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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
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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