Space News Update- March 9, 2012 -

In the News

Story 1: Storms From the Sun

Story 2:Stars with Dusty Disks Should Harbor Earth-like Worlds

Story 3: Meteorites Reveal Another Way to Make Life's Components

 Departments

The Night SkyISS Sighting Opportunities

Space CalendarNASA-TV Highlights

Food for ThoughtSpace Image of the Week

Storms From the Sun

Stars with Dusty Disks Should Harbor Earth-like Worlds

Meteorites Reveal Another Way to Make Life's Components

The Night Sky

Friday, March 9 · Watch Venus and Jupiter, in the west at dusk, change orientation fast this week as they pass each other! · The Big Dipper glitters high in the northeast these evenings, standing on its handle. You probably know that the two stars forming the front of the Dipper's bowl (currently on top) are the Pointers; they point to Polaris, currently to their left. And, you may know that if you follow the curve of the Dipper's handle out and around by a little more than a Dipper length, you'll arc to Arcturus, now rising in the east. But did you know that if you follow the Pointers backward the opposite way, you'll land in Leo? Draw a line diagonally across the Dipper's bowl from where the handle is attached, continue far on, and you'll go to Gemini. And look at the two stars forming the open top of the Dipper's bowl. Follow this line past the bowl's lip far across the sky, and you crash into Capella.

The Night SkySaturday, March 10 · The waning gibbous Moon forms a nice triangle with Saturn and Spica, once they're well up by 10 or 11 p.m. · Tonight a 9.7-magnitude star in Orion will be occulted for up to 7 seconds by the fainter asteroid 57 Mnemosyne along a path crossing the U.S. from Delaware to southern California. The occultation happens within a few minutes of 4:19 Universal Time, depending on where you are. Charts and details.· Daylight-saving time begins (for most of North America) at 2 a.m. Sunday morning. Clocks "spring ahead" 1 hour.

Sunday, March 11 · With the Moon gone from the evening sky, start checking in once again on hardy Comet Garradd. Still about magnitude 6.5, it's not far off the bowl of the Little Dipper. That makes it well placed for viewing all night. See our article and chart in the March Sky & Telescope, page 60, or online.

Monday, March 12 · Venus and Jupiter are now almost at their closest together, appearing 3.1° apart this evening. Watch their orientation change drastically from day to day now that they're so close.

ISS Sighting Opportunities

SATELLITE LOCAL DURATIONMAX ELEV

APPROACH DEPARTURE

DATE/TIME (MIN) (DEG) (DEG-DIR) (DEG-DIR)

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

For Denver:

For Denver: No ISS Sighting OpportunitiesFor Denver: No ISS Sighting Opportunities

No sighting Opportunities

NASA-TV Highlights

(all times Eastern Daylight Time)

Watch NASA TV on the Net by going to NASA website

No Changes from Normal Schedule

Space CalendarMar 09 - Cassini, Distant Flyby of Titan, Helene & Enceladus Mar 09 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #312 (OTM-312) Mar 09 - Asteroid 2011 EC12 Near-Earth Flyby (0.095 AU) Mar 09 - Asteroid 2247 Hiroshima Closest Approach To Earth (1.628 AU) Mar 09 - Asteroid 327 Columbia Closest Approach To Earth (1.902 AU) Mar 09 - Asteroid 17640 Mount Stromlo Closest Approach To Earth (2.035 AU) Mar 10 – Cassini, Distant Flyby of Prometheus, Epimetheus, Calypso & Rhea Mar 10 - [Mar 02] Asteroid 2012 DH54 Near-Earth Flyby (0.009 AU) Mar 10 - [Mar 05] Asteroid 2012 EJ1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.029 AU) Mar 10 - Asteroid 2012 DP32 Near-Earth Flyby (0.036 AU) Mar 10 - Asteroid 2012 DF31 Near-Earth Flyby (0.055 AU) Mar 10 - Asteroid 1886 Lowell Closest Approach To Earth (1.934 AU) Mar 10 - Asteroid 12846 Fullerton Closest Approach To Earth (2.181 AU) Mar 10 - Asteroid 3061 Cook Closest Approach To Earth (2.695 AU)

Johann Gottfried Galle

Franz Peter Schubert, 1825

Space CalendarMar 11 - Daylight Saving - Set Clock Ahead 1 Hour (United States) Mar 11 - Asteroid 5 Astraea At Opposition (9.0 Magntiude) Mar 11 - Asteroid 71885 Denning Closest Approach To Earth (1.235 AU) Mar 11 - Asteroid 3197 Weissman Closest Approach To Earth (1.825 AU) Mar 11 - Asteroid 2476 Andersen Closest Approach To Earth (2.411 AU) Mar 11 - Asteroid 2246 Bowell Closest Approach To Earth (2.597 AU) Mar 12 - Comet C/2012 C2 (Bruenjes) Perihelion (0.801 AU) Mar 12 - Comet 91P/Russell Closest Approach To Earth (2.363 AU) Mar 12 - Asteroid 5361 Goncharov Occults HIP 78059 (6.3 Magnitude Star) Mar 12 - [Mar 03] Asteroid 2012 DW60 Near-Earth Flyby (0.006 AU) Mar 12 - [Mar 06] Asteroid 2012 EN3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.050 AU) Mar 12 - Asteroid 2010 SV3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.058 AU) Mar 12 - [Mar 07] Asteroid 2012 DN14 Near-Earth Flyby (0.070 AU) Mar 12 - Asteroid 3917 Franz Schubert Closest Approach To Earth (1.369 AU) Mar 12 - Asteroid 4766 Malin Closest Approach To Earth (1.554 AU) Mar 12 - Asteroid 4511 Rembrandt Closest Approach To Earth (1.801 AU) Mar 12 - Asteroid 5790 Nagasaki Closest Approach To Earth (1.902 AU) Mar 12 - Asteroid 134346 Pinatubo Closest Approach To Earth (1.961 AU)

Franz Peter Schubert, 1825

Food for Thought

What Is Microgravity?

Space Image of the WeekThe Serpent Dust Devil of Mars

Image credit: NASA/ESA/JPL-Caltech/IRAM Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona