Space News Update
- June 23, 2015 In the News
Story 1:
New from New Horizons: Increasing Variety on Pluto's Close Approach Hemisphere, and a
'Dark Pole' on Charon
Story 2:
Veteran NASA Spacecraft Nears 60,000th Lap Around Mars, No Pit Stops
Story 3:
Detecting exoplanets close to their host star
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities
Space Calendar
NASA-TV Highlights
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week
New from New Horizons: Increasing Variety on
Pluto's Close Approach Hemisphere, and a 'Dark
Pole' on Charon
Veteran NASA Spacecraft Nears 60,000th
Lap Around Mars, No Pit Stops
1. Ratchet Wrench ‘E-mailed’ to Space Station
Detecting exoplanets close to their host star
The Night Sky
Tuesday, June 23
As night falls, look for the Big Dipper hanging
straight down in the northwest. Its bottom two
stars, the Pointers, point to the right toward
modest Polaris, the handle-end of the Little
Dipper. Most of the Little Dipper is very dim. This
is the time of year when it floats straight upward
from Polaris when nightfall is complete — like a
helium balloon escaped from some June evening
party.
Wednesday, June 24
The Summer Triangle looms high in the east
after dark. Its top star is bright Vega. Deneb is
the brightest star to Vega's lower left (by 2 or 3
fists at arm's length). Look for Altair a greater
distance to Vega's lower right.
First-quarter Moon (exact at 7:02 a.m. EDT).
Thursday, June 25
Look for pale bluish Spica below the Moon this evening. Four-star Corvus is much farther below them and perhaps
a bit right.
The brightest star shining very high above the Moon is Arcturus.
Friday, June 26
Venus and Jupiter, shining in the west as twilight fades, are now only 2.2° apart! That's about the width of your
thumb held at arm's length. They point to fainter Regulus, twinkling to their upper left. Watch the two planets move
closer together each evening until their appulse (closest approach) on Tuesday June 30th. That evening they'll be
just 1/3° apart, seven times closer than they appear now!
In reality, they're not close together at all. Venus is 51 million miles from Earth this evening; Jupiter is eleven times
farther at 561 million miles.
Sky & Telescope
ISS Sighting Opportunities
No sightings for Denver
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)
6:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 23 - Science Channel and NASA Present: A Conversation with
Astronaut Reid Wiseman (all channels)
Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website
Space Calendar
Jun 23 - Comet 208P/McMillan Closest Approach To Earth (2.413 AU)
Jun 23 - Comet 298P/Christensen Closest Approach To Earth (2.982 AU)
Jun 23 - Asteroid 2015 KK57 Near-Earth Flyby (0.021 AU)
Jun 23 - [Jun 17] Asteroid 2015 LM24 Near-Earth Flyby (0.056 AU)
Jun 23 - Asteroid 4330 Vivaldi Closest Approach To Earth (1.290 AU)
Jun 23 - Centaur Object 55576 Amycus At Opposition (18.223 AU)
Jun 23 - SpaceUp GLIC, Munich, Germany
Jun 23 - [Jun 22] Webcast: Entrepreneurial Space Panel
Jun 23 - Jaume Nomen's 55th Birthday (1960)
Jun 23 - Donn Eisele's 85th Birthday (1930)
Jun 24 - Mercury At Its Greatest Western Elongation (22 Degrees)
Jun 24 - Comet C/2015 H1 (Bressi) At Opposition (1.475 AU)
Jun 24 - [Jun 21] Asteroid 2015 MN11 Near-Earth Flyby (0.032 AU)
Jun 24 - Asteroid 8299 Tealeoni Closest Approach To Earth (0.946 AU)
Jun 24 - Asteroid 85047 Krakatau Closest Approach To Earth (0.980 AU)
Jun 24 - Asteroid 5011 Ptah Closest Approach To Earth (1.634 AU)
Jun 24 - [Jun 22] Webcast: Arthur C. Clarke Panel - Where Space Meets Popular Culture
Jun 24 - Fred Hoyle's 100th Birthday (1915)
Jun 24 - Edwin Coddington's 145th Birthday (1870)
Jun 25 - Comet P/2009 WX51 (Catalina) Perihelion (0.796 AU)
Jun 25 - Comet 86P/Wild Closest Approach To Earth (1.338 AU)
Jun 25 - Comet 233P/La Sagra Perihelion (1.787 AU)
Jun 25 - Comet P/2007 R3 (Gibbs) Closest Approach To Earth (2.349 AU)
Jun 25 - Comet 188P/LINEAR-Mueller At Opposition (3.343 AU)
Jun 25 - [Jun 23] Asteroid 2015 MA54 Near-Earth Flyby (0.017 AU)
Jun 25 - Asteroid 2007 WU3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.043 AU)
Jun 25 - Asteroid 2010 NY65 Near-Earth Flyby (0.044 AU)
Jun 25 - [Jun 17] Asteroid 2015 LK24 Near-Earth Flyby (0.052 AU)
Jun 25 - Asteroid 7707 Yes Closest Approach To Earth (1.463 AU)
Jun 25 - Asteroid 118945 Rikhill Closest Approach To Earth (2.168 AU)
Jun 25 - [Jun 22] Webcast: John Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and the American Space Program
Jun 25 - Rupert Wildt's 110th Birthday (1905)
Jun 26 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #414 (OTM-414)
Jun 26 - [Jun 23] Comet C/2015 M1 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (1.153 AU)
Jun 26 - Asteroid 2014 OL339 Closest Approach To Earth (0.272 AU)
Jun 26 - Asteroid 274301 Wikipedia Closest Approach To Earth (1.141 AU)
Jun 26 - Asteroid 2023 Asaph Closest Approach To Earth (1.839 AU)
Jun 26 - Asteroid 5035 Swift Closest Approach To Earth (2.016 AU)
Jun 26 - Asteroid 7554 Johnspencer Closest Approach To Earth (2.309 AU)
Jun 26 - David Morrison's 75th Birthday (1940)
Jun 26 - Charles Messier's 285th Birthday (1730)
JPL Space Calendar
New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale
Food for Thought
Astronomers discover more than 800 dark galaxies in the famous
Coma Cluster
Space Image of the Week
Aurora Borealis Comes To Colorado
Image credit: Jim Nelson