Space News Update- April 26, 2013 -

In the News

Story 1: NASA Probes Near Sun Safe from Triple Solar Eruption

Story 2: SpaceShipTwo could go supersonic Monday, billionaire backer says

Story 3: Record-breaking pulsar takes tests of general relativity into new territory

Departments

The Night SkyISS Sighting Opportunities

NASA-TV HighlightsSpace CalendarFood for Thought

Space Image of the Week

Record-breaking pulsar takes tests of general relativity into

new territory

>

SpaceShipTwo could go supersonic Monday, billionaire

backer says

Record-breaking pulsar takes tests of general relativity into

new territory

The Night Sky

Friday, April 26· Around the end of twilight, the Moon rises below Saturn. With binoculars, look closer below Saturn for the wide double star Alpha2 and Alpha1 Librae, magnitudes 2.8 and 5.2 respectively. (They're numbered in order of their westward progression across the sky, not in order of brightness).

Saturday, April 27· Saturn is at opposition tonight: opposite the Sun as seen from Earth. See more under "This Week's Planet Roundup" below.· The waning gibbous Moon rises in the southeast very late this evening, with the red supergiant Antares sparkling to its right. By early dawn Sunday morning Antares is below the Moon in the southwest, as shown above.

The Night Sky

Sunday, April 28· The classic small-scope binary star Gamma Virginis, or Porrima, shines upper right of Spica, 14° from it (about a fist and a half at arm's length) these evenings. Porrima's two equal components were almost unresolvably close together for much of the last decade, but this spring they've widened to 2 arcseconds apart. Use high power. (An orbit diagram is in the May Sky & Telescope, page 51.)

Monday, April 29· It's almost May, yet the winter star Sirius still twinkles low above the west-southwest horizon in late twilight. How much later into the spring can you keep it in view?

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 Apr 26/08:23 PM 4 52 38 above W 10 above SE

ISS Sat Apr 27/09:09 PM < 1 10 10 above WSW 10 above SW

ISS Sun Apr 28/08:19 PM 3 19 16 above WSW 10 above S

NASA-TV Highlights

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

April 26, Friday6:30 a.m. - ISS Progress 51 Docking Coverage (Docking scheduled at approximately 8:30 a.m. EDT) - JSC (All Channels)9 a.m. - 6 p.m. - NASA’s Great Moon Buggy Race - MSFC (Education Channel)9:30 a.m. - 7:15 p.m. - Live Coverage of FIRST Robotic Finals from St. Louis Missouri - HQ (Public Channel)11 a.m. - Space Station Live - JSC (Media Channel)

April 27, Saturday9 a.m. - 6 p.m. - NASA’s Great Moon Buggy Race - MSFC (Education Channel)9:30 a.m. - 7 p.m. - Live Coverage of FIRST Robotic Finals from St. Louis Missouri - HQ (Public Channel)

Space Calendar

Apr 26 - Comet 193P/LINEAR-NEAT At Opposition (2.976 AU)Apr 26 - Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann Closest Approach To Earth (5.230 AU)Apr 26 - Asteroid 2612 Kathryn Occults HIP 34608 (6.4 Magnitude Star)Apr 26 - [Apr 22] Asteroid 2013 GE55 Near-Earth Flyby (0.069 AU)Apr 26 - Asteroid 2575 Bulgaria Closest Approach To Earth (1.008 AU)Apr 26 - Asteroid 3153 Lincoln Closest Approach To Earth (1.727 AU)Apr 26 - Asteroid 16626 Thumper Closest Approach To Earth (1.925 AU)Apr 26 - 15th Anniversary (1998), Cassini, Venus FlybyApr 26 - 165th Anniversary (1848), Andrew Graham's Discovery of Asteroid 9 MetisApr 27 - Comet 278P/McNaught At Opposition (1.224 AU)Apr 27 - Comet 162P/Siding Spring At Opposition (3.764 AU)Apr 27 - Comet C/2006 S3 (LONEOS) At Opposition (4.851 AU)Apr 27 - Comet C/2010 L3 (Catalina) Closest Approach To Earth (10.087 AU)Apr 27 - [Apr 24] Asteroid 2013 HP11 Near-Earth Flyby (0.033 AU)Apr 28 - Saturn At OppositionApr 28 - Comet C/2013 F1 (Boattini) At Opposition (1.738 AU)Apr 28 - 10th Anniversary (2003), Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) LaunchApr 28 - Eugene Shoemaker's 85th Birthday (1928)Apr 29 - Comet 117P/Helin-Roman-Alu At Opposition (2.433 AU)Apr 29 - Asteroid 1909 Alekhin Occults HIP 78933 (3.9 Magnitude Star)Apr 29 - Asteroid 242643 (2005 NZ6) Near-Earth Flyby (0.064 AU)Apr 29 - Asteroid 7016 Conandoyle Closest Approach To Earth (1.184 AU)Apr 29 - Asteroid 9134 Encke Closest Approach To Earth (1.919 AU)Apr 29 - Asteroid 11945 Amsterdam Closest Approach To Earth (2.150 AU)Apr 29 - Asteroid 12432 Usuda Closest Approach To Earth (2.180 AU)Apr 29 - Asteroid 9252 Goddard Closest Approach To Earth (2.413 AU)Apr 29 - Asteroid 1537 Transylvania Closest Approach To Earth (2.890 AU)Eugene Shoemaker wearing a Bell Rocket Belt while training astronauts.Apr 29 - Asteroid 3202 Graff Closest Approach To Earth (3.019 AU)

JPL Space Calendar

Eugene Shoemaker wearing a Bell Rocket Belt while training astronauts

Food for ThoughtNASA Invites the Public to Fly Along with Voyager

Space Image of the Week

Image Credit: NASA, Solar Dynamics Observatory