Phobos Grunt Decay in Days; Visible from Mauna Kea, Hawaii on Jan. 13th @ 6:22 P.M.

***UPDATE JAN. 14 6:00 AM (MTN) WELLLLL I didn't see anything on the CFHT webcams, just FYI but if you spot something I missed, do share! I'm still stalking Phobos-Grunt, looking for the latest footage of it and what-not, merow ;)
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Estimated Decay of Phobos-Grunt (2011-065A / 37872)
Latest Estimate as of 2012 Jan 13, 17:16 UTC

Harro Zimmer http://satobs.org/seesat/Jan-2012/0129.html 2012 Jan 15 17:05
The Aerospace Corporation http://reentrynews.aero.org/2011065a.html 2012 Jan 15 17:52
Roscosmos http://www.roscosmos.ru/main.php?id=2&nid=18551 Jan 15 20:22
Abdolreza Lavari http://satobs.org/seesat/Jan-2012/0126.html 2012 Jan 16 03:00
Celestrak: AGI Lifetime http://celestrak.com/events/reentry/phobos-grunt.asp 2012 Jan 16 16:24
Paul Salanitri http://satobs.org/seesat/Jan-2012/0062.html 2012 Jan 17 01:00
source: http://satobs.org/seesat_ref/phsrm/Fobos-Grunt_decay_estimates_v3.pdf
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"The 1,600 pound unmanned Russian spacecraft Phobos-Grunt is expected to fall back to Earth between January 15th and 16th; and Hawaii residents may get a glimpse of it Friday (Jan 13) at 6:22 p.m. low in the Western sky as it moves North."
Read more/see skymap for sighting opportunities:
http://www.hawaii247.com/2012/01/11/dead-1600-pound-russian-spacecraft-may-be...

After it passes, check the timelapse videos of the cloudcam AND webcams of Mauna Kea, HI:
http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/en/gallery/

If the pass was indeed visible, videos will be showing up on Youtube and Twitter of the sighting not too long afterwards :)

Other sources used in this video:
http://www.fhr.fraunhofer.de/fhr/fhr_c753_en.html


Track Phobos-Grunt live:
http://www.n2yo.com/satellite/?s=37872
http://www.heavens-above.com

Phobos Grunt LIVE Re-Entry Blog:
http://www.spaceflight101.com/phobos-grunt-re-entry-information.html
(updates become more frequent as the reentry progresses, meow)

Phobos-Grunt Re-Entry Animation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkPKCljW6No

Keep up on the latest observations of Phobos-Grooooont:
http://satobs.org/seesat/Jan-2012/
http://www.satobs.org/seesat

About the U.S. shoot down of it's own defunct satellite - the only other hydrazine-filled satellite to come plummeting down to Earth aside from Phobos Grunt - back in 2008 (many videos of this, they sure were proud of being able to do it):
http://military.discovery.com/videos/satellite-shootdown-videos/

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• phobos
• grunt
• reentry
• update

[blazin20aday]

Sheila have you noticed how many Friday 13th there is this year? More than there has been for as far as I have searched check it out x

[Sheilaaliens]

@blazin20aday neato!!

[onebrett]

Anyone else's "sexy radar" going off hearing Sheila's voice? ;)

[Sheilaaliens]

@onebrett oh lawd xD thanks

[Sheilaaliens]

@sfreak1990 meh. u are probably right. how can they not know where it is. they just want to avoid being liable for damages so they are all playing dumb.

[sfreak1990]

@Sheilaaliens but they do. we have the most advanced tracking systems on this planet. they know exactly where itll hit. what good does it do to tell us? ha the day our gov starts telling us the truth will be the day that.... ron paul is president :]

[passholer]

todays timelapse at CFHT has some strange goins on @ .29 into about 21.16 hst and its not the moon.love that telescope

[sfreak1990]

thanks to NDAA hoping things could hit whitehouse could get you into some serious bull.

[Sheilaaliens]

@5dnibiru me too.. equally strange things have happened before.. so, there is hope!