Business InsiderJessica Orwig (jorwig@businesssinsider.com)Nov 13th 2015 5:42AM
Astronomy CenterDid you see it? It's the bright streak of light that looks like a shooting star.
This footage was collected by a team of scientists working with SETI, the United Arab Emirates Space Agency, the InterActiveCorp, and other institutions.
To get such a close look, some of the team members hopped on a plane so they could be in the air at the time WT1190F entered the atmosphere. Of course, they were flying at a safe enough distance from the object that it posed no threat to their aircraft.
WT1190F re-entered Earth's atmosphere over a patch of Indian Ocean off the Sri Lankan coast, which meant that only people located in the southern province of Sri Lanka had a chance to spot it.
Here's a map from BPEarthWatch.com that predicted where the object would fall as it re-entered Earth's atmosphere:
Screen Shot 2015 11 12 at 2.44.45 PMAstronomy CenterToday's event was the first time that experts had calculated the exact time and location a piece of space junk would re-enter Earth's atmosphere.
Though it is nearly impossible to know what WT1190F is, the European Space Agency suspects it could be a chunk of a fuel tank that once powered a rocket to space and was then discarded.
Scientists hope to use their observations of how WT1190F broke up to improve predictive models of how objects interact with Earth's atmosphere, which is important for establishing danger zones if, say, a large asteroid were to strike over a highly populated area at some point in the unforeseen future.
For aunt Jeannie , we love you .
Jonny and Chris
Genie , your junior scientists wanted you to see your first piece of alien junk . PIC
Hello my junior scientists,
ReplyDeleteThat was spectacular. I have never seen space junk burn up before, so thank you for the experience. I shall look for an interesting article just for you.
Much love to my cubs and junior scientists.
Aunt Jeannie
Aunt Jeannie ,
ReplyDeleteWe it was on the news here the last Of October that some space junk was headed this was , Our NASA teacher told us , It would be great if we could see it in person , but we got the next beat thing , video .
We told poppa we was going to send it to you , poppa said , boys do not do that , that lady will hide under the bed and never come out . Aunt Jeannie , poppa is so funny , daddy say poppa and mama is turning his hair white .
We are happy you like it , send more when we find something you like .
Wrote by Jonny and Chris