A rare collision between Earth and space junk is happening tomorrow — here's how to watch it completely disintegrate
By Jessica Orwig
10 hours ago
(ESA - D.Ducros) On Friday the 13th, an unlucky hunk of space junk called WT1190F will meet its end. WT1190F was first spotted on February 18, 2013, but scientists suspect that it's been in orbit around Earth since 2009.
At around 1:20 pm ET, the space junk will collides with Earth and burn up in the atmosphere.
The point of re-entry will be over a patch of Indian Ocean about 62 miles off the coast of Sri Lanka.Unfortunately, only residents of the southern province of Sri Lanka will have the chance to see the event.
However, the online observatory Slooh plans to get some of the first observations of the object on its approach toward Earth. And they'll be broadcasting the event live starting at 8 am ET. We've provided the livestream at the end of this post.
Though experts anticipate that WT1190F poses no threat — because most, if not all, of it will burn up in the atmosphere — the Sri Lankan government is taking precautions.
On Thursday, CBCNews reported that the government had imposed temporary no-fly zones and fishing bans near the re-entry point.
Here's a map of where the object is expected to be overhead from BPEarthWatch.com:
(BPEarthWatch) Though it is nearly impossible to know what WT1190F is, the European Space Agency suspects it could be a chunk of a fuel tank that once powered a rocket to space and was then discarded. And when it returns to Earth's atmosphere, it could be a pretty spectacular show, according to observational astronomer for Lowell Observatory, Nicholas Moskovitz.
"Unfortunately, [the event] is right around mid-day, which means the sun is going to be up, but the object is probably going to get as bright as the full moon," Moskovitz told Business Insider. "So, if you're looking in the right location ... you could probably see it."
(ESA - CC BY-SA IGO 3.0) Even if it's difficult to see with the naked eye, scientists will have a number of instruments pointed at the object as it breaks apart in our atmosphere. This is the first time that experts have calculated the exact time and location a piece of space junk will collide with Earth.
Scientists hope to use their observations to improve predictive models of how objects interact with Earth's atmosphere, which is important for establishing danger zones if, say, a large asteroid were to strike over a highly populated area at some point in the unforeseen future.
Slooh's broadcast will feature
Slooh host Paul Cox and impact specialist Dr. Mark Boslough who will
discuss the importance of WT1190F. If you have questions, you can ask on
Twitter using #Slooh in your tweet.
Don't forget to check out the event, starting at 8 am ET on Friday the 13th below:
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