Space News Update- November 21, 2011 -

In the News

Story 1: Reliable nuclear device to heat, power Mars Science Lab

Story 2:Space station trio coming back home Monday night

Story 3: Mobile Launcher Moves to Launch Pad

 Departments

The Night SkyISS Sighting Opportunities

Space CalendarNASA-TV Highlights

Food for ThoughtSpace Image of the Week

Reliable nuclear device to heat, power Mars Science Lab

The Mars Science Laboratory's radioisotope power system was fueled and tested at Idaho National Laboratory.Credit: Idaho National Laboratory

Space station trio coming back home Monday night

Mobile Launcher Moves to Launch Pad

The Night SkyMonday, Nov. 21· During dawn Monday morning the waning crescent Moon points down to Saturn and Spica, as shown above. On Tuesday morning, the three form a roughly horizontal line. Tuesday, Nov. 22· Comet Garradd continues glowing at about magnitude 6.5 as predicted, but it's getting low. Find it in the west with binoculars or a telescope right at the end of twilight. To locate the exact spot to examine, start from the head-star of Hercules (Rasalgethi) using our finder chart online or in the November Sky & Telescope, page 52. In a few weeks Comet Garradd will become too low to view well after sunset but will become more easily visible before dawn.

 Wednesday, Nov. 23· These moonless evenings are a fine time to get out the telescope and explore the Veil Nebula and lesser-known deep-sky sights in Cygnus, which is still very high in the west in early evening. See Sue French's "Deep-Sky Wonders" article, charts, and photos in the November Sky & Telescope, page 56.

Thursday, Nov. 24· The Great Square of Pegasus floats highest in the south these evenings. It's somewhat bigger than your fist at arm's length. Its right-hand (west) side points down roughly to Fomalhaut much, much lower in the south. Its left-hand (east) side point down roughly to dimmer Beta Ceti (Diphda), not quite as low.

Friday, Nov. 25· Tonight Jupiter's icy, enigmatic moon Europa crosses onto the face of the planet at 9:45 p.m. EST, then exits at 12:10 a.m. EST. Europa's tiny black shadow crosses Jupiter from 11:08 p.m. to 1:34 a.m. EST.· New Moon (exact at 1:10 a.m. on this date EST). The Moon partially eclipses the Sun for Antarctica, Tasmania, and small sections of South Africa and New Zealand.

ISS Sighting Opportunities

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

For Denver:

SATELLITE LOCAL DURATION MAX ELEV APPROACH DEPARTUREDATE/TIME (MIN) (DEG) (DEG-DIR) (DEG-DIR)

ISS Mon Nov 21/05:13 AM 2 32 32 above N 10 above NE

ISS Tue Nov 22/05:52 AM 2 15 14 above NW 11 above NNE

ISS Wed Nov 23/04:58 AM < 1 13 13 above NNE 11 above NNE

ISS Thu Nov 24/05:37 AM < 1 11 11 above N 10 above N

NASA-TV Highlights

November 21, Monday1 p.m. - NASA Science Briefing - What Do We Know About Mars - KSC (All Channels)2:15 p.m. - ISS Expedition 29 Farewells and Hatch Closure Coverage (hatch closure scheduled at 2:45 p.m. ET) - JSC(Public, HD and Media Channels)5:30 p.m. - ISS Expedition 29/Soyuz TMA-02M Undocking Coverage (undocking scheduled at 6:00 p.m. ET) - JSC (Public, HD and Media Channels)8 p.m. - ISS Expedition 29/Soyuz TMA-02M Deorbit Burn and Landing Coverage (Deorbit burn scheduled at 8:32 p.m. ET, landing in Kazakhstan scheduled at 9:25 p.m. ET) - JSC via Kazakhstan (Public, HD and Media Channels)

November 22, Tuesday12 a.m. - Video File of the ISS Expedition 29/Soyuz TMA-02M Landing and Post-Landing Activities - HQ (Public, HD and Media Channels)10 a.m. - ISS Update - JSC (All Channels)11 a.m. - NASA Science Briefing - Looking For Signs of Life in the Universe - KSC (All Channels)12 p.m. - Video File of the ISS Expedition 29/Soyuz TMA-02M Landing and Post-Landing Activities; includes post-landing interviews with Expedition 29 Commander Mike Fossum of NASA and Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa of Japan and the return of Cosmonaut Sergei Volkov to Chkalovsky Airfield near Star City, Russia - JSC (Public, HD and Media Channels)1 p.m. - MSL Post LRR Pre-Launch Briefing - KSC (All Channels)2 p.m. - MSL Mission Science Briefing - KSC (All Channels)

Watch NASA TV on the Net by going to NASA website.

NASA-TV Highlights

November 23, Wednesday6:30 a.m. - ISS Food B-Roll Feed - JSC (Public, HD, Media and LIMO Channels)7 - 8:30 a.m. - Live Interviews with Astronaut Clay Anderson and Johnson Space Center Food Scientist Vickie Kloeris on Thanksgiving on the ISS - JSC (Public, HD, Media and LIMO Channels)9:35 a.m. - ISS Expedition 30 In-Flight Interview with CBS Radio Network - JSC (Public, Media and HD Channels)11 a.m. – ISS Update (Media and Education Channels)11 a.m. - Curiosity Tweet-Up - KSC (Public Channel)12 - 5 p.m. - Scientist in Action for MSL - KSC (Education Channel)1 p.m. - NASA Science Briefing - Why Mars Excites and Inspires Us - KSC (Public, HD and Media Channels)2 p.m. - Missions to Mars: Robotics and Humans Together Briefing - JSC (Public, HD and Media Channels)

November 25, Friday12 - 5 p.m. - Scientist in Action for MSL - KSC (Education Channel)

Watch NASA TV on the Net by going to NASA website.

Space Calendar

Nov 21 - [Nov 21] Soyuz 27 Return to Earth (International Space Station)Nov 21 - [Nov 21] Asteroid 2011 WQ4 Near-Earth Flyby (0.005 AU)Nov 21 - Asteroid 5261 Eureka Closest Approach To Earth (0.514 AU)Nov 21 - Asteroid 1284 Latvia Closest Approach To Earth (1.228 AU)Nov 21 - Asteroid 1432 Ethiopia Closest Approach To Earth (1.257 AU)Nov 21 - Asteroid 8672 Morse Closest Approach To Earth (1.733 AU)Nov 22 - Comet 60P/Tsuchinshan Closest Approach To Earth (1.354 AU)Nov 22 - Asteroid 115 Thyra At Opposition (9.6 Magnitude)Nov 23 - Cassini, Distant Flyby of HeleneNov 23 - [Nov 20] Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #300 (OTM-300)Nov 23 - Comet C/2010 G2 (Hill) Closest Approach To Earth (1.245 AU)Nov 23 - Asteroid 2 Pallas Occults TYC 5161-00925-1 (10.0 Magnitude Star)Nov 23 - Asteroid 165347 Philplait Closest Approach To Earth (1.396 AU)Nov 24 - Cassini, Distant Flyby of Enceladus, Epimetheus & TitanNov 24 - [Nov 14] Comet 253P/PANSTARRS Perihelion (2.039 AU)Nov 24 - Asteroid 433 Eros Occults HIP 43892 (7.9 Magnitude Star)Nov 24 - [Nov 21] Asteroid 2011 WP4 Near-Earth Flyby (0.004 AU)Nov 24 - Asteroid 5277 Brisbane Closest Approach To Earth (1.187 AU)Nov 25 - [Nov 19] Partial Solar Eclipse, Visible in Africa, Antarctica, TasmaniaNov 25 - AsiaSat 7 Proton M-Briz M LaunchNov 25 - [Nov 20] Asteroid 2011 WN2 Near-Earth Flyby (0.021 AU)

 

JPL Space Calendar

Food for ThoughtIf An Impact Looms, Then What?

Space Image of the Week

W5: Pillars of Star Formation Image Credit & Copyright: Lori Allen, Xavier Koenig (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA) et al., JPL-Caltech, NASA