Space News Update- July 26, 2013 -

In the News

Story 1: NASA's IRIS Telescope Offers First Glimpse of Sun's Mysterious Atmosphere

Story 2: NASA's Van Allen Probes Discover Particle Accelerator in the Heart of Earth’s

Radiation Belts

Story 3: Hubble Space Telescope Finds New Neptune Moon

 Departments

The Night SkyISS Sighting Opportunities

Space CalendarNASA-TV Highlights

Food for ThoughtSpace Image of the Week

NASA's IRIS Telescope Offers First Glimpse of Sun's Mysterious

Atmosphere

NASA's Van Allen Probes Discover Particle Accelerator in the Heart of

Earth’s Radiation Belts

Hubble Space Telescope Finds New Neptune Moon

The Night Sky

Friday, July 26 · The Delta Aquariid meteor shower should be in its broad maximum all week. This and other weak, long-lasting July showers with radiants in the southern sky increase the chance that any meteor you see will be flying out of the south. See article.

Saturday, July 27 · With the Moon now gone from the evening sky, try exploring through the nest of galaxies over the back of Draco, the Dragon, using Sue French's Deep-Sky Wonders article and charts in the July Sky & Telescope, page 56. The brightest of them are 10th magnitude.

Sunday, July 28 · Starry Scorpius is sometimes called "the Orion of Summer" for its brightness and its prominent red supergiant (Antares in the case of Scorpius, Betelgeuse for Orion). But Scorpius is a lot lower in the sky for those of us at mid-northern latitudes. This means it has only one really good evening month: July. Catch Scorpius due south just after dark now, before it starts to tilt lower toward the southwest.

Monday, July 29 · Last-quarter Moon (exact at 1:43 p.m. EDT). The Moon rises around midnight tonight, shining below the stars of Aries. As it climbs higher through the morning hours, look well to its lower left for the Pleiades.

Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities

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

ISS For Denver:

LOCAL DATE/TIME VISIBLE (MIN)

MAX HEIGHT (DEG)

APPEARS(DEG)

DISAPPEARS(DEG)

Sat Jul 27, 2:19 AM < 1 min 17° 17 above NNE 17 above NNE

Sat Jul 27, 3:53 AM 2 min 11° 10 above NNW 11 above N

Sat Jul 27, 5:31 AM < 1 min 11° 10 above NNW 11 above NNW

Sun Jul 28, 3:05 AM 2 min 13° 12 above NW 12 above N

Sun Jul 28, 4:42 AM 1 min 11° 10 above NNW 11 above N

Mon Jul 29, 2:18 AM < 1 min 15° 15 above N 15 above N

Mon Jul 29, 3:54 AM 1 min 11° 10 above NNW 10 above N

Mon Jul 29, 5:30 AM 2 min 19° 10 above NNW 19 above NNE

NASA-TV Highlights

(all times Eastern Daylight Time)

July 27, Saturday4:30 p.m. - ISS Progress 52 Launch Coverage (Launch scheduled at 4:45 p.m. ET) - JSC (All Channels)9:45 p.m. - ISS Progress 52 Docking Coverage (Docking scheduled at 10:26 p.m. ET) - JSC (All Channels)

Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

Space Calendar

JPL Space Calendar

Jul 26 - [Jul 24] Cassini, Titan Flyby Jul 26 - Comet C/2012 K8 (Lemmon) Closest Approach To Earth (6.264 AU) Jul 26 - Asteroid 576 Emanuela Occults HIP 94645 (6.4 Magnitude Star) Jul 26 - Asteroid 2006 BL8 Near-Earth Flyby (0.024 AU) Jul 26 - Asteroid 13212 Jayleno Closest Approach To Earth (1.204 AU) Jul 26 - Asteroid 416 Vaticana Closest Approach To Earth (1.380 AU) Jul 26 - 50th Anniversary (1963), Syncom 2 Launch, 1st Geosynchronous Satellite Jul 27 - [Jul 20] Progress M-20M Soyuz U Launch (International Space Station 52P) Jul 27 - Comet 191P/McNaught Closest Approach To Earth (1.888 AU) Jul 27 - Comet 132P/Helin-Roman-Alu At Opposition (2.079 AU) Jul 27 - Asteroid 8209 Toscanelli Closest Approach To Earth (1.288 AU) Jul 27 - Asteroid 2829 Bobhope Closest Approach To Earth (1.488 AU) Jul 27 - Asteroid 2521 Heidi Closest Approach To Earth (1.958 AU) Jul 28 - Comet 125P/Spacewatch Closest Approach To Earth (1.200 AU) Jul 28 - Comet 184P/Lovas Perihelion (1.394 AU) Jul 28 - Comet 233P/La Sagra At Opposition (3.041 AU) Jul 28 - Comet C/2013 G8 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (4.312 AU) Jul 28 - Asteroid 3 Juno Occults 2UCAC 30447109 (12.1 Magnitude Star) Jul 28 - Asteroid 4355 Memphis Closest Approach To Earth (1.530 AU) Jul 28 - 40th Anniversary (1973), Skylab-3 Launch Jul 29 - South Delta-Aquarids Meteor Shower Peak Jul 29 - Asteroid 3 Juno Occults PPMX 9823370 (11.3 Magnitude Star) Jul 29 - Asteroid 5760 Mittlefehldt Closest Approach To Earth (1.692 AU) Jul 29 - Asteroid 7225 Huntress Closest Approach To Earth (1.799 AU) Jul 29 - Asteroid 7934 Sinatra Closest Approach To Earth (1.933 AU)

Food for Thought

NASA Sees Enthusiastic Response to Asteroid Call for Ideas

Space Image of the Week

Two Views of Earth