Transcript Dawn Exceeds Wildest Expectations as First Ever Spacecraft to Orbit

Space News Update
- July 18, 2011 In the News
Story 1:
Dawn Exceeds Wildest Expectations as First Ever Spacecraft to Orbit a Protoplanet – Vesta
Story 2:
Two brown dwarfs found in solar neighbourhood
Story 3:
Russian satellite on mission to peer inside black holes
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities
Space Calendar
NASA-TV Highlights
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week
Dawn Exceeds Wildest Expectations as First
Ever Spacecraft to Orbit a Protoplanet – Vesta
Two brown dwarfs found in solar
neighbourhood
Russian satellite on mission to peer
inside black holes
The Night Sky
Monday, July 18
· Arcturus is the bright star shining high in the
southwest these evenings, far above Saturn and Spica.
Arcturus is a yellow-orange giant 37 light-years away and
about 150 times as luminous as the Sun. Its pale gingerale color is plain to the unaided eye. Compare this to the
icy blue-white of Vega overhead, equally bright.
Look far to the right of Arcturus, at roughly the same
height, for the Big Dipper, oriented about as shown here.
Tuesday, July 19
· Mercury is at greatest elongation this evening, 27°
east of the Sun, low in the west-northwestern twilight.
Wednesday, July 20
· Now's the time of year to work through the rich but low
tail of Scorpius with a telescope right after dark. Explore
a whole nest of little-known star clusters near M6, the
Butterfly Cluster, with Sue French's Deep-Sky Wonders
article and chart in the July Sky & Telescope, page 66.
The Big Dipper high in the northwest is starting to dip.
Thursday, July 21
· The brightest asteroid, 4 Vesta, has brightened to magnitude 6.0 as it approaches opposition in Capricornus.
It's easily visible in binoculars in late evening; use our online finder chart or look in the August 2011 issue of Sky
& Telescope, page 53. The Dawn spacecraft has taken up orbit around Vesta and should be starting its science
imaging around now!
Friday, July 22
· Last-quarter Moon tonight (exact at 1:02 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time). The Moon rises around the middle of
the night with Jupiter below it. By dawn they're very high in the southeast.
ISS Sighting Opportunities
For Denver:
No Sightings until July 23rd.
Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information
NASA-TV Highlights
July 18, Monday
10:49 p.m. - Rendezvous Tools Checkout - JSC (All Channels)
1:29 p.m. - ISS Crew Sleep Begins - JSC (All Channels)
1:59 p.m. - Atlantis Crew Sleep Begins - JSC (All Channels)
3 p.m. - “Launching Our Dreams” Video Feature Playback - JSC (All Channels)
4 p.m. - Flight Day 11 Highlights (replayed on the hour during crew sleep) - JSC (All Channels)
9:29 p.m. - Atlantis/ISS Crew Crew Wake Up (begins FD 12) - JSC (All Channels)
July 19, Tuesday
2:28 a.m. - Atlantis undocks from ISS - JSC (All Channels)
3:27 a.m. - Atlantis Fly around of ISS - JSC (All Channels)
4:18 a.m. - Atlantis Final Separation from ISS - JSC (All Channels)
6:34 a.m. - RMS / OBSS late inspection of Atlantis' TPS - JSC (All Channels)
7:30 a.m. - Mission Status Briefing - JSC (All Channels)
10:49 a.m. - OBSS berth - JSC (All Channels)
1 p.m. - MMT Briefing - JSC (All Channels)
1:59 p.m. – Atlantis Crew Sleep - JSC (All Channels)
2 p.m. - Video file - HQ (All Channels)
3 p.m. - Flight day 12 highlights (replayed on the hour during crew sleep) - JSC (All Channels)
6:15 p.m. - "The Space Shuttle" narrated by William Shatner - JSC (Media Channel)
6:15 p.m. - NASA Celebrates “Spirit”- JSC (Public and Education Channels only)
9:59 p.m. - Atlantis crew wake up (begins fd 13) - JSC (All Channels)
July 22, Friday
10 – 11 a.m. – NASA Science News Briefing – HQ (Public, HD and Media Channels)
Watch NASA TV on the Net by going to NASA website.
Space Calendar
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
Jul 18 - Radio-Astron (Spektr R) Zenit 3F Launch, Successful
Jul 18 - Comet C/2009 P2 (Boattini) Closest Approach To Earth (6.440 AU)
Jul 18 - Asteroid 4255 Spacewatch Closest Approach To Earth (2.435 AU)
Jul 18 - 45th Anniversary (1966), Gemini 10 Launch (John Young & Michael Collins)
Jul 18 - John Glenn's 90th Birthday (1921)
Jul 19 - Comet 27P/Crommelin Closest Approach To Earth (1.586 AU)
Jul 19 - Comet C/2006 S3 (LONEOS) Closest Approach To Earth (4.554 AU)
Jul 19 - Asteroid 90 Antiope Occults HIP 112420 (6.7 Magnitude Star)
Jul 19 - Asteroid 15371 Steward Closest Approach To Earth (1.663 AU)
Jul 19 - Edward Pickering's 165th Birthday (1846)
Jul 20 - Mercury At Its Greatest Eastern Elongation (27 Degrees)
Jul 20 - Comet P/2010 J5 (McNaught) Closest Approach To Earth (3.027 AU)
Jul 20 - Asteroid 11412 (1999 JE19) Occults HIP 104174 (5.2 Magnitude Star)
Jul 20 - Asteroid 51825 Davidbrown Closest Approach To Earth (2.076 AU)
Jul 20 - 35th Anniversary (1976), Viking 1, Mars Landing
Jul 21 - Space Shuttle Atlantis Returns To Earth (STS-135 - Last Shuttle Landing)
Jul 21 - 50th Anniversary (1961), Mercury 4 Launch (Gus Grissom, Liberty Bell 7)
Jul 21 - Asteroid 2575 Bulgaria Occults HIP 17608 (4.2 Magnitude Star)
Jul 21 - Asteroid 2187 La Silla Closest Approach To Earth (1.350 AU)
Jul 21 - Asteroid 46977 Krakow Closest Approach To Earth (2.271 AU)
Jul 22 - Comet 183P/Korlevic-Juric Closest Approach To Earth (3.906 AU)
Jul 22 - Asteroid 2007 RQ17 Near-Earth Flyby (0.034 AU)
Jul 22 - Asteroid 2008 TC Near-Earth Flyby (0.061 AU)
Jul 22 - Asteroid 5450 Sokrates Closest Approach To Earth (2.133 AU)
JPL Space Calendar
Food for Thought
How a Mission to Mars Could Kill You
Space Image of the Week
Awesome Aurora Photographed by Shuttle/ISS Crews