Potential Space Junk Re- Entry of UARS

Forums General Discussion Potential Space Junk Re- Entry of UARS

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  • #573111

    Posted by Len Entwisle at 13:39 on 2011 Sep 10

    A defunct NASA Research satellite is due to make a re- entry sometime in the month ( or into early October) . There is a little more here . It’s track heads up to 57 deg N and South so we could be in for a spectacular re- entry view (if clouds don’t get in the way !).It should be possible to get satellite track information from the Heavens Above website, identifying your location and selecting ‘Select Another Satellite’ input . The identifiers to use are 21701( US Space Command Designator ) or 91063( International Launch Designator) or UARS (satellite name) . As decay nears the timings for passes could be out by about 4 minutes . There may be some timing refinement as it comes even closer to re-entry.A nice job for a DSLR time exposure or a video meteor camera run! Current visible passes for the decaying object are after 4 am BST for the UK.I hope to rise early and video and watch one part of its terminal orbits.NASA thinks that there will be 26 ‘surviving’ fragments from the re- entry

    #575798

    Posted by Nick James at 18:41 on 2011 Sep 13

    Len,Thanks for this. I now have a Watec 902h2 with Cosmicar 3.8mm, f/0.8 running permanently so it would be nice to pick up something interesting like that.Nick.

    #575801

    Posted by Len Entwisle at 18:24 on 2011 Sep 15

    A great set up for meteor video there !There has been a NASA Update today here Re-entry prediction time which takes us to 24 th September ( plus or minus a day ). The Heavens Above website gives some 11 passes (or so) over the UK during dark hours in that time 48 hr period . They are not pulled up as ‘visible passes’ so they must be in the earths shadow,however at re- entry there should be no need for reflected sunlight to make it visible! On the balance of probability it will be cloudy or happen somewhere else along the orbit but worth having a watch for. Murphy rules, OK

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