To Earth (1.960 AU) Jul 25 - 30th Anniversary (1984), 1st Woman Spacewalk (Svetlana Savitskaya) Jul 26 - Comet 117P/Helin-Roman-Alu Closest Approach To Earth (2.115 AU) Jul 26 - Comet 182P/LONEOS At Opposition (3.918 AU) Jul 26 - Asteroid 2013 ND15 Closest Approach To Earth (0.857 AU) Jul 26 - Asteroid 2013 EC20 Closest Approach To Earth (0.919 AU) Jul 26 - Asteroid 1541 Estonia Closest Approach To Earth (1.814 AU) Jul 26 - Asteroid 2169 Taiwan Closest Approach To Earth (1.850 AU)

Friedrich Bessel was the first to use parallax in calculating the distance to a star and while studying the dynamics of 'many-body' gravitational systems, developed Bessel functions.

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is a telescope specially designed to detect X-ray emission from very hot regions of the Universe such as exploded stars, clusters of galaxies, and matter around black holes.

Food for Thought

SpaceX Reusable Rocket Test Returns Booster to Earth, then 'Kaboom'

Space Image of the Week

Image Credit: NASA's GSFC, SDO AIA Team

A Solar Filament Erupts