Friday, October 14, 2011

Satellite tracking and ROSAT

Satellites in the sky :)

A schedule: http://spaceweather.com/flybys/flybys.php?zip=91126


The big news is the deorbit of a massive x-ray satellite. The ROSAT X-ray observatory, launched in 1990 by NASA and managed for years by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), will return to Earth within the next two weeks. Current best estimates place the re-entry between Oct. 22nd and 24th over an unknown part of Earth. ROSAT will produce a spectacular fireball when it re-enters, but not all of the satellite will disintegrate. According to the DLR, heat-resistant fragments as massive as 1.7 tons could reach Earth's surface. :) As ROSAT slowly descends it is growing brighter. During favorable passes, the satellite can now be seen shining as brightly as a first magnitude star in the night sky.

It is deorbiting due to increased solar activity! The atmosphere has expanded, increasing the friction of the satellite's orbit. That is outstanding. This is reason why the sun is still the most relevant subject in astrophysics! http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2011/10/space-telescopes-re-entry-brou.html

1 comment:

  1. that's a cool link! i need to remember to look for the chinese space station in a few days. it seems really cool to be able to point at a quickly-moving dot on the sky and say, "that's a space station." it would be even cooler if there are people up there!

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