Space News Update - August 5, In the News Story 1: Story 1: NASA's Juno Spacecraft Launches to Jupiter Story 2: Story 2: Liquid Water on Mars Might Taste Salty Story 3: Story 3: Second Moon May Have Orbited Earth Billions of Years Ago Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week NASA's Juno Spacecraft Launches to Jupiter Liquid Water on Mars Might Taste Salty Second Moon May Have Orbited Earth Billions of Years Ago The Night Sky Friday, August 5 The Moon shines in the southwest as twilight fades. Look to its right as the stars come out for Spica and, farther on, yellower Saturn. Mars, low in the east-northeast just before the first light of dawn, is passing less than 1 south (lower right) of the star cluster M35 in Gemini on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Use binoculars or a telescope. Saturday, August 6 First-quarter Moon (exact at 7:08 a.m. EDT). The Moon is in the middle of Libra, to the right of the stars of upper Scorpius. Sunday, August 7 The Moon shines in the head of Scorpius this evening, near Antares. In the southeastern sky after dusk, about a third of the way from the horizon to overhead, are the dim but distinctive stars of the western end of Capricornus. The scene is shown magnified at right, roughly as if in binoculars (but brighter). Alpha Capricorni is a wide pair, wide enough that you can probably resolve its two components with the unaided eye if you look carefully. The Night Sky Monday, August 8 This evening the Moon shines between the head of Scorpius to its right and the top of the Sagittarius Teapot to its left. The brightest asteroid, 4 Vesta, is just past opposition this week, shining at magnitude 5.7 in Capricornus. It's an easy find in binoculars in late evening and can be seen with the unaided eye from a dark site once the Moon sets. Use the finder chart in the August Sky & Telescope, page 53, or our Vesta and Ceres finder charts online. The Dawn spacecraft is orbiting Vesta and sending back high-res pictures. Dawn will spiral down to a much lower orbit for closeup imaging by early Meanwhile, 1 Ceres lurks two constellations farther east in Cetus. It's magnitude 8.3 and brightening. After Dawn departs Vesta in summer 2012, it will fly on to take up orbit around Ceres in February 2015. ISS Sighting Opportunities SATELLITELOCALDURATION MAX ELEV APPROACHDEPARTURE DATE/TIME(MIN)(DEG)(DEG-DIR) Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASAs Satellite Sighting InformationSatellite Sighting Information For Denver: For Denver: No ISS Sighting Opportunities ISSSat Aug 06/02:48 AM< above N ISSSat Aug 06/04:25 AM< above N ISSSun Aug 07/05:02 AM21610 above NNW16 above NNE ISSMon Aug 08/04:04 AM11110 above N11 above NNE ISSMon Aug 08/05:39 AM33810 above NW38 above NE NASA-TV Highlights (all times Eastern Daylight Time) Watch NASA TV on the Net by going to NASA websiteNASA website August 5, Friday NET 2:30 p.m. - Juno Post-Launch News Conference KSC (All Channels) August 9, Tuesday 12:55 - 1:15 p.m. - ISS Expedition 28 Educational Event with the Boy Scouts of America in St. Paul, MN - JSC (All Channels) Space Calendar Aug 05 - [Aug 05] Juno Atlas 5 Launch, Successful Aug 05 - [Aug 01] Astra 1N/ B-Sat 3C (JC-Sat 110R) Ariane 5 Launch Aug 05 - Asteroid 4 Vesta At Opposition (5.6 Magnitude) Aug 05 - Asteroid Edmonton Closest Approach To Earth (1.524 AU) Aug 05 - Asteroid 6758 Jesseowens Closest Approach To Earth (1.570 AU) Aug 05 - Asteroid 3808 Tempel Closest Approach To Earth (1.583 AU) Aug 06 - Southern Iota Aquarids Meteor Shower Peak Aug 06 - [Aug 05] Asteroid 2011 OB26 Near-Earth Flyby (0.028 AU) Aug 06 - Asteroid 4769 Castalia Closest Approach To Earth (0.463 AU) Aug 06 - Asteroid 2597 Arthur Closest Approach To Earth (1.888 AU) Aug th Anniversary (2001), Galileo, Io 31 Flyby Aug th Anniversary (1961), Vostok 2 Launch (Gherman Titov - 2nd Man in Space) Aug th Anniversary (1181), Discovery of Supernova Cassiopeia Aug 07 - Asteroid 951 Gaspra Occults TYC (9.9 Magnitude Star) Aug 07 - Asteroid 1566 Icarus Closest Approach To Earth (0.909 AU) Aug 07 - Asteroid 9770 Discovery Closest Approach To Earth (1.370 AU) Aug th Anniversary (1996), Announcement of Possible Microfossils Found in ALH84001 Martian Meteorite Aug th Anniversary (1976), Viking 2, Mars Orbit Insertion Aug 08 - Asteroid 1718 Namibia Closest Approach To Earth (0.755 AU) Aug 08 - Teachers Touch the Sky: An Astronomy Workshop, Pasadena, California Aug th Anniversary (2001), Genesis Launch (Solar Particle Sample Return) JPL Space Calendar Food for Thought 3 small, icy worlds found orbiting near Pluto Space Image of the Week Strong Solar Activity Source: SpaceWeather