Space News Update- February 8, 2013 -

In the News

Story 1: Landsat Go for Feb. 11 Launch

Story 2: Asteroid 2012 DA14 to Whiz Past Earth Safely

Story 3: Earth's Saltiest Pond: Implications for Water on Mars

Departments

The Night SkyISS Sighting Opportunities

NASA-TV HighlightsSpace CalendarFood for Thought

Space Image of the Week

Landsat Go for Feb. 11 Launch

Asteroid 2012 DA14 to Whiz Past Earth Safely

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Earth's Saltiest Pond: Implications for Water on Mars

The Night SkyFriday, February 8 · Mercury-Mars Conjunction. Mars is less than ½° from Mercury low in the west-southwest in bright twilight, as shown at right (for North America). They'll certainly be an interesting pair through a telescope, though both will be tiny and blurred at such a low altitude. See Mercury Meets Mars.

Saturday, February 9 · Mars now appears 1.1° below brighter Mercury (for North America), low in the sunset glow.

Sunday, February 10 · New Moon; exact at 2:20 a.m. EST on this date (11:20 p.m. on the 19th PST). · Catch your record young Moon? Very low in the west shortly after sunset, if the air is very clear, binoculars may show an extremely thin crescent Moon well to the lower right of Mercury and Mars (viewed from North America), as illustrated at right. If you see the crescent from the Eastern time zone, you're seeing it when it's only 15 or 16 hours old — a remarkable record that you may not beat in a lifetime! Seen three hours later in twilight from the Pacific time zone, the Moon will be 18 or 19 hours old — still likely a record for your logbook. Record the time you detect the Moon to the minute, and calculate how long this is from the time of new Moon given above.

Monday, February 11 · Mercury shines lower left of the Moon, as shown below. And bring binoculars for a last shot at faint, low Mars.

ISS Sighting Opportunities

Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

For Denver:

SATELLITE LOCAL DURATIONMAX ELEV

APPROACH DEPARTURE

DATE/TIME (MIN) (DEG) (DEG-DIR) (DEG-DIR)

ISS Fri Feb 08/07:18 PM 2 59 18 above WSW 59 above WNW

ISS Sat Feb 09/06:27 PM 5 70 13 above SW 20 above ENE

ISS Sat Feb 09/08:05 PM < 1 12 12 above WNW 12 above WNW

ISS Sun Feb 10/07:15 PM 2 28 21 above WNW 26 above N

ISS Mon Feb 11/06:25 PM 4 45 35 above WNW 13 above NE

ISS Mon Feb 11/08:01 PM < 1 10 10 above NW 10 above NW

NASA-TV Highlights

Watch NASA TV on the Net by going to NASA website.

February 8, Friday3 p.m. - LDCM Prelaunch News Conference - VAFB (All Channels)3:45 p.m. - LDCM Mission Science Briefing - VAFB (All Channels) February 9, Saturday8 a.m. - ISS Progress 48 Undocking Coverage (undocking scheduled at 8:15 a.m. ET) - JSC (All Channels) February 10, Sunday12 - 2 p.m. - LDCM NASA Social - VAFB (All Channels) February 11, Monday6 a.m. - Live Feed of LDCM on Vandenberg Air Force Base Launch Pad – VAFB(All Channels)6:15 a.m. - Live shot for KGW Television Portland Oregon – VAFB(All Channels)6:30 - 9:30 a.m. - Live Feed of LDCM on Vandenberg Air Force Base Launch Pad – VAFB(All Channels)9:30 a.m. - ISS Progress 50 Launch Coverage (launch scheduled at 9:41 a.m. ET) - JSC via Baikonur, Kazakhstan (All Channels)10:15 a.m. - LDCM Live Launch Coverage - VAFB (Public and Education Channels)11 a.m. - ISS Update (Media Channel)3 p.m. - LDCM Post launch News Conference - VAFB (Media Channel)3 p.m. - ISS Progress 50 Docking Coverage (docking scheduled at 3:40 p.m. ET) - JSC (Public and Education Channels)

Space CalendarFeb 08 - Mercury Passes 0.3 Degrees From Mars Feb 08 - Comet P/2012 US27 (Siding Spring) Perihelion (1.821 AU) Feb 08 - [Feb 01] Comet P/2013 A2 (Scotti) Perihelion (2.179 AU) Feb 08 - Asteroid 2002 LY1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.074 AU) Feb 08 - Asteroid 11195 Woomera Closest Approach To Earth (1.073 AU) Feb 08 - Asteroid 11055 Honduras Closest Approach To Earth (1.867 AU) Feb 08 - Asteroid 118401 LINEAR Closest Approach To Earth (2.446 AU) Feb 08 - Jules Verne's 185th Birthday (1828) Feb 09 - [Feb 06] Progress 48 Reenters Earth's Atmosphere Feb 09 - Comet 176P/LINEAR Closest Approach To Earth (2.444 AU) Feb 09 - Comet 133P/Elst-Pizarro Perihelion (2.650 AU) Feb 09 - Asteroid 564 Dudu Occults HIP 33133 (6.5 Magnitude Star) Feb 09 - Asteroid 1282 Utopia Closest Approach To Earth (2.144 AU) Feb 09 - Asteroid 4327 Ries Closest Approach To Earth (2.449 AU) Feb 10 - Chinese New YearFeb 10 - Asteroid 3356 Resnik Closest Approach To Earth (1.345 AU) Feb 10 - Asteroid 19578 Kirkdouglas Closest Approach To Earth (1.612 AU) Feb 10 - Asteroid 4804 Pasteur Closest Approach To Earth (1.887 AU) Feb 10 - 15th Anniversary (1998), Galileo, Europa 13 Flyby Feb 11 - [Feb 06] Progress M-18M Soyuz U Launch (International Space Station 50P) Feb 11 - [Feb 08] Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) Atlas 5 Launch Feb 11 - Comet P/2009 SK280 (Spacewatch-Hill) Closest Approach To Earth (4.225 AU) Feb 11 - Asteroid 2013 BW15 Near-Earth Flyby (0.009 AU) Feb 11 - Asteroid 4221 Picasso Closest Approach To Earth (1.648 AU) Feb 11 - Asteroid 7755 Haute-Provence Closest Approach To Earth (2.087 AU) Feb 11 - Asteroid 9250 Chamberlin Closest Approach To Earth (2.208 AU) Feb 11 - Asteroid 1712 Angola Closest Approach To Earth (2.417 AU) Feb 11 - Asteroid 35350 Lespaul Closest Approach To Earth (2.477 AU)

JPL Space Calendar

Jules Verne

Food for ThoughtNASA Long-Distance Google+ Hangout to

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Space Image of the Week

Image Credit:  Image Data - Hubble Legacy Archive, Robert Gendler, Jay Gabany, Processing - Robert Gendler)

The Arms of M106