Space News Update - February 11, In the News Story 1: Story 1: Curiosity Crosses Dingo Gap Dune – Gateway to Valley and Mountain Destinations Beyond Story 2: NASA Mars Orbiters See Clues to Possible Water Flows Story 3: Story 3: NASA Extends Moon Exploring Satellite Mission Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

Curiosity Crosses Dingo Gap Dune – Gateway to Valley and Mountain Destinations Beyond

NASA Mars Orbiters See Clues to Possible Water Flows

NASA Extends Moon Exploring Satellite Mission

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, February 11 Jupiter shines above the Moon in early evening. Lower right of the Moon is Procyon, as shown here. Upper left of the Moon are Pollux and, farther on, Castor. Wednesday, February 12 To the right of the Moon this evening, by more than a fist- width at arm's length, sparkles Procyon, the Little Dog Star, one of our near stellar neighbors at a distance of 11.5 light- years. About twice as far to Procyon's lower right is brighter Sirius, the Big Dog Star, only 8.6 light-years away. The biggest and brightest asteroids, 1 Ceres and 4 Vesta respectively, are only about 4° apart in eastern Virgo in the early morning hours. They're magnitude 8.1 and 7.1, respectively. And then the full Moon pairs up with Regulus on Valentine's Day. Such a pretty couple, if a bit mismatched. Thursday, February 13 The wheel of the year is turning, and spring is only a little more than a month away. So by 9 or 10 p.m. (depending on your location), you'll find the Big Dipper already standing on its handle in the northeast as high as Cassiopeia has descended in the northwest. Friday, February 14 Full Moon (exactly full at 6:53 p.m. EST). Look for Regulus in Leo to the Moon's left during evening. A February full Moon is never far from Regulus. Algol in Perseus should be at its minimum light, magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1, for a couple hours centered on about 10:30 p.m. EST (7:30 p.m. PST). Algol takes several additional hours to fade and to rebrighten.

ISS Sighting Opportunities Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting InformationSatellite Sighting Information ISS For Denver : DateVisibleMax HeightAppearsDisappears Tue Feb 11, 6:31 PM4 min22°16 above WNW11 above NNE Wed Feb 12, 7:20 PM1 min12°10 above NNW12 above N Thu Feb 13, 6:30 PM4 min14°10 above NW10 above NNE Fri Feb 14, 7:20 PM< 1 min10°10 above NNW10 above N Sat Feb 15, 6:31 PM2 min11°10 above NNW10 above N

NASA-TV Highlights (all times Eastern Time Zone) Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA websiteNASA website MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013 NASA MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013 NASA MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013 NASA February 13, Thursday 7:35 a.m. - ISS Expedition 38 In-Flight Interviews with WATR Radio, Waterbury, Conn. and KSPR-TV, Springfield, Mo. - JSC (All Channels) 12 p.m. - ISS Mission Control Console Interview with the Digital Learning Network - JSC (All Channels)

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Feb 11 - Comet P/2013 N3 (PANSTARRS) Perihelion (3.029 AU) Feb 11 - Comet 36P/Whipple At Opposition (3.466 AU) Feb 11 - Comet 129P/Shoemaker-Levy Perihelion (3.914 AU) Feb 11 - Asteroid 2014 BT43 Near-Earth Flyby (0.025 AU) Feb 11 - Asteroid 2013 BS45 Near-Earth Flyby (0.032 AU) Feb 11 - Asteroid 9995 Alouette Closest Approach To Earth (1.301 AU) Feb 11 - Asteroid 9341 Gracekelly Closest Approach To Earth (1.791 AU) Feb 12 - Comet P/2012 T1 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (2.373 AU) Feb 12 - Comet P/2012 S2 (La Sagra) At Opposition (3.809 AU) Feb 12 - Asteroid 2014 CB3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.023 AU) Feb 12 -Asteroid 2014 CA3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.087 AU) Feb 12 - Asteroid 671 Carnegia Closest Approach To Earth (1.972 AU) Feb th Anniversary (1974), Mars 5, Mars Orbit Insertion Feb 13 - Comet P/2004 FY140 (LINEAR) At Opposition (3.440 AU) Feb 13 - Comet C/2013 F2 (Catalina) Closest Approach To Earth (5.690 AU) Feb 13 - Asteroid Donati Closest Approach To Earth (1.183 AU) Feb 13 - Asteroid 9963 Sandage Closest Approach To Earth (1.930 AU) Feb 14 - TurkSat 4A Proton M-Briz M Launch Feb 14 - Comet 107P/Wilson-Harrington Closest Approach To Earth (1.817 AU) Feb 14 - Comet 111P/Helin-Roman-Crockett Closest Approach To Earth (2.874 AU) Feb 14 - Comet P/2011 R3 (Novichonok-Gerke) Closest Approach To Earth (3.623 AU) Feb 14 - Asteroid 2 Pallas Occults TYC (10.2 Magnitude Star) Feb 14 - Asteroid 5450 Sokrates Closest Approach To Earth (1.553 AU) Feb 14 - Asteroid 1198 Atlantis Closest Approach To Earth (1.960 AU)

Food for Thought New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale

Space Image of the Week The Missing Craters of Asteroid Itokawa Image Credit & Copyright: ISAS, JAXA