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Transcript
Space News Update
- March 2, 2012 In the News
Story 1:
Falcon 9 rocket fueling test completed at Cape Canaveral
Story 2:
Night Sky Guide: March 2012
Story 3:
Ready to Launch! A New Website Sharing Space Station Benefits For Humanity
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities
Space Calendar
NASA-TV Highlights
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week
Falcon 9 rocket fueling test completed at Cape
Canaveral
Night Sky Guide: March 2012
Ready to Launch! A New Website Sharing
Space Station Benefits For Humanity
The Night Sky
Friday, March 2
· Bright Venus and Jupiter continue to draw closer together
in the evening sky this week. And use them to find little
Mercury far below. Watch Mercury fading day by day.
· The dark edge of the Moon occults (covers) the 4.1magnitude star Nu Geminorum late tonight for most of
eastern and central North America. With a telescope, watch
the star creep up to the Moon's limb and then suddenly wink
out. Some times: Montreal, 12:15 a.m. EST; Washington DC,
12:29 a.m. EST; Atlanta, 12:49 a.m. EST; Chicago, 11:21
p.m. CST; Kansas City, 11:34 p.m. CST, Edmonton, 9:32 p.m.
MST. More times.
Saturday, March 3
· The Moon shines above Procyon after dark. Upper left of
the Moon are Pollux and Castor.
· Mars is at opposition, appearing opposite the Sun in Earth's
sky. This is the most distant opposition of Mars in its 15-year
cycle of oppositions near and far, so the planet appears only
13.9 arcseconds wide. At its next time around in April 2014,
Mars will reach a diameter of 15.2″.
The Night Sky
Sunday, March 4
· Mercury is at greatest elongation, 18° east of the
Sun. Look for it above the sunset horizon far below
and perhaps a bit right of Venus and Jupiter.
Mercury remains at nearly the same place above
your horizon each evening this week, but it's fading
day by day.
Monday, March 5
· Mars is at its closest to Earth for this apparition:
100.8 million km (62.6 million miles). Mars appears
13.9 arcseconds wide, compared to the 24″ or 25″
it reaches during its closet swing-bys. The last time
that happened was in 2003; the next will be in
2018.
· The eclipsing variable star Algol should be at
minimum light, magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual
2.1, for a couple hours centered on 9:25 p.m. EST.
It takes several additional hours to fade and to
rebrighten.
For Denver: No ISS Sighting Opportunities
ISS Sighting Opportunities
For Denver:
SATELLITE
LOCAL
DURATION
DATE/TIME
(MIN)
MAX
ELEV
(DEG)
APPROACH DEPARTURE
(DEG-DIR)
(DEG-DIR)
ISS
Wed Feb 29/07:40 PM
1
27
21 above W
27 above SW
ISS
Thu Mar 01/06:43 PM
4
65
29 above WNW 10 above SE
ISS
Fri Mar 02/07:23 PM
2
13
13 above WSW 10 above SSW
ISS
Sat Mar 03/06:27 PM
3
29
29 above SW
11 above SSE
ISS
Thu Mar 15/06:27 AM
2
17
10 above S
17 above SE
ISS
Wed Feb 29/07:40 PM
1
27
21 above W
27 above SW
Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information
NASA-TV Highlights
(all times Eastern Daylight Time)
March 2, Friday
11 a.m. - ISS Update - JSC (All Channels)
1 p.m. - Celebrating John Glenn’s Legacy: 50 Years of Americans in Orbit 1962-2012 GRC (All Channels)
2:15 p.m. - Celebrating John Glenn’s Legacy: 50 Years of Americans in Orbit 1962-2012
Post-Event News Conference and Tweetup - GRC (All Channels)
7 p.m. - Replay of ISS Update - HQ (All Channels)
11 p.m. - Replay of ISS Update - HQ (All Channels)
March 5, Monday
1:15 p.m. - ISS Expedition 30 In-Flight Event for ESA with German Chancellor Angela Merkel
from Hanover, Germany - JSC(Public and Media Channels)
Watch NASA TV on the Net by going to NASA website
Johann Gottfried Galle
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Space Calendar
02 - [Feb 26] Comet P/2011 VJ5 (Lemmon) Closest Approach To Earth (0.813 AU)
02 - Comet C/2012 A2 (LINEAR) Closest Approach To Earth (3.521 AU)
02 - [Feb 28] Asteroid 2012 DR32 Near-Earth Flyby (0.022 AU)
02 - Asteroid 12410 Donald Duck Closest Approach To Earth (1.105 AU)
02 - Asteroid 2933 Amber Closest Approach To Earth (1.749 AU)
02 - 40th Anniversary (1972), Pioneer 10 Launch (Jupiter Flyby Mission)
03 - Mars At Opposition
03 - Comet P/2012 A3 (SOHO) Closest Approach To Earth (0.791 AU)
03 - Asteroid 8209 Toscanelli Closest Approach To Earth (1.683 AU)
04 - [Feb 25] Asteroid 2012 DZ13 Near-Earth Flyby (0.033 AU)
04 - Asteroid 1862 Apollo Closest Approach To Earth (1.219 AU)
04 - Asteroid 3673 Levy Closest Approach To Earth (1.432 AU)
04 - Asteroid 6032 Nobel Closest Approach To Earth (2.003 AU)
04 - Asteroid 1640 Nemo Closest Approach To Earth (2.073 AU)
05 - Mercury At Its Greatest Eastern Elongation (18 Degrees)
05 - Comet 182P/LONEOS Perihelion (1.009 AU)
05 - Comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd) Closest Approach To Earth (1.266 AU)
05 - [Feb 28] Asteroid 2012 DJ31 Near-Earth Flyby (0.034 AU)
05 - Asteroid 4055 Magellan Closest Approach To Earth (1.355 AU)
05 - Asteroid 13208 FraschettiClosest Approach T Earth (1.885 AU)
05 - Asteroid 3202 Graff Closest Approach To Earth (2.640 AU)
05 - 30th Anniversary (1982), Venera 14, Venus Landing/Flyby (USSR)
05 - Gerard Mercator's 500th Birthday (1512)
Food for Thought
Warp Drives May Come With a Killer Downside
Space Image of the Week
Orion's Rainbow of Infrared Light
Image credit: NASA/ESA/JPL-Caltech/IRAM