(meteorobs) UARS Satellite expected to reenter atmosphere in 3-5 days

[Wayne Hally]

Big difference between this morning and yesterday morning for me (in NW NJ). Yesterday, the brightness was changing very rapidly (several Hz), it was almost scintillating, and there were two bright flares, and 2 fadeouts. This morning it was much steadier with just one flare and one fade, otherwise the magnitude was steady… ~ +0.5.

 

As you said Joe, the forecast is not good, but I’ve already set the alarm for tomorrow morning just in case. Just remember to check Heavens-Above later this evening. Every orbit update has advanced the time as the satellite rapidly is falling. It lost 4 km for both perigee and apogee in 15 hours leading up to the latest 0449 UTC epoch. As of that time, orbit was 211 x 232 km (131 x 147 mi) with a period of 88.9 minutes. 

 

Wayne

 

From: meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org [mailto:meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org] On Behalf Of Skywayinc at aol.com
Sent: Monday, September 19, 2011 10:57 AM
To: meteorobs at meteorobs.org
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) UARS Satellite expected to reenter atmosphere in 3-5 days

 

Set my alarm and got up early this morning to view a predicted 

near-overhead pass of the UARS satellite over my home in 

Putnam Valley, NY.  

 

The NW to SE pass came pretty much on schedule between

5:47 and 5:50 a.m. (according to Heavens-Above).  As expected,

movement was quite rapid . . . it streaked across the sky much

quicker than the ISS or the Space Shuttle.

 

During the three or so minutes I had it in view, the satellite slowly

rose in brightness from about magnitude 3 to 0, then suddenly 

flared/flashed in brightness to about -2 or -3, then quickly dropped

off to near-invisibility.  Then the whole sequence began anew.  It

did this a total of three times before it vanished behind the treetops

in my southeast.  The thing must be tumbling.

 

There is another high pass scheduled for tomorrow morning . . . 

UARS will emerge from the Earth's shadow near its highest point

in the sky of nearly 80-degrees at around 5:30 a.m., then a 

relatively low evening pass is set for Saturday at around 7:40 p.m.

(if it's still in orbit).  

 

Unfortunately, a protracted spell of cloudy weather is expected 

to settle in tonight and last much of this week, so perhaps this 

morning was my last view. of UARS.

  <http://cdn-cf.aol.com/se/smi/0201e030a2/03> 

-- joe rao 

 

 

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