This site claims a car being driving on Interstate 5 got hit by a piece of space junk causing $3000 in body damage. It surprised the body shop guys when the pulled out a big hunk of metal out of the car. It’s definitely manmade and it would be very interesting to figure out from [...]
Browsing Posts in Ministry of Astronomy
Car Possibly Hit By Space Junk
March 15, 2008
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Martian Avalanche Caught In the Act
March 3, 2008
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Wow. This pictures shows a billowing dust cloud caused by an avalanche from the left part of the picture. The picture was taken straight down and the the reddish bands just left of center are a 2300 foot cliff with a 60 degree slope. The white on the left is carbon dioxide frost that is [...]
Spy Sat Pieces, Where Are They Now?
March 1, 2008
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It has been about 10 days since the US Navy shot down a failed spy satellite. Here is a great article about the 48 pieces of the satellite that are still in orbit and being tracked. There is a bunch of great diagrams of the orbits of the fragments diverging and then converging along the [...]
Measure Light Pollution in Your Location
February 27, 2008
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Everyone can find the constellation Orion. It’s high during the winter. Just look for the line of three bright stars. Now go online and match the pictures. OK, now ponder the fact that we are one of the first generations that lives in a world where people don’t see a sky rich with stars. Thanks [...]
Hydrazine Freezing Again, No Plans For the Navy To Get Involved in Ulysses Spacecraft
February 25, 2008
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The Ulysses solar observing spacecraft is failing and once the hydrazine fuel freezes in the lines (at 2°C) the spacecraft will be impossible to maneuver. Of course, this spacecraft is in a solar orbit that carries it over the poles of the sun, so there is no need to show up the Chinese. The Ulysses [...]
So the Eclipse Wasn’t Dark
February 25, 2008
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My estimate about the relative brightness of last week’s lunar eclipse was wrong (hey, it was behind a cloud!). It turns out that the brightness of the moon during eclipses is dependent on the path the moon takes through the earth’s shadow and the clarity of the earth’s atmosphere. In fact, there is a scale [...]
Clouds Ruin Eclipse for Syzdekistan, Rain (Almost) Makes Up For It
February 20, 2008
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Although I was able to see the partial phases of the eclipse before and after totality, the total lunar eclipse was hidden by clouds here in Syzdekistan. The sky was partially cloudy but a large cloud obscured the moon during totality. I’m thinking this eclipse was very dark because I couldn’t see any hint of [...]
First Shot at Failed Spy Sat on Thursday
February 19, 2008
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The Shuttle has undocked from the Space Station and is scheduled to land in Florida or California tomorrow. The Navy is probably going to take its first shot at the satellite on Thursday. Meanwhile, some modeling on population densities where the satellite could come down (basically between 58° N and 58° S latitude), agree with [...]
Hydrazine in Failed Satellite is Frozen
February 15, 2008
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The “dangerous” hydrazine propellent in the failed spy satellite is in a 40 inch diameter spherical tank and is frozen, says amateur satellite observer, Ted Molczan (link): “I just have a hard time being worried about a 40-inch sphere of hydrazine. I normally try not to get political in this stuff, but the thought that [...]
NASA to Land Shuttle Before Satellite Shootdown
February 15, 2008
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NASA is planning on activating the Shuttle backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base in California to ensure that the shuttle could be landed there or at the usual landing site Florida (link). Since the Shuttle and the ISS are in a circular orbit about 210 miles altitude. The failing satellite is at an [...]
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