Space debris will effectively burn in the atmosphere of the Earth

Space debris will effectively burn in the atmosphere of the Earth

A small space object that can be observed in the center of a recording was named WT1190F. It was captured and examined with a 2.2 meter telescope at the University of Hawaii on Mauna Kea, October 9, 2015.

This object, allegedly a spent rocket particle or another element of the space lunar station, will return to Earth on November 13, effectively burning during the flight.

Astronomers, together with the Katala sky review, first noticed and designated WT1190F on October 3, 2015. Soon it became clear to them that they had already observed the same object twice in 2013.

The observations were sufficient to enable scientists to create a computer model of the WT1190F and calculate its return to the Earth’s atmosphere at about 1.20 am at North American Eastern Time (“summer time ends on November 1).

Whatever remains of the WT1190F during combustion in flight, these particles must land in the waters of the Indian Ocean at the southern tip of Sri Lanka Island.

The European Space Agency on its website “Objects close to Earth” notes that “this object is rather small, no more than a couple of meters in diameter. Almost all of it (or a substantial part of it) will burn in the atmosphere. ” It is also stated that “the mass of the object does not constitute any significant threat to the surrounding territory, but during flight and combustion it will be quite bright, and at around noon local time it will be clearly visible in the sky”. At the moment, the WT1190F has an ovoid-shaped orbit, which is stretched around the Earth and is approximately two distances from the Moon.

In addition to the study of the Katalinsky Sky Survey, WT1190F was found in the archive records of the telescope system of panoramic visibility and rapid response in 2015, 2013 and 2012. Bill Gray, an astronomer and software developer, points out in a message to the Small Planets List:

“I hope someone explores this issue more deeply. If we succeed, we could find the point at which the object passed as close as possible to the surface of the moon, as well as the mission to the moon reached its goal. ” Gray also adds that astronomers have previously used such a technique as tracking space debris particles to the Chinese satellite Chang and reinforcing rockets used for American missions to observe and probe lunar craters, to observe the Sun and the Earth.

The researchers note that the object WT1190F consists of space debris created by man. They mainly made such a conclusion based on the low density of the object, approximately 10% of the density of water.

“This is too low a density to consider an object as a cosmic mineral. But there is a certain similarity with the empty shell, for example, from the spent upper rocket stage, ”writes the European Space Agency. Gray also notes that the object, in his opinion, is nothing more than space debris.

Several campaigns are already working on gathering more information about the WT1190F object. It is also important for scientists to find out if the time of returning an object to Earth is correctly predicted.

“We have a great opportunity to test our readiness for all possible future scenarios, such as the appearance of an asteroid, since all the main points of the scenario, from the opening of the object to its invasion of the Earth’s atmosphere, are approximately the same,” the European Space Agency notes.

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