Transcript New Horizons Spacecraft `Stays the Course` for Pluto System

Space News Update
- June 21, 2013 In the News
Story 1:
New Horizons Spacecraft ‘Stays the Course’ for Pluto System Encounter
Story 2:
The Myth of the Supermoon
Story 3:
Reducing risk via ground testing is a recipe for SpaceX success
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities
NASA-TV Highlights
Space Calendar
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week
New Horizons Spacecraft ‘Stays the
Course’ for Pluto System Encounter
The Myth of the Supermoon
Reducing risk via ground testing is a recipe for
SpaceX success
The Night Sky
Friday, June 21
· As Mercury fades and descends below Venus day by
day, how long can you keep it in view?
· After dark, look for fire-colored Antares to the lower
right of the bright Moon.
Saturday, June 22
· The largest full Moon of 2013 rises around sunset and
shines all night. Tomorrow night it's almost as full and
almost as large (for the longitudes of the Americas, since
the Moon is exactly full at 7:32 a.m. Sunday morning
EDT.) On both nights, though, this "supermoon" is only a
trace larger than an average Moon: 7% wider. Read
about the supermoon on our blog.
Sunday, June 23
· This is the time of year when the two brightest stars of summer, Arcturus and Vega, are about equally high
overhead shortly after dark. Arcturus is toward the southwest, Vega toward the east.
Arcturus and Vega are 37 and 25 light-years away, respectively, and represent the two commonest types of
naked-eye stars: a yellow-orange Kgiant and a white A main-sequence star. They're 150 and 50 times brighter
than the Sun — which, combined with their nearness, is why they dominate the evening sky.
Monday, June 24
· Look a third of the way from Arcturus to Vega for dim Corona Borealis, the semicircular Northern Crown. It has
one moderately bright star, Alphecca (magnitude 2.2). Look two thirds of the way for the dim Keystone of
Hercules, whose brightest star is magnitude 2.8.
Sky & Telescope
ISS Sighting Opportunities
ISS For Denver:
Date
Visible
Max Height
Appears
Disappears
Fri Jun 21, 9:47 PM
3 min
88°
35 above NW
25 above SE
Sat Jun 22, 8:58 PM
4 min
49°
32 above NNW
10 above ESE
Sat Jun 22, 10:33
PM
Sun Jun 23, 9:45 PM
2 min
16°
10 above W
16 above SW
4 min
29°
16 above W
16 above S
Mon Jun 24, 8:58
PM
4 min
55°
39 above W
10 above SE
Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information
NASA-TV Highlights
(all times Eastern Daylight Time)
June 24, Monday
9 a.m. - ISS Expedition 36 Russian Spacewalk Coverage (Spacewalk scheduled at begin at 9:35 a.m. ET) JSC (Public and Media Channels)
Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website
Space Calendar
Jun 21 - Summer Solstice, 05:04 UT
Jun 21 - Resurs P-1 Soyuz 2-1B Launch
Jun 21 - Asteroid 2013 LC2 Near-Earth Flyby (0.097 AU)
Jun 21 - Asteroid 327 Columbia Closest Approach To Earth (1.622 AU)
Jun 21 - Max Wolf's 150th Birthday (1863)
Jun 22 - Comet P/2006 F4 (Spacewatch) At Opposition (1.653 AU)
Jun 22 - Comet 91P/Russell At Opposition (1.696 AU)
Jun 22 - Asteroid 21619 Johnhopkins Closest Approach To Earth (1.362 AU)
Jun 22 - Asteroid 4169 Celsius Closest Approach To Earth (2.602 AU)
Jun 22 - 35th Anniversary (1978), Jim Christy's Discovery of Pluto's Moon Charon
Jun 23 - Comet 19P/Borrelly At Opposition (4.032 AU)
Jun 23 - Asteroid 25924 Douglasadams Closest Approach To Earth (1.002 AU)
Jun 23 - Asteroid 4148 McCartney Closest Approach To Earth (1.227 AU)
Jun 23-25 - 25th Space Cryogenics Workshop, Girdwood, Alaska
Jun 23-27 - 2013 Halophiles Conference, Storrs, Connecticut
Jun 24 - O3b F-1, F-2, F-3 & F-4 Soyuz STB-Fregat Launch
Jun 24 - Moon Occults Pluto
Jun 24 - Comet 112P/Urata-Niijima Perihelion (1.455 AU)
Jun 24 - Comet P/2012 F2 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (1.971 AU)
Jun 24 - Comet 201P/LONEOS At Opposition (3.452 AU)
Jun 24 - Asteroid 4444 Escher Closest Approach To Earth (1.036 AU)
Jun 24 - Asteroid 5676 Voltaire Closest Approach To Earth (1.419 AU)
Jun 24 - Asteroid 13688 Oklahoma Closest Approach To Earth (1.755 AU)
Jun 24 - Asteroid 4766 Malin Closest Approach To Earth (1.927 AU)
JPL Space Calendar
Food for Thought
Navigating the Solar System Using Pulsars as GPS
Space Image of the Week
Billion-Pixel View of Mars Comes From Curiosity Rover