Space News Update- December 10, 2012-

In the News

Story 1: CuriousMars: Martian Science Detectives Aid Curiosity and Opportunity

Story 2:NASA Reveals Plans for New Mars Rover

Story 3: ILS Proton-M Launch With Yamal-402 Suffers Briz-M Anomaly

 Departments

The Night SkyISS Sighting Opportunities

Space CalendarNASA-TV Highlights

Food for ThoughtSpace Image of the Week

CuriousMars: Martian Science Detectives Aid Curiosity and

OpportunityCuriosity's busy robotic arm sampling at Rocknest

NASA Reveals Plans for New Mars Rover

ILS Proton-M launch with Yamal-402 suffers Briz-M anomaly

The Night SkyMonday, December 10Low in the southeast in early dawn Tuesday morning, the waning crescent Moon is beautifully paired with Venus, as shown at right.

Tuesday, December 11Flyby of Toutatis. The small Earth-crossing asteroid 4179 Toutatis is performing one of its close approaches to Earth tonight, as it does every four years. Locate it creeping across the stars of Cetus and Pisces using at least a 3- or 4-inch telescope tonight through Friday night. It's magnitude 10.9 tonight and peaks at 10.5 on Friday. Use the finder charts for each of these four nights in the December Sky & Telescope, page 53, or online.Algol should be at its minimum light for a couple hours centered on 9:18 p.m. EST. Here's a comparison-star chart giving the magnitudes of three stars near Algol; use them to judge its changing brightness.

Wednesday, December 12As the stars come out in late twilight, the flattened W of Cassiopeia is still standing on one end high in the northeast. By as early as 8 p.m. it turns around to be a horizontal M, even higher in the north.Sky & Telescope

The Night SkyThursday, December 13The Geminid meteor shower,often the best in the annual meteor calendar, should be at its maximum late tonight. And there's no Moon. See our article, Geminid Meteors to Peak the Night of Dec. 13th.New Moon (exact at 3:42 a.m. on the 13th EST).

Friday, December 14Orion stands centered between two bright lights this year. High above it during evening shines bright Jupiter (with its orange sidekick Aldebaran). A similar distance below Jupiter, Sirius rises around 8 p.m. (the time depends on your location) — with its white sidekick Mirzam.Sirius, just 8.6 light-years away, is the brightest star in the night sky. It's also the closest that's ever visible to the unaided eye from mid-northern latitudes.

Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities

Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

For Denver:

SkyWatch is under maintenance and was unavailable

NASA-TV Highlights(all times Eastern Daylight Time)

December 13, Thursday12:05 p.m. - ISS Mission Control Interview with the Digital Learning Network - JSC (All Channels)

December 14, Friday2 p.m. - Video File of the ISS Expedition 34/35 Crew Activities in Baikonur, Kazakhstan - JSC (All Channels)

December 17, Monday12 p.m. - Video File of the ISS Expedition 34/35 Soyuz TMA-07M Spacecraft Encapsulation, Rocket Mating and Rollout in Baikonur, Kazakhstan - JSC (All Channels)

Space CalendarDec 11 - [Dec 06] X-37B OTV-1 F-2 Atlas 5 Launch Dec 11 - Asteroid 1168 Brandia Occults HIP 18805 (5.7 Magnitude Star) Dec 11 - Asteroid 2009 BS5 Near-Earth Flyby (0.022 AU) Dec 11 - Asteroid 43844 Rowling Closest Approach To Earth (1.655 AU) Dec 12 - Moon Occults Mercury Dec 12 - Comet P/2011 N1 (ASH) Closest Approach To Earth (2.262 AU) Dec 12 - Comet 129P/Shoemaker-Levy Closest Approach To Earth (3.078 AU) Dec 12 - [Dec 05] Asteroid 2012 XA Near-Earth Flyby (0.037 AU) Dec 12 - Asteroid 4179 Toutatis Near-Earth Flyby (0.046 AU) Dec 12 - Asteroid 2187 La Silla Closest Approach To Earth (1.550 AU) Dec 12 - Asteroid 10792 Ecuador Closest Approach To Earth (2.164 AU) Dec 13 - 45th Anniversary (1967), Pioneer 8 Launch Launch Dec 13 - Geminids Meteor Shower Peak Dec 13 - Asteroid 4368 Pillmore Occults HIP 18893 (6.9 Magnitude Star) Dec 13 - Asteroid 73491 Robmatson Closest Approach To Earth (1.517 AU) Dec 13 - Asteroid 128036 Rafaelnadal Closest Approach To Earth (1.985 AU) Dec 13 - 40 Years (1972) Since Man Has Been to the Moon (Apollo 17) Dec 13 - Kristian Birkeland's 145th Birthday (1867) Dec 14 - Comet C/2012 T5 (Bressi) Closest Approach To Earth (0.931 AU) Dec 14 - Asteroid 21 Lutetia Occults UCAC2 40324622 (12.0 Magnitude Star) Dec 14 - Asteroid 125071 Lugosi Closest Approach To Earth (1.186 AU) Dec 14 - Asteroid 4134 Schutz Closest Approach To Earth (1.457 AU) Dec 14 - Asteroid 793 Arizona Closest Approach To Earth (1.883 AU) Dec 14 - Asteroid 12258 Oscarwilde Closest Approach To Earth (1.933 AU) Dec 14 - 50th Anniversary (1962), Mariner 2, Venus Flyby Dec 14 - 205th Anniversary (1807), Weston Meteorite Fall

Space CalendarPioneer 8 was the third in a series of solar-orbiting, spin-stabilized, solar-cell and battery-powered satellites weighing 146 kg. It was launched in 1967 into a heliocentric orbit and was last tracked successfully on 22 August 1996, nearly 29 years NASA Pioneer 8

NASA Mariner 2

NASA Mariner 2 was the first robotic space probe to conduct a successful planetary encounter. Mariner 2 passed within 35,000 kilometres (22,000 mi) of Venus. The spacecraft weighted 203 kg.

Food for ThoughtX-ray Burst May Be the First Sign of a Supernova

Space Image of the WeekThe Astronaut Who Captured a

Satellite

Image Credit: STS-51A, NASA