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Old 02-November-2009, 12:13 PM
mkk707 mkk707 is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2009
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Default Observe the Rosetta spacecraft in mid-Nov.

Dear all,

ESA's comet chaser spacecraft Rosetta, currently on its way to comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, will perform its third and final Earth swingby on November 13, 2009. It will be visible mostly during approach in constellation Cetus, passing within less than 1 deg of the +4 Mag star upsilon Ceti in the night of 12-13 Nov. 2013.

There is some uncertainty as to its apparent magnitude, with estimates for the final visibility pass in the night from Nov,. 12 - Nov. 13 ranging from +10 mag (which I personally think highly unlikely) to +17 mag (which I believe to be somewhat pessimistic, though not excessively so).

Here is an article on the swingby on the ESA web site:
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMJNZYRA0G_index_1.html

Here is the JPL Horizons websites, which lets you calculate ephemeris data for any viewing location:
http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi#top

Here is ESA's Rosetta Blog:
http://webservices.esa.int/blog/blog/5

And here is a blog posting from myself where I discuss the finer points of the approach and departure geometry.
http://tinyurl.com/ya9vvd5

Finally, here are some of the images from prior to the first Rosetta Earth swingby on March 4, 2005, where the viewing geometry was not too dissimilar from what will be in the coming weeks:
http://www.rssd.esa.int/SB/ROSETTA/include/Images.html
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