1. Space News Update - March 24, 2017 - In the News Departments Story 1:
Curiosity’s Battered Wheels Show First Breaks
Story 2:
Andromeda's Bright X-Ray Mystery Solved by NuSTAR
Story 3: Surviving the Long Dark Night of the Moon
Departments
The Night Sky
ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar
NASA-TV Highlights
Food for Thought
Space Image of the Week

2. Curiosity’s Battered Wheels Show First Breaks
In this computer graphic, NASA's Voyager 1 probe, moving toward upper left, nears the edge of the sun's influence, flying through a region of space dominated by a "magnetic highway" that helps mediate the flow of particles into and out of the solar system. The region includes particles from the sun's southern hemisphere that have been forced northward by the pressure of the interstellar wind. Voyager 1 is expected to cross the boundary into interstellar space sometime within the next few years if not sooner. (Credit: NASA)

3. Andromeda's Bright X-Ray Mystery Solved by NuSTAR

4. Surviving the Long Dark Night of the Moon

5. The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Friday, March 24
• This is the time of year when the dim Little Dipper (Ursa Minor) juts to the right from Polaris, the Little Dipper's handle-end during late evening. The much brighter Big Dipper curls over high above it, "dumping water" into it. They do the reverse in the fall.
Saturday, March 25
• Jupiter's moon Io disappears into eclipse by Jupiter's shadow, barely off Jupiter's western limb, around 12:18 a.m. EDT tonight (11:18 p.m. CDT). A small telescope is all you'll need.
• Venus reaches inferior conjunction, 8° north of the Sun.
Sunday, March 26
• Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak ("T-G-K") is becoming nicely visible in amateur telescopes high in the northern evening sky. Currently about magnitude 7, it may reach 6th magnitude through April. It's large (passing relatively close to Earth) but rather diffuse. During past returns, it's been known to flare in brightness. The Moon is out of the sky; look before it comes back. See article.
Monday, March 27
• You may know Cancer's two binocular star clusters, the Beehive and little M67. But try too for the lovely double star Iota Cancri in the constellation's north end. With a separation of 30 arcseconds, its unequal yellow and blue components, magnitudes 4.0 and 6.6,
can be a challenging split in 10×50 binos. And explore other sights a bit north of there using Matt Wedel's Binocular Highlights chart and column in the April Sky & Telescope, page 43.
• New Moon (exact at 10:57 p.m. EDT).
Tuesday, March 28
• Arcturus, the "Spring Star," now rises above the east-northeast horizon by the time the stars come out. How soon can you spot it? Brighter Jupiter comes up a little later , depending on your latitude, 30° to Arcturus's right.

6. ISS Sighting Opportunities
ISS For Denver:
Date
Visible
Max Height
Appears
Disappears
Fri Mar 24, 5:57 AM
2 min
18°
18° above SW
11° above S
Sat Mar 25, 5:07 AM
< 1 min
10°
10° above SSE
Sun Mar 26, 8:48 PM
42°
11° above SW
42° above S
Mon Mar 27, 7:56 PM
5 min
25°
13° above E
Mon Mar 27, 9:33 PM
26°
12° above W
26° above WNW
Tue Mar 28, 8:40 PM
61°
10° above WSW
22° above NE
Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

7. NASA-TV Highlights (all times Eastern Time Zone)
MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013
NASA
MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013
NASA
MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013
NASA
NASA-TV Highlights
(all times Eastern Time Zone)
No special event programming through March 30th.
Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

8. Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar
Mar 24 - Comet 133P/Elst-Pizarro Closest Approach To Earth (2.297 AU)
Mar 24 - [Mar 20] Amor Asteroid 2017 FT Near-Earth Flyby (0.074 AU)
Mar 24 - Asteroid Freddiemercury Closest Approach To Earth (1.316 AU)
Mar 24 - Asteroid 8250 Cornell Closest Approach To Earth (2.574 AU)
Mar th Anniversary (1992), STS-45 Launch (Space Shuttle Atlantis, ATLAS-1)
Mar 24 - Krafft Ehricke's 100th Birthday (1917)
Mar 24 - Sidney Fox's 105th Birthday (1912)
Mar 25 - Comet 73P-E/Schwassmann-Wachmann Perihelion (0.971 AU)
Mar 25 - Comet 73P-AD/Schwassmann-Wachmann Perihelion (0.972 AU)
Mar 25 - Comet 118P/Shoemaker-Levy At Opposition (1.850 AU)
Mar 25 - Comet P/2008 QP20 (LINEAR-Hill) At Opposition (3.539 AU)
Mar 25 - Apollo Asteroid Ryugu Closest Approach To Earth (0.651 AU) (Hayabusa 2 Target)
Mar 25 - Asteroid Polynesia Closest Approach To Earth (1.167 AU)
Mar 25 - Asteroid Angstrom Closest Approach To Earth (1.796 AU)
Mar 25 - Asteroid 7818 Muirhead Closest Approach To Earth (1.842 AU)
Mar 25 - Asteroid 1042 Amazone Closest Approach To Earth (2.582 AU)
Mar th Anniversary (1857), Frederick Lagenheim Takes 1s Photo of a Solar Eclipse
Mar 25-Apr 01 - Recontres de Moriond: Gravitation, La Thuile, Aosta Valley, Italy
Mar 26 - European Summer Time - Set Clock Ahead 1 Hour (European Union)
Mar 26 - Moon Occults Neptune
Mar 26 - Comet 73P-AC/Schwassmann-Wachmann Closest Approach To Earth (0.870 AU)
Mar 26 - Comet 73P-M/Schwassmann-Wachmann Perihelion (0.971 AU)
Mar 26 - Comet 349P/Lemmon At Opposition (1.661 AU)
Mar 26 - Apollo Asteroid 2015 TC25 Near-Earth Flyby (0.020 AU)
Mar 26 - Aten Asteroid 2017 ED3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.090 AU)
Mar 26 - Atira Asteroid 2013 JX28 Closest Approach To Earth (1.031 AU)
Mar 26 - Asteroid 9500 Camelot Closest Approach To Earth (1.565 AU)
Mar th Anniversary (1997), Heaven's Gate Mass Suicide
Mar 26 - Yuri Gidzenko's 55th Birthday (1962)
Mar 27 - [Mar 22] CRS-7 (OA-7 - S.S. John Glenn)/  Atlas 5 Launch (International Space Station)
Mar 27 - [Mar 19] SES-10 Falcon 9 Launch
Mar 27 - Juno, Jupiter Flyby
Mar 27 - Mercury Passes 2.4 Degrees From Uranus
Mar 27 - Comet 187P/LINEAR At Opposition (3.175 AU)
JPL Space Calendar

9. Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar
Mar 27 - [Mar 23] Apollo Asteroid 2017 FF3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.015 AU)
Mar 27 - [Mar 23] Apollo Asteroid 2017 FK3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.023 AU)
Mar 27 - Aten Asteroid 2010 EG21 Near-Earth Flyby (0.074 AU)
Mar 27 - Asteroid 2002 Euler Closest Approach To Earth (1.303 AU)
Mar 27 - Aten Asteroid Duende Closest Approach To Earth (1.697 AU)
Mar 27 - Asteroid 7816 Hanoi Closest Approach To Earth (1.900 AU)
Mar 27 - Asteroid 2069 Hubble Closest Approach To Earth (1.909 AU)
Mar 27 - Apollo Asteroid 719 Albert Closest Approach To Earth (2.829 AU)
Mar 27 - Online Seminar: In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) - Farming In Space
Mar 27 - Lecture: 2017 LPSC Recap, Ithaca, New York
Mar th Anniversary (1972), Venera 8 Launch (USSR Venus Lander/Orbiter Mission)
Mar 28 - Asteroid 216 Kleopatra (2 Moons) Occults TYC  (11.4 Magnitude Star)
Mar 28 - Apollo Asteroid (2003 HF2) Near-Earth Flyby (0.043 AU)
Mar 28 - Apollo Asteroid 2006 HW50 Near-Earth Flyby (0.064 AU)
Mar 28 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 TB18 Near-Earth Flyby (0.099 AU)
Mar th Anniversary (1987), National Space Society Established
Mar th Anniversary (1802), Heinrich Olbers' Discovery of Asteroid 2 Pallas
JPL Space Calendar

10. Dime-Size Thrusters Could Propel Satellites, Spacecraft
New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale
New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale
Food for Thought
Dime-Size Thrusters Could Propel Satellites, Spacecraft

11. Space Image of the Week
Central Cygnus Skyscape  Image Credit & Copyright: Robert Gendler, DSS, BYU