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Space News Update — August 5, 2016 —

Contents

In the News

Story 1: Decades of Discovery: NASA’s Exploration of Jupiter

Story 2: New Type of Exotic Binary Star

Story 3: NASA Rover Game Released for Curiosity’s Anniversary

Departments

The Night Sky

ISS Sighting Opportunities

Space Calendar

NASA-TV Highlights

Food for Thought

Space Image of the Week

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1. Decades of Discovery: NASA’s Exploration of Jupiter

Launched five years ago on Aug. 5, 2011, NASA’s Juno mission maneuvered into orbit around Jupiter on July 4, 2016, joining a long tradition of discovery at the gas giant.

One of the brightest objects in the night sky, Jupiter has enthralled humans since ancient times. Today, scientists believe that learning more about the planet may be the key to discovering our solar system’s origins and formation. They theorize that Jupiter didn’t always rest where it is now, but that it moved throughout the solar system in its youth, disrupting the formation of Mars, influencing the formation and location of the asteroid belt, and more.

Scientists began to use space missions to unlock the planet’s secrets in the early 1970s when Juno’s earliest ancestors, Pioneer 10 and 11, launched. The pair of spacecraft reached the planet in late 1973 and early 1974. For the first time ever, scientists could obtain direct observations and close-up images of Jupiter, its moons and the mysterious Great Red Spot.

From Pioneer’s findings, scientists were able to make numerous conclusions about Jupiter. They found that the planet is composed mostly of liquid, and that it has a magnetotail, an extension of its magnetic field, like Earth. This hinted at Jupiter’s composition and the possibility of a solid core. They also got a close look at Jupiter’s clouds – from 26,000 miles (about 42,000 km) – to determine weather patterns.

The Pioneer missions paved the way for a second set of Jupiter-focused missions in the late 1970s, Voyager 1 and 2. Launched in 1977, the spacecraft are most famous for traversing to the outermost portion of the solar system – Voyager 1 has even passed its outer limits and has now passed into the space between solar systems. In time, Voyager 2 and the Pioneer missions will also leave the solar system. The Voyager pair flew past Jupiter in 1979, taking more than 52,000 photos of the planet and its moons over the course of several months.

These images and accompanying observations sparked seemingly countless new discoveries. The data revealed many features of the weather on Jupiter, including the existence of lightning in the cloud tops and of hurricane-like storm systems. Plus, for the first time, scientists discovered the existence of active volcanoes elsewhere than Earth, on the planet’s moon Io.

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The Galileo missions to Jupiter followed in the late 1980s. Unlike previous missions, this set of spacecraft – an atmospheric probe and an orbiter – were designed to orbit the planet rather than collect data on flyby. The probe was the first spacecraft to directly measure characteristics of Jupiter’s atmosphere – descending 95 miles (153 kilometers) into it before melting and vaporizing from the extreme heat. The probe passed 58 minutes of atmospheric data to the orbiter, which then transmitted it back to Earth. The data included measurements of Jupiter’s atmospheric elements and showed that their abundance differed from that of the sun, providing insight into the planet’s formation.

The orbiter itself made numerous long-term observations about the Jupiter system, including finding evidence to support the theory that an ocean of water lies under the surface of the moon Europa and finding Jupiter’s ring system, a nearly invisible set of rings composed of dust created by meteoroid impacts with the planet’s four moons. In July 1994, Galileo also witnessed the collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter, the first observation of such an impact as it occurred on any planet besides Earth.

The Ulysses mission to study the sun collected data on Jupiter’s magnetosphere while the planet provided a gravitational assist to change the spacecraft’s trajectory in 1992. The Cassini spacecraft also observed Jupiter in 2000 on its way to its target destination, Saturn. Cassini’s camera took 26,000 images of the planet and its moons and created the most detailed global color portrait of Jupiter ever produced at the time.

More recently, New Horizons, a mission to Pluto, added to these observations during its flyby of Jupiter in 2007, finding the planet changed since previous looks by NASA – the Galileo spacecraft burned up in Jupiter’s atmosphere in fall 2003. New Horizons spent about six months observing the Jupiter planet system during its flyby on the way to Pluto, further exploring its weather systems, moons and rings. Perhaps most notably, New Horizons saw about 36 volcanoes on Io and measured the temperature of lava, finding it similar to that of Earth-based volcanoes.

The Hubble Space Telescope has made multiple observations and taken numerous photos of Jupiter since its launch in April 1990. Hubble’s observations of the planet stretch over 26 years, and many of its observations are concurrent with other Jupiter missions, particularly Galileo. In fact, Hubble also witnessed the collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter, providing another perspective of the impact sites. Hubble’s observations of the gas giant have continued to the present day. In October 2015, Hubble photos showed changes in Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, and in June 2016, Hubble took awe-inspiring photos of auroras on the planet’s poles. Hubble’s observations of the solar system and the wider universe are expected to continue through 2020 and beyond.

With Juno’s successful orbit insertion at Jupiter in July 2016, scientists expect to release information about the mission’s first findings in September. NASA has already released several images taken of the planet by the JunoCam camera. Juno will make observations about Jupiter’s atmosphere and magnetic and gravitational fields, providing more information about the planet’s structure so scientists can deepen their understanding of Jupiter’s origin and evolution. Any of these clues could begin to unravel the mystery of the solar system’s origins and formation.

Related information:

• http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/main/index.html • http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/missions/archive/pioneer10-11.html • http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/index.html • https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/galileo/index.cfm • http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Mission/The-Path-to-Pluto/Jupiter-Encounter.php

Source: NASA Return to Contents

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2. New Type of Exotic Binary Star

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, along with other telescopes on the ground and in space, have discovered a new type of exotic binary star

In the system AR Scorpii a rapidly spinning white dwarf star is powering electrons up to almost the speed of light. These high energy particles release blasts of radiation that lash the companion red dwarf star, and cause the entire system to pulse dramatically every 1.97 minutes with radiation ranging from the ultraviolet to radio.

In May 2015, a group of amateur astronomers from Germany, Belgium and the UK came across a star system that was exhibiting behaviour unlike anything they had ever encountered before. Follow-up observations led by the University of Warwick and using a multitude of telescopes on the ground and in space, including the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope [1], have now revealed the true nature of this previously misidentified system.

The star system AR Scorpii, or AR Sco for short, lies in the constellation of Scorpius, 380 light-years from Earth. It comprises a rapidly spinning white dwarf [2], the same size as Earth but containing 200 000 times more mass, and a cool red dwarf companion one third the mass of the Sun [3]. They are orbiting one another every 3.6 hours in a cosmic dance as regular as clockwork.

In a unique twist, this binary star system is exhibiting some brutal behaviour. Highly magnetic and spinning rapidly, AR Sco's white dwarf accelerates electrons up to almost the speed of light. As these high energy particles whip through space, they release radiation in a lighthouse-like beam which lashes across the face of the cool red dwarf star, causing the entire system to brighten and fade dramatically every 1.97 minutes. These powerful pulses include radiation at radio frequencies, which has never been detected before from a white dwarf system.

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Lead researcher Tom Marsh of the University of Warwick's Astrophysics Group commented: "AR Scorpii was discovered over 40 years ago, but its true nature was not suspected until we started observing it in June 2015. We realised we were seeing something extraordinary the more we progressed with our observations."

The observed properties of AR Sco are unique. And they are also mysterious. The radiation across a broad range of frequencies is indicative of emission from electrons accelerated in magnetic fields, which can be explained by AR Sco's spinning white dwarf. The source of the electrons themselves, however, is a major mystery -- it is not clear whether it is associated with the white dwarf, or its cooler companion.

AR Scorpii was first observed in the early 1970s and regular fluctuations in brightness every 3.6 hours led it to be incorrectly classified as a lone variable star [4]. The true source of AR Scorpii's varying luminosity was revealed thanks to the combined efforts of amateur and professional astronomers. Similar pulsing behaviour has been observed before, but from neutron stars -- some of the densest celestial objects known in the Universe -- rather than white dwarfs.

Boris Gänsicke, co-author of the new study, also at the University of Warwick, concludes: "We've known about pulsing neutron stars for nearly fifty years, and some theories predicted white dwarfs could show similar behaviour. It's very exciting that we have discovered such a system, and it has been a fantastic example of amateur astronomers and academics working together."

Notes

[1] The observations underlying this research were carried out on: ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) located at Cerro Paranal, Chile; the William Herschel and Isaac Newton Telescopes of the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes sited on the Spanish island of La Palma in the Canaries; the Australia Telescope Compact Array at the Paul Wild Observatory, Narrabri, Australia; the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope ; and NASA's Swift satellite.

[2] White dwarfs form late in the life cycles of stars with masses up to about eight times that of our Sun. After hydrogen fusion in a star's core is exhausted, the internal changes are reflected in a dramatic expansion into a red giant, followed by a contraction accompanied by the star's outer layers being blown off in great clouds of dust and gas. Left behind is a white dwarf, Earth-sized but 200 000 times more dense. A single spoonful of the matter making up a white dwarf would weigh about as much as an elephant here on Earth.

[3] This red dwarf is an M type star. M type stars are the most common class in the Harvard classification system, which uses single letters to group stars according their spectral characteristics.

[4] A variable star is one whose brightness fluctuates as seen from Earth. The fluctuations may be due to the intrinsic properties of the star itself changing. For instance some stars noticeably expand and contract. It could also be due to another object regularly eclipsing the star. AR Scorpii was mistaken for a single variable star since regular fluctuations in observed brightness occur as the two stars orbit each other and one blocks some of the light from the other.

Source: Spaceref.com Return to Contents

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3. NASA Rover Game Released for Curiosity’s Anniversary

As Curiosity marks its fourth anniversary (in Earth years) since landing on Mars, the rover is working on collecting its 17th sample. While Curiosity explores Mars, gamers can join the fun via a new social media game, Mars Rover.

On their mobile devices, players drive a rover through rough Martian terrain, challenging themselves to navigate and balance the rover while earning points along the way. The game also illustrates how NASA's next Mars rover, in development for launch in 2020, will use radar to search for underground water.

"We're excited about a new way for people on the go to engage with Curiosity's current adventures on Mars and future exploration by NASA's Mars 2020 rover too," said Michelle Viotti, manager of Mars public engagement initiatives at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "Using social networks, the user can share the fun with friends. The interest that is

shared through gameplay also helps us open a door to deeper literacy in science, technology, engineering and mathematics." JPL collaborated with GAMEE, a network for game-players, for development of the game, called Mars Rover.

For more information about how the Mars Rover game relates to exploration by NASA's Mars rovers, visit mars.nasa.gov/gamee-rover

Meanwhile, on Mars the real rover has driven to position for drilling into a rock target called "Marimba," to acquire rock powder for onboard laboratory analysis. The rover has begun a multi-month ascent of a mudstone geological unit as it heads toward higher and progressively younger geological evidence on Mount Sharp, including some rock types not yet explored.

The mission is examining the lower slopes of Mount Sharp, a layered mountain inside Gale Crater, to learn more about how and when ancient environmental conditions in the area evolved from freshwater settings into conditions drier and less favorable for life. Six of the mission's 13 drilled rock-samples so far, and two of its four scooped soil samples, have been collected since the third anniversary of landing. In its four years, Curiosity has returned more than 128,000 images and fired its laser more than 362,000 times. As of the fourth anniversary, Curiosity has driven 8.43 miles (13.57 kilometers).

Curiosity landed inside Mars' Gale Crater on Aug. 6, 2012, EDT (evening of Aug. 5, PDT), with a touchdown technique called the sky-crane maneuver. During the rover's first Earth year on Mars, the mission accomplished its main goal when it found and examined an ancient habitable environment. Researchers determined that a freshwater lake at the "Yellowknife Bay" site billions of years ago offered the chemical ingredients and energy favorable for supporting microbial life, if life has ever existed on Mars.

NASA's orbiters and rovers at Mars enable continued scientific discoveries and prepare the way for future astronauts to explore the Red Planet. More information about NASA's Journey to Mars is available online at:

https://www.nasa.gov/topics/journeytomars.

For more information about Curiosity, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl.

Source: NASA Return to Contents

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The Night Sky Friday, August 5

• The crescent Moon poses with Jupiter low in the west in twilight, as shown here.

• The Big Dipper hangs diagonally in the northwest after dark. From its midpoint, look to the right to find Polaris (not very bright) glimmering due north as always.

Polaris is the handle-end of the Little Dipper. The only other parts of the Little Dipper that are even modestly bright are the two stars forming the outer end of its bowl. On August evenings they're about a fist and a half (at arm's length) to Polaris's upper left. They're called the Guardians of the Pole, since they circle around Polaris all night and all year.

• Seen any Perseid meteors yet? The shower is due to peak late Thursday night the 11th, but it's active at lesser levels for many nights before and several nights after. On the morning of August 3rd, writes Bill R. Smith of Choco, California, "I saw four Perseids in an hour," and on the morning of the 4th, "six in one hour. Looks like we will indeed have a good showing this time!" For now, there's no interfering moonlight.

Saturday, August 6

• Today is the midpoint of astronomical summer: halfway between the June solstice and the September equinox (even though August 1st, Lammas Day, is generally celebrated as the "cross-quarter" day). The exact midpoint of summer is at 2:28 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (18:28 UT).

• Accordingly, the "Spring Star" Arcturus now shines only moderately high in the west after dark, heading down — while the Great Square of Pegasus, emblem of autumn, is low in the east coming up. Look for the Great Square balanced on one corner. It's about 15° on a side, larger than your fist at arm's length.

Sunday, August 7

• As the stars come out, look left of the Moon for Spica, and right or lower right of the Moon for fainter Gamma Virginis (Porrima).

• Much higher above the Moon is brighter Arcturus. Far to the right of Arcturus. . . there's the handle of the Big Dipper.

Monday, August 8

• In the deepening twilight, Spica twinkles below or lower right of the Moon.

• Mars is passing 0.9° beneath Delta Scorpii (Dschubba), the brightest star in the head of Scorpius, this evening and tomorrow evening.

Source: Sky & Telescope Return to Contents

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ISS Sighting Opportunities

For Denver:

Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Fri Aug 5, 9:54 PM 2 min 11° 10° above N 10° above NNE Sat Aug 6, 9:02 PM < 1 min 10° 10° above N 10° above N Sat Aug 6, 10:38 PM 1 min 19° 14° above NNW 19° above NNE Sun Aug 7, 9:45 PM 3 min 14° 12° above N 11° above NE Mon Aug 8, 8:52 PM 2 min 11° 10° above N 10° above NNE Mon Aug 8, 10:28 PM < 1 min 27° 20° above NNW 27° above N Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

NASA-TV Highlights (all times Eastern Daylight Time)

Tuesday, August 9

10 a.m., ISS Expedition 48 In-Flight Interview for Lena Dunham’s “Women of the Hour” Podcast with Flight Engineer Kate Rubins of NASA (NTV-1 (Public), NTV-3 (Media))

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

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Space Calendar • Aug 05 - Amor Asteroid 2016 NR55 Near-Earth Flyby (0.064 AU) • Aug 05 - Asteroid 15845 Bambi Closest Approach To Earth (1.155 AU) • Aug 05 - Asteroid 32605 Lucy Closest Approach To Earth (1.587 AU) • Aug 05 - Asteroid 18610 Arthurdent Closest Approach To Earth (1.963 AU) • Aug 05 - Centaur Object 37117 Narcissus At Opposition (5.228 AU) • Aug 05 - 5th Anniversary (2011), Juno Atlas 5 Launch (Jupiter Orbiter) • Aug 05 - Leonid Kizim's 75th Birthday (1941) • Aug 06 - Southern Iota Aquarids Meteor Shower Peak • Aug 06 - Moon Occults Jupiter • Aug 06 - Amor Asteroid 2016 NK39 Near-Earth Flyby (0.077 AU) • Aug 06 - Asteroid 10792 Ecuador Closest Approach To Earth (1.787 AU) • Aug 06 - Asteroid 2398 Jilin Closest Approach To Earth (1.822 AU) • Aug 06 - Asteroid 5661 Hildebrand Closest Approach To Earth (2.026 AU) • Aug 06 - 15th Anniversary (2001), Galileo, Io 31 Flyby • Aug 06 - 55th Anniversary (1961), Vostok 2 Launch (Gherman Titov - 2nd Man in Space) • Aug 06 - William Wollaston's 250th Birthday (1766) • Aug 06 - 835th Anniversary (1181), Discovery of Supernova Cassiopeia • Aug 07 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #457 (OTM-457) • Aug 07 - Comet C/2016 K1 (LINEAR) At Opposition (1.516 AU) • Aug 07 - Comet 53P/Van Biesbroeck At Opposition (1.544 AU) • Aug 07 - Comet C/2014 R3 (PANSTARRS) Perihelion (7.276 AU) • Aug 07 - [Aug 05] Apollo Asteroid 2016 PQ Near-Earth Flyby (0.025 AU) • Aug 07 - [Jul 31] Apollo Asteroid 2016 OV Near-Earth Flyby (0.077 AU) • Aug 07 - Asteroid 6223 Dahl Closest Approach To Earth (1.521 AU) • Aug 07 - Kent Rominger's 60th Birthday (1956) • Aug 07 - 20th Anniversary (1996), Announcement of Possible Microfossils Found in ALH84001 Martian

Meteorite • Aug 07 - 40th Anniversary (1976), Viking 2, Mars Orbit Insertion • Aug 07 - Andrew Common's 175th Birthday (1841) • Aug 08 - Comet 5D/Brorsen At Opposition (3.283 AU) • Aug 08 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 CL264 Near-Earth Flyby (0.058 AU) • Aug 08 - Asteroid 1002 Olbersia Closest Approach To Earth (1.381 AU) • Aug 08 - Asteroid 30440 Larry Closest Approach To Earth (1.747 AU) • Aug 08 - 15th Anniversary (2001), Genesis Launch (Solar Particle Sample Return)

Andrew Ainslie Common, amateur astronomer and astrophotographer

Source: JPL Space Calendar Return to Contents

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Food for Thought

NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative Opens Space to Educators, Nonprofits

Accredited education institutions, nonprofit organizations and NASA centers can join the adventure and challenges of space while helping the agency achieve its exploration goals through the next round of the agency’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI). Applicants must submit proposals by 4:30 p.m. EST, Nov. 22.

The CSLI provides CubeSat developers with a low-cost pathway to space to conduct research that advances NASA's strategic goals in the areas of science, exploration, technology development, education and operations. The initiative provides students, teachers and faculty with the chance to get hands-on flight hardware development experience designing, building and operating these small research satellites.

NASA will make selections by Feb. 17, 2017, but selection does not guarantee a launch opportunity. Selected experiments will be considered as auxiliary payloads on agency launches or for deployment from the International Space Station beginning in 2017 through 2020. If chosen, U.S. nonprofit and accredited educational organizations are entirely responsible for funding the development of the small satellites.

To date, NASA has selected 119 CubeSat missions, 46 of which have been launched into space. NASA has offered a launch opportunity to 95 percent of those selected through previous announcements, with 29 scheduled for launch within the next 12 months. The selected CubeSats represent participants from 32 states, demonstrating the significant progress NASA has made on a remarkable goal established during the 2015 White House Maker Faire, to launch a small satellite from at least one participant in every state during the next five years.

For this round of the initiative, NASA is particularly interested in participation from organizations in the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and 18 states not previously selected. These states are: Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming.

CubeSats are in a class of research spacecraft called nanosatellites. Base CubeSat dimensions are about 4-by-4-by-4 inches (10-by-10-by-11 centimeters), which equals one Cube, or 1U. CubeSats supported by this launch effort include volumes of 1U, 2U, 3U and 6U. CubeSats of 1U, 2U and 3U size typically have a mass of about three pounds (1.33 kilograms) per 1U Cube. A 6U CubeSat typically has a mass of about 26.5 pounds (12 to 14 kilograms). The CubeSat's final mass depends on the selected deployment method.

Small satellites, including CubeSats, play a valuable role in the agency’s exploration, science, technology and educational investigations. These miniature satellites provide a low-cost platform for NASA science missions,

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including planetary exploration, Earth observation, and fundamental Earth and space science. They are a cornerstone in the development of cutting-edge NASA technologies like laser communications, satellite-to-satellite communications and autonomous movement.

NASA also is using small satellites to demonstrate and validate the vehicles, systems and protections humans need to live and work in space and on other worlds. They are an inexpensive means to engage students in all phases of satellite development, operation and exploitation through real-world, hands-on research and development experience on NASA-funded rideshare launch opportunities.

For additional information about NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/home/CubeSats_initiative

To explore images from our previous launches, follow us on Flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/145538433@N02/

Find us on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nasa_cubesat/

Source: NASA Return to Contents

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Space Image of the Week

M63: Sunflower Galaxy Wide Field

Explanation: The Sunflower Galaxy blooms near the center of this wide field telescopic view. The scene spans about 2 degrees or 4 full moons on the sky toward the loyal constellation Canes Venatici. More formally known as Messier 63, the majestic island universe is nearly 100,000 light-years across, about the size of our own Milky Way Galaxy. Surrounding its bright yellowish core, sweeping spiral arms are streaked with cosmic dust lanes and dotted with star forming regions. A dominant member of a known galaxy group, M63 has faint, extended features that could be the the remains of dwarf satellite galaxies, evidence that large galaxies grow by accreting small ones. M63 shines across the electromagnetic spectrum and is thought to have undergone bursts of intense star formation. Image Credit & Copyright: Data - Deep Sky West, Processing - John Vermette

Source: Astronomy Picture of the Day Return to Contents