Transcript The Night Sky

Space News Update
- April 22, 2016 In the News
Story 1:
Hubble captures birthday bubble
Story 2:
Aerojet Rocketdyne tapped to build high-power ion drive
Story 3:
Our sun may have eaten a super-Earth for breakfast
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities
Space Calendar
NASA-TV Highlights
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week
Hubble captures birthday bubble
Aerojet Rocketdyne tapped to build highpower ion drive
Our sun may have eaten a super-Earth
for breakfast
The Night Sky
Friday, April 22
• As night descends, look high in the west for Pollux and Castor lined up
almost horizontally (depending on your latitude). Pollux and Castor, the
heads of the almost-upright Gemini twins, form the top of the enormous
Arch of Spring. The two ends of the Arch are Procyon to their lower left,
and brighter Capella farther to their lower right. Also part of the Arch is
fainter Menkalinan (Beta Aurigae), upper left of Capella. The whole thing
sinks in the west through the evening.
Saturday, April 23
• Arcturus is the brightest star in the east these evenings. Spica shines
about three fists at arm's length to its lower right. To the right of Spica by
half that distance is the distinctive four-star constellation Corvus, the Crow
of Spring.
Sunday, April 24
• The waning gibbous Moon rises late this evening and is well up by
midnight. By then you can see that it forms an irregular quadrilateral, about
10° across, with bright Mars, Saturn, and fainter Antares. They're in the
south-southwest by the time dawn brightens on Monday morning the 25th,
as shown at right.
Monday, April 25
• The waning gibbous Moon shines nearly in a straight line with Saturn and
Mars on Tuesday morning the 26th (depending on your location), as shown
above. Their best time for telescopic observation is when they're highest:
around 3 a.m.
Tuesday, April 26
• Bright Jupiter stands high due south at nightfall. To its right is the Sickle of Leo, upright with Regulus marking the bottom
of its handle. The Sickle's second-brightest star is Algieba, Gamma Leonis, a fine double star for telescopes. With the Moon
now gone from the evening sky, explore the faint galaxy groups around Algieba with Sue French's Deep-Sky Wonders article,
charts, and photos in the April issue of Sky & Telescope, page 54.
Sky & Telescope
ISS Sighting Opportunities
ISS For Denver:
There are no sightings in your area for the period of Wednesday
Apr 20, 2016 through Thursday May 5, 2016
Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information
MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013
NASA
NASA-TV Highlights
(all times Eastern Time Zone)
10 a.m., Tuesday, April 26 - Space Station Live (all channels)
11 a.m., Tuesday, April 26 - ISS Expedition 47 In-Flight Educational Event with the
Townview Magnet High School in Dallas, Texas with NASA Flight Engineer Jeff Williams and
Flight Engineer Tim Peake of the European Space Agency (starts at 11:15 a.m.) (all channels)
12 p.m., Tuesday, April 26 - “Science and Spacewalking at the International Space
Station” a Special Presentation by NASA Astronaut Kjell Lindgren at the Smithsonian’s
National Air and Space Museum (NTV-1 (Public), NTV-2 (Education))
Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website
Space Calendar
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22 - [Apr 21] Sentinel 1B/ NORSAT 1/ MICROSCOPE/ AAUSAT 4/ e-st@r/ OUFTI 1 Soyuz-STA Fregat-M Launch
22 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #447 (OTM-447)
22 - Lyrids Meteor Shower Peak
22 - Venus Passes 0.9 Degrees from Uranus
22 - Comet P/2015 HG16 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (3.570 AU)
22 - Kuiper Belt Object 50000 Quaoar Occults UCAC4-373-110044 (13.9 Magnitude Star)
22 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 GD207 Near-Earth Flyby (0.011 AU)
22 - [Apr 19] Apollo Asteroid 2016 HA Near-Earth Flyby (0.017 AU)
22 - Asteroid 21619 Johnhopkins Closest Approach To Earth (1.228 AU)
22 - Asteroid 4416 Ramses Closest Approach To Earth (1.498 AU)
22 - Asteroid 8444 Popovich Closest Approach To Earth (1.593 AU)
22 - Asteroid 9997 COBE Closest Approach To Earth (1.774 AU)
22 - Lecture: CubeSats - Big Goals, Tiny Package, Pasadena, California
22 - Harold Jeffreys' 125th Birthday (1891)
22-24 - International Space Apps Challenge, Pasadena, California
23 - Comet P/2009 Q4 (Boattini) At Opposition (2.128 AU)
23 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 FH12 Near-Earth Flyby (0.020 AU)
23 - Aten Asteroid 2014 UR Near-Earth Flyby (0.079 AU)
23 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 BU13 Near-Earth Flyby (0.079 AU)
23 - Apollo Asteroid 2006 HF6 Near-Earth Flyby (0.098 AU)
23 - Asteroid 218998 Navi Closest Approach To Earth (1.239 AU)
23 - Asteroid 128 Nemesis Closest Approach To Earth (2.089 AU)
24 - Comet 180P/NEAT Closest Approach To Earth (1.668 AU)
24 - Comet C/2015 LC2 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (5.455 AU)
24 - [Apr 17] Apollo Asteroid 2016 GC222 Near-Earth Flyby (0.036 AU)
24 - [Apr 17] Aten Asteroid 2016 GW221 Near-Earth Flyby (0.040 AU)
24 - Asteroid 48300 Kronk Closest Approach To Earth (1.954 AU)
24 - Amor Asteroid 9950 ESA Closest Approach To Earth (2.368 AU)
24 - Asteroid 1539 Borrelly Closest Approach To Earth (2.735 AU)
24 - Stephen Synnott's 70th Birthday (1946)
JPL Space Calendar
Space Calendar
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Comet 169P/NEAT At Opposition (3.600 AU)
Comet P/2014 A3 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (4.223 AU)
Comet C/2015 F3 (SWAN) At Opposition (4.386 AU)
Apollo Asteroid 2016 FY3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.017 AU)
Aten Asteroid 2003 KO2 Near-Earth Flyby (0.046 AU)
Amor Asteroid 2016 FE1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.067 AU)
Asteroid 316020 Linshuhow Closest Approach To Earth (1.020 AU)
Asteroid 763 Cupido Closest Approach To Earth (1.596 AU)
Asteroid 11356 Chuckjones Closest Approach To Earth (2.380 AU)
Asteroid 1941 Wild Closest Approach To Earth (3.872 AU)
Comet C/2014 X1 (Elenin) At Opposition (3.575 AU)
Comet C/2016 E1 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (7.570 AU)
Asteroid 14965 Bonk Closest Approach To Earth (1.034 AU)
Asteroid 6735 Madhatter Closest Approach To Earth (1.287 AU)
Amor Asteroid 2202 Pele Closest Approach To Earth (2.449 AU)
Asteroid 1268 Libya Closest Approach To Earth (3.050 AU)
JPL Space Calendar
Food for Thought
Picture This: Students Access Space Station Camera to Photograph Earth
Space Image of the Week
Morning Sunglint Over the Pacific
Credit: NASA