Space News Update - February 27, 2015 - In the News Story 1: Successful spacewalk ends with water leak Story 2: Calm regions protect organic molecules around a supermassive black hole Story 3: Dark Energy Camera Takes Accidental Gigantic, Magnificent Picture of Comet Lovejoy Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week
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Space News Update - February 27, 2015 - In the News Story 1: Successful spacewalk ends with water leak Story 2: Calm regions protect organic molecules.
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Space News Update- February 27, 2015 -
In the News
Story 1: Successful spacewalk ends with water leak
Story 2:Calm regions protect organic molecules around a supermassive black hole
Story 3:
Dark Energy Camera Takes Accidental Gigantic, Magnificent Picture of Comet Lovejoy
Friday, February 27Venus and Mars in the western twilight have widened to be 2.7° apart now. Look for faint Mars beneath Venus. Saturday, February 28Early this evening, the dark limb of the waxing gibbous Moon will occult (cover) the 3.6-magnitude star Lambda Geminorum for telescope users in North America east of the Mississippi and north of the deepest South. Some times: central Massachusetts, 8:00 p.m. EST; Washington DC, 7:56 p.m. EST; Chicago, 6:31 p.m. CST (in twilight); Kansas City, 6:21 p.m. CST (in twilight). See map and detailed timetables of both the disappearance and the (unobservable) reappearance; be careful not to mix these up when scrolling down the table. Two mutual events among Jupiter's moons. Watch Europa occult (pass in front of) Io from 11:10 to 11:16 p.m. EST this evening. At the center of this time, their combined light is dimmed by 0.6 magnitude, not quite half.Then less than an hour later, Europa casts its shadow onto Io from 12:02 to 12:09 a.m. EST, dimming Io by 0.9 magnitude at the mid-time of this eclipse.
Sunday, March 1After dark, Jupiter is the bright "star" to the Moon's lower left, and Procyon is the real star to the Moon's right. Far lower right of there shines Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. Sirius is also the nearest star that's visible to the naked eye from northern latitudes, at a distance of 8.6 light-years.
Monday, March 2The bright planet near the waxing gibbous Moon tonight is Jupiter. Looks are deceiving, however. Jupiter is actually 40 times larger than the Moon in diameter, but it's 1,660 times farther away (as of tonight).Another mutual event among Jupiter's moons. Tonight Ganymede occults Io from 11:06 to 11:11 p.m. EST; their combined light dims by 0.6 magnitude at the center of this time. Later Ganymede casts its shadow onto Io, but just a few minutes beforehand, Io disappears behind Jupiter's edge from Earth's viewpoint! (at 12:17 a.m. EST). Tuesday, March 3Bright Jupiter shines above the Moon this evening. Spot fainter Regulus closer to the Moon's lower left (for North America).