Transcript The Night Sky

Space News Update
- November 3, 2015 In the News
Story 1:
First Detection of Molecular Oxygen at a Comet
Story 2:
Spirals in Dust Around Young Stars May Betray Presence of Massive Planets
Story 3:
Deepest-Ever Dive Through Enceladus Plume Completed
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities
Space Calendar
NASA-TV Highlights
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week
First Detection of Molecular Oxygen at
a Comet
Spirals in Dust Around Young Stars May Betray
Presence of Massive Planets
Deepest-Ever Dive Through Enceladus
Plume Completed
The Night Sky
Tuesday, November 3

Around 9 p.m., depending on where you are, zero-magnitude
Capella rises exactly as high in the northeast as zeromagnitude Vega has sunk in the west-northwest. How
accurately can you time this event? Astrolabe not required. . .
but it would help.
Wednesday, November 4

Algol should be at its minimum brightness, magnitude 3.4
instead of its usual 2.1, for a couple hours centered on 8:30
p.m. EST according to its recently revised predictions.
Comparison-star chart. The waning crescent Moon poses with
Jupiter on the morning of Friday the 6th, then with Venus and
Mars on Saturday the 7th.
Thursday, November 5

By about 9 p.m. Orion is clearing your eastern horizon
(depending on how far east or west you live in your time
zone). High above Orion shines orange Aldebaran. Above
Aldebaran is the little Pleiades cluster, the size of your
fingertip at arm's length. Far left of the Pleiades shines bright
Capella.

The waning Moon shines with Jupiter before and during dawn
on Friday morning the 6th, as shown at right. Venus and Mars
are below them. Think photo opportunity: Use a tripod, a long
lens or zoom, and include a bit of foreground.
Friday, November 6

In Saturday's dawn, the waning crescent Moon has now
stepped down a notch to shine strikingly paired with Venus, as
shown at right. Faint Mars close by makes it a triangle. Jupiter
shines above them.
Sky & Telescope
ISS Sighting Opportunities
ISS For Denver:
Date
Visible
Date
Appears
Disappears
Wed Nov 4, 5:16 AM
< 1 min
10°
10° above SE
10° above SE
Thu Nov 5, 5:57 AM
6 min
54°
11° above SW
11° above ENE
Fri Nov 6, 5:04 AM
3 min
26°
11° above S
25° above ESE
Sat Nov 7, 4:14 AM
1 min
13°
13° above SE
12° above ESE
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)
Tuesday, November 3

12:30 p.m. - ISS Expedition 45 In-Flight Interviews with Fox News Channel’s “Fox and
Friends” and the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley with ISS Commander Scott Kelly of
NASA (Starts at 12:25 pm) (all channels)
Wednesday, November 4
•
2 p.m. - Live Shot Interviews from the Johnson Space Center, Houston (all channels)
Thursday, November 5

2 p.m. - NASA News Conference – Mars Space Science Update (all channels)
Friday, November 6

5:30 a.m. - U.S. ISS Spacewalk Coverage (Lindgren and Kelly; Spacewalk Begins at 7:10
a.m. ET) (NTV-1 (Public), NTV-2 (Education))

6 a.m. - Live Satellite Media Interviews on Mars MAVEN Results (NTV-3 (Media))
Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website
Space Calendar

Nov 03 - Venus Passes 0.7 Degrees From Mars

Nov 03 - Taurids Meteor Shower Peak

Nov 03 - Comet C/2013 P4 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (5.450 AU)

Nov 03 - Apollo Asteroid 4450 Pan Closest Approach To Earth (1.194 AU)

Nov 03 - Tsutomu Seki's 85th Birthday (1930)

Nov 03-06 - SPARC SOLARIS-HEPPA Working Group Meeting, Boulder, Colorado

Nov 04 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #429 (OTM-429)

Nov 04 - Comet P/2014 W2 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (2.580 AU)

Nov 04 - Comet 235P/LINEAR At Opposition (3.670 AU)

Nov 04 - Apollo Asteroid 2015 TD179 Near-Earth Flyby (0.027 AU)

Nov 04 - Asteroid 90388 Philchristensen Closest Approach To Earth (1.343 AU)

Nov 04 - Centaur Object 54598 Bienor At Opposition (14.800 AU)

Nov 04 - Kuiper Belt Object 55637 (2002 UX25) At Opposition (39.895 AU)

Nov 04 - 5th Anniversary (2010), EPOXI, Comet 103P/Hartley 2 Flyby

Nov 05 - Comet P/2014 V1 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (2.305 AU)

Nov 05 - Comet 278P/McNaught At Opposition (3.793 AU)

Nov 05 - Comet 246P/NEAT At Opposition (3.862 AU)

Nov 05 - Asteroid 1718 Namibia Closest Approach To Earth (1.076 AU)

Nov 05 - Asteroid 1704 Wachmann Closest Approach To Earth (1.369 AU)

Nov 05 - Asteroid 13513 Manilla Closest Approach To Earth (1.482 AU)

Nov 05 - Apollo Asteroid 7092 Cadmus Closest Approach To Earth (1.549 AU)

Nov 05 - Kuiper Belt Object 84522 (2002 TC302) At Opposition (44.110 AU)

Nov 05 - Leon Teisserenc de Bort's 160th Birthday (1855)

Nov 06 - Comet P/2008 Y2 (Gibbs) Perihelion (1.629 AU)

Nov 06 - Asteroid 39 Laetitia At Opposition (8.9 Magnitude)

Nov 06 - Aten Asteroid 2002 XY38 Near-Earth Flyby (0.083 AU)

Nov 06 - Asteroid 17942 Whiterabbit Closest Approach To Earth (1.667 AU)

Nov 06 - Asteroid 2169 Taiwan Closest Approach To Earth (1.675 AU)
JPL Space Calendar
New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale
Food for Thought
Cosmic Soufflé: The Tricky Art of Spiral Galaxies
Space Image of the Week
Charon and the Small Moons of Pluto
Image Credit: NASA, Johns Hopkins U. APL, SwRI