Stardust Reentry

[Dave Mitsky]

Observers in Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Northern Nevada, Southern Idaho and Western Utah should be on the alert for the reentry of the Stardust spacecraft on January 15.

http://reentry.arc.nasa.gov/viewingforum.html

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/051226_stardust_watch.html

Dave Mitsky

[redshifter]

Alas, our string of rainy days continues...blech!

[ToSeek]

Also being discussed here. (http://www.bautforum.com/showthread.php?t=36829)

[R.A.F.]

So am I reading this (http://reentry.arc.nasa.gov/elevation.jpg) correctly?

I live right on the 30 degree "line" in northern CA.

So...if I look to the NNE at the appropriate time it will be 30 degrees above the horizon??

(Given recent weather here, I imagine it will be cloudy...:()

[Blob]

[QUOTE=R.A.F.]
So...if I look to the NNE at the appropriate time it will be 30 degrees above the horizon??UOTE]

Hum,
Yeah,
should be good ...(you live near Reno?)
And you'll have the near full moon at you're back so it'll not interfere too much...

[R.A.F.]

...you live near Reno?

Actually, I live in the foothills east of California's interior valley...about a one hour drive north of Sacramento...

...and now that I look at that map again, I'm located closer to the the 25 degree line....darn it! :)

[R.A.F.]

Question...on all the linked pages, the re-entry is 1:56 AM Pacific time Sunday morning.

I was just watching CNN, and they stated the time, 2:12 AM.

So when should I be looking??

[NEOWatcher]

Question...on all the linked pages, the re-entry is 1:56 AM Pacific time Sunday morning.
I was just watching CNN, and they stated the time, 2:12 AM.
So when should I be looking??
Hmmm, should I trust CNN or should I trust NASA?:think: My bet is NASA. For some reason, I wonder how CNN got the date right.

According to NASA, the capsule will LAND at 2:12.

[R.A.F.]

According to NASA, the capsule will LAND at 2:12.

The 2:12 time was given as when to look. They even wrote it on the screen.

Nothing unusual about CNN getting it wrong...:)

[mickal555]

I wounder it it'll be possible to see it in space before it starts re-entry.. it's comming over the pacific...

[ngc3314]

I wounder it it'll be possible to see it in space before it starts re-entry.. it's comming over the pacific...

You can get an ephemeris for any desired location from the JPL Horizons (http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/eps) web site. It looks as if you have a good shot at it from about 0900-1400 UT on January 14 (I won't publicly mess up converting that to local time). The approach path is nearly radial to the Earth's "midnight limb", so it moves remarkable little against the stars during this time (about 0152-10) in Cetus. Both spacraft enter the Earth's shadow soon after their separation near 0600 UT on the 15th, which may explain the lackof visibility from Australia that soon before entry (and I'm not sure the calculator keeps track of this).

I'll have students trying to image it from our campus observatory starting about 10 hours before landing, and post anything we get.

[mickal555]

Not Found

The requested URL /cgi-bin/eps was not found on this server.

Thanks :D

0900-1400 UT is 7pm- 12am tonight....

but where and how bright...

[R.A.F.]

Current weather in the "target" area is lots of rain. I'd be surprised if anyone sees it re-enter...at least those of us living in California and Oregon. :(

[The Bad Astronomer]

I have posted a blog entry with links, maps, and other info:

The return of Stardust (http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2006/01/14/the-return-of-stardust/).

[R.A.F.]

...and we're still receiving lots of rain...

I could do my "anti-rain" dance...it's never worked before, but there's always a first time. :)

[Fr. Wayne]

[QUOTE=Fr. Wayne]This national Park, though south, may be best site according to http://reentry.arc.nasa.gov/viewingforum.html. All sites north of this will probably be stormy and cloudy.

Peak optical brightness: -7 magnitude (visible: 548 nm)
Date: January 15, 2006 (night time)
Time: nighttime (about 2:56:39 a.m. MST, 1:56:39 a.m. PST)
Mass: 45.8 kg
Diameter: 0.811 meter
Speed: 12.8 km/s (at 135 km)
Entry angle: 8 degrees
Landing site: U.S. Air Force Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR)
Heat-shield material: Phenol impregnated Carbon
Sample return: comet P/Wild 2 dust from NASA sited above[/QUOTE

[Pleiades]

Well, its 1:35 am the rain has stopped earlier, so the skies are crystal clear. But being in SFbay area the lights might interfere, a group of us at work are going to try our best to spot it. Good hunting to all.

[Pleiades]

I saw it for a brief moment, it was just above the lamp posts here.

[Fr. Wayne]

Congrats to all involved in capturing Wild-2 particles and landing the probe safely and in one piece. Well done!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060115/sc_nm/space_stardust_dc_4

Looking for volunteers to count dust particles?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4607318.stm

[mickal555]

Pinch of comet dust lands safely on Earth

On Sunday morning, after a seven-year journey, NASA's Stardust
spacecraft dropped a capsule containing a pinch of comet dust into
the Earth's atmosphere and it landed gently in the Utah desert.

The material, harvested from Comet Wild 2, is thought to be a
pristine sample of the gas and dust that formed the Solar System.

http://www.newscientistspace.com/article.ns?id=dn8586

[randb]

I watched a video of it on msnbc. :)