1. Space News Update - June 17, 2014 - In the News Story 1: New NASA Space Observatory to Study Carbon Conundrums Story 2: Incredible Technology: Private Mars Mission Could Return Samples by 2020 Story 3: Story 3: NASA Hubble to Begin Search Beyond Pluto for a New Horizons Mission Target Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

2. New NASA Space Observatory to Study Carbon Conundrums

3. Incredible Technology: Private Mars Mission Could Return Samples by 2020

4. NASA Hubble to Begin Search Beyond Pluto for a New Horizons Mission Target

5. The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, June 17 Vega is the brightest star high in the east. Barely to its lower left after dark is one of the best-known multiple stars in the sky: 4th- magnitude Epsilon (ε) Lyrae, the Double-Double. It forms one corner of a roughly equilateral triangle with Vega and Zeta (ζ) Lyrae. The triangle is less than 2° on a side, hardly the width of your thumb at arm's length. Binoculars easily resolve Epsilon and a 4-inch telescope at 100× or more should resolve each of Epsilon's two wide components into a tight pair. Zeta Lyrae, the triangle's third star, is also a double star for binoculars, much tougher, but it's easily split with a telescope. Delta Lyrae, the next star down, as a much wider binocular pair; it's resolved in the photo. Wednesday, June 18 With Scorpius coming up into good evening view now, keep an eye on the doings of Delta Scorpii. This is the middle star in the row of three marking Scorpius's head. In July 2000 it unexpectedly doubled in brightness. It has remained brighter than normal ever since, with fluctuations, at about magnitude 2.0. Compare it to Beta Scorpii above it, magnitude 2.6, and Antares, 1.1. Thursday, June 19 Now that the Moon is out of the evening sky, plan some new deep- sky hunts with your scope! You may know of the splendid globular star clusters M10 and M12 in Ophiuchus. Friday, June 20 This is the time of year when the two brightest stars of summer, Arcturus and Vega, shine equally high overhead as midnight approaches: Arcturus in the southwest, Vega toward the east. The two brightest asteroids, Ceres and Vesta, targets of the NASA Dawn spacecraft, remain within 2° of each other all month as they ply the central regions of Virgo the Maiden. Source: Astronomy.comAstronomy.com

6. ISS Sighting Opportunities Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting InformationSatellite Sighting Information ISS For Denver : DateVisibleMax HeightAppearsDisappears DateVisibleMax HeightAppearsDisappears Tue Jun 17, 9:20 PM4 min19°15 above N10 above ENE Tue Jun 17, 10:56 PM2 min55°19 above WNW55 above WNW Wed Jun 18, 10:08 PM2 min61°34 above NNW35 above ESE Thu Jun 19, 9:18 PM4 min36°24 above NNW10 above E Thu Jun 19, 10:54 PM2 min22°11 above W22 above WSW Fri Jun 20, 10:05 PM3 min43°21 above WNW29 above S Sat Jun 21, 9:17 PM4 min84°45 above WNW13 above SE

7. 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 Tuesday, June 17 11:55 a.m., - ISS Expedition 40 In-Flight Educational Event with the Colvin Run Elementary School in Vienna, Va. - JSC (all channels) Wednesday, June 18 11:30 a.m., Orion flight test prelaunch progress event (all channels) Thursday, June 19 9:15 a.m., Coverage of the ISS Expedition 40 Russian Spacewalk (all channels)

8. Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Jun 17 - Comet 56P/Slaughter-Burnham At Opposition (4.284 AU) Jun 17 - Asteroid 10563 Izhdubar Closest Approach To Earth (0.546 AU) Jun 17 - Asteroid 9622 Terryjones Closest Approach To Earth (1.676 AU) Jun 17 - Asteroid 3202 Graff Closest Approach To Earth (3.333 AU) Jun 17 - Centaur Object 55576 Amycus At Opposition (17.702 AU) Jun 17 - Kuiper Belt Object 50000 Quaoar At Opposition (42.013 AU) Jun 18 - Cassini, Titan Flyby Jun 18 - Venus Express, Aerobraking Begins Jun 18 - Rosetta, Trajectory Correction Maneuver Jun 18 - Asteroid 4342 Freud Closest Approach To Earth (1.581 AU) Jun 18 - Asteroid 1284 Latvia Closest Approach To Earth (2.030 AU) Jun 18 - Asteroid 25000 Astrometria Closest Approach To Earth (2.275 AU) Jun 18 - Centaur Object 10370 Hylonome At Opposition (21.719 AU) Jun 18 - 125th Anniversary (1889), Mighei Meteorite Fall in USSR Jun 19 - Deimos 2/ KazEOSat 2/ SkySat 3/ AprizeSat 9 & 10/ Dnepr Launch Jun 19 - Asteroid 719 Albert Closest Approach To Earth (1.337 AU) Jun 19 - Asteroid 8146 Jimbell Closest Approach To Earth (2.364 AU) Jun 20 - Comet 87P/Bus At Opposition (1.455 AU) Jun 20 - Comet 15P/Finlay Closest Approach To Earth (1.626 AU) Jun 20 -Comet C/2012 LP26 (Palomar) At Opposition (6.200 AU) Jun 20 - Asteroid 37655 Illapa Closest Approach To Earth (1.113 AU) Jun 20 - Orbcomm 2 (FM45-FM50) Falcon 9 Launch Jun 21 - Summer Solstice, 10:51 UT Jun 21 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #383 (OTM-383)

9. Food for Thought Why the Moon's 'Dark Side' Has No Face New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale

10. Space Image of the Week Hubble Eyes Golden Rings of Star Formation Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA; Acknowledgement: R. Buta (University of Alabama )