DUARS Satellite Re-Entry: Impressive Light Show & Potential Debris Threat

In summary, the UARS satellite is expected to enter the Earth's atmosphere this weekend, sooner than originally predicted by NASA. While the exact trajectory is still uncertain, it is estimated that anyone in the vicinity of the satellite's return will witness an impressive light show. However, there is a 1 in 3200 chance of being hit by debris from the satellite, made of titanium, aluminum, steel, and beryllium, which weighs around 1,170 pounds. This probability is not specific to individuals, but rather the chances that at least one person somewhere on the planet will be hit, given the current uncertainty. As the satellite's strike zone shrinks over the next few days, the probability will rise for those still within
  • #176
lisab said:
Maybe it's going to fall on Harold Camping :eek:!
I vote for Westboro Baptist Church, Topeka, KS.
 
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  • #177
Astronuc said:
I vote for Westboro Baptist Church, Topeka, KS.
I second that. You must have seen the recent rebroadcast of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Most_Hated_Family_in_America" ? I couldn't tolerate watching the entire program.

Even though I live within ~20 miles from them; bring on the space junk.
 
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  • #178
Holy Crap, its the Satellite.
Lisa,

Did you find that or add the text yourself ? Cute...

Rhody...
 
  • #179
lisab said:
Maybe it's going to fall on Harold Camping :eek:!

Well, wouldn't he just be insufferably smug to be proven right! :biggrin:
 
  • #180
  • #181
Here we go again, get ready to http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/10/111019-satellite-fall-earth-rosat-space-debris-nasa-science/" everybody...
ROSAT poses greater risk of someone being hit by space debris, officials say.

If you see a large glowing object plummeting from the sky late Saturday or early Sunday, duck.

The German Aerospace Center, which led the development and construction of ROSAT, estimates that the chance of anyone being harmed by debris from the satellite is 1 in 2,000. For NASA's UARS, the injury risk was roughly a third lower, at 1 in 3,200

Rhody...
 
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  • #182
rhody said:
Here we go again, get ready to http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/10/111019-satellite-fall-earth-rosat-space-debris-nasa-science/" everybody...


Rhody...
I've been tracking it and it's coming waay too close to me.
 
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  • #183
Evo said:
I've been tracking it and it's coming waay too close to me.
Don't say that Evo, you will jinx yourself, think positive. If Powerball hasn't been won tomorrow, jackpot is over 127 million, I will buy a ticket.

Rhody...
 
  • #184
So what ever happened to the falling satellite?

Was http://wimp.com/nasasatellite/" it's fate?

(psssssst, (spoiler): G-men come by to claim it)
 
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  • #185
Ouabache said:
So what ever happened to the falling satellite?

Was http://wimp.com/nasasatellite/" it's fate?

(psssssst, (spoiler): G-men come by to claim it)
:smile:

I'm crying!
 
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  • #186
So many satellites, only one Evo.
 
  • #187
Jimmy Snyder said:
So many satellites, only one Evo.
One of them is bound to get me.
 
  • #188
Here's how I imagine your backyard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjiGH9QNiU0
 
  • #189
Jimmy Snyder said:
Here's how I imagine your backyard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjiGH9QNiU0
:smile:
 
  • #190
Jimmy Snyder said:
So many satellites, only one Evo.

She sings to the stars
And smiles with her eyes
A fading glimpse
A trick of the light

She floats along
With breathless sighs
A lonely beacon in the night

But to you
She's just another satellite
A distant vision
Whose orbit has decayed
She closes her eyes
And she shuts out the light
She says
Everything looks better that way

Once or twice
Could never make her lose her place
But all her life
Could send her spinning off in space
Some may say
Its not the end
Of the human race
But to her
It feels the same

She floats alone
Across the sun
She drifts from day
Into night

She feels like
She's the only one
But she's one of billions in the night

"Lonely, Like a Satellite" - A Covenant of Thorns
 
  • #191
That reminds me

Mars%20Rovers.jpg
 
  • #193
<sigh> I'm a space debris magnet.
 
  • #194
Evo said:
<sigh> I'm a space debris magnet.
No, you somehow destabilize their orbits causing them to decay and fall back to earth. Then, its duck and cover time... repeatedly... hehe... Have you noticed how many have suffered the same fate since this thread started ? Coincidence ?

Rhody...
 
  • #195
rhody said:
No, you somehow destabilize their orbits causing them to decay and fall back to earth. Then, its duck and cover time... repeatedly... hehe... Have you noticed how many have suffered the same fate since this thread started ? Coincidence ?

Rhody...

You don't suppose her gravity field is what caused the results of the OPERA neutrino experiment? :rolleyes:
 
  • #196
dlgoff said:
You don't suppose her gravity field is what caused the results of the OPERA neutrino experiment? :rolleyes:
Come, come...the Supreme Lard is not all that massive.
 
  • #197
: takes one gigantic step away lest the Perma-ban beam catches him in its 'Large Crowd' mode :
 
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  • #198
DaveC426913 said:
: takes one gigantic step away lest the Perma-ban beam catches him in its 'Large Crowd' mode :
:smile:

Rhody...
 
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  • #199
Evo said:
As most of you know the UARS satellite is returning to Earth this weekend...ooops!

And apparently the trajectory is right over Evo's house. :rolleyes: :bugeye:

http://news.yahoo.com/fema-prepares...NidXNpbmVzcwRwdANzdG9yeXBhZ2UEdGVzdAM-;_ylv=3

So, could some of our brilliant astrophysicists do a quick back of napkin projection of when my house will burst into flames?

Just read this post..
My first thoughts were .. hmmmm 'over' Evo's house. Ah well that's ok then.
Over, is way better than the termination point of ...
Get some photo's if you can. :) someones snap shot is going to be out-of-this-world.


Hmmm.
Does my 'household insurance' cover this?


So far, the saying. ... What goes up, must come down, is getting some good press.
 
  • #200
Sorry Evo,

I bet you never thought this would go on and on, huh ?! First it was decaying satelitte's, now an asteroid, and about the size of an aircraft carrier. I bet that would ruin your whole day impacting at any angle at a velocity of about 30,000 mph or more. Let's hope the calculations about closest approach (325,000 kms) are correct, inside our moon's orbit but no closer, and for once, you can breathe a sigh of relief.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=asteroid-plans-close-earth-flyby-11-11-01"

Rhody... :devil:
 
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  • #201
That's 325,000 km from Kansas.
 
  • #202
Jimmy Snyder said:
That's 325,000 km from Kansas.

Funny Jimmy, Wait... there's Evo... The gattling banning gun is blazing... pushes Jimmy safely out of the way and dives for the nearest boulder... Wait my boulder is disintegrating... Jimmy distracts her just in time, and ducks for cover just as the belt of ammo runs out... Whew, that was close...

Rhody... man... shivering and shaking... :eek: :cry:
 
  • #203
Jimmy Snyder said:
That's 325,000 km from Kansas.

You do realize that it will actually miss Kansas by only 0.00000003435 light years, don't you?

That's an uncomfortably small number! I'd feel a lot better if we measured it's approach in angstroms!
 
  • #204
Here she http://www.gmanews.tv/story/237322/world/nasa-readies-for-november-asteroid-flyby", sorry Evo...
According to NASA, the 400-meter asteroid is a science target of opportunity, which would let instruments on " spacecraft Earth" scan it during the close pass.

It said it will track the asteroid starting at 9:30 a.m. local time (PDT) on Nov. 4, using a massive 70-meter Deep Space Network antenna, for about two hours.

Goldstone will continue tracking the asteroid for at least four hours each day from Nov. 6 through Nov. 10.

Radar observations from the Arecibo Planetary Radar Facility in Puerto Rico will begin on Nov. 8, the same day the asteroid will make its closest approach to Earth at 3:28 p.m. PST.

and

Arecibo radar observations of asteroid 2005 YU55 made in 2010 show it to be approximately spherical in shape.

It is slowly spinning, with a rotation period of about 18 hours. The asteroid's surface is darker than charcoal at optical wavelengths.

"Amateur astronomers who want to get a glimpse at 2005 YU55 will need a telescope with an aperture of six inches (15 centimeters) or larger," NASA said. — LBG, GMA

Rhody...
 
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  • #206
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  • #207
I want to see this meteor.

tomorrow when the meteor goes by, I would like to see it. I know it will be passing most closely to Earth at 6:28 pm my local time. My question is, do I just go outside and look up? Should I look in a certain direction? Will I be able to see it at all? (from Florida) what should I expect it to look like?
 
  • #208


ArcanaNoir said:
tomorrow when the meteor goes by, I would like to see it. I know it will be passing most closely to Earth at 6:28 pm my local time. My question is, do I just go outside and look up? Should I look in a certain direction? Will I be able to see it at all? (from Florida) what should I expect it to look like?

Not without a 6 inch scope and a helping of luck.
 
  • #209
You're going to look pretty foolish when that asteroid comes barrelling down your telescope right into your eye.
 
  • #210


DaveC426913 said:
Not without a 6 inch scope and a helping of luck.

Really? How disappointing!
 

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