Transcript Space Image of the Week

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 Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities
Space Calendar
NASA-TV Highlights
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week
Storms From the Sun
Stars with Dusty Disks Should Harbor Earthlike 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 Sky
Saturday, 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.
For Denver: No ISS Sighting Opportunities
ISS Sighting Opportunities
For Denver:
SATELLITE
LOCAL
DURATION
DATE/TIME
(MIN)
MAX
ELEV
(DEG)
APPROACH DEPARTURE
(DEG-DIR)
(DEG-DIR)
No sighting Opportunities
Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information
NASA-TV Highlights
(all times Eastern Daylight Time)
No Changes from Normal Schedule
Watch NASA TV on the Net by going to NASA website
Johann Gottfried Galle
Space Calendar
Mar 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)
Franz Peter Schubert, 1825
Space Calendar
Mar 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 Week
The Serpent Dust Devil of Mars
Imagecredit:
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ.
of Arizona
Image
NASA/ESA/JPL-Caltech/IRAM