Fun_People Archive
7 Mar
Runaway satellite viewing opportunity

Date: Thu, 7 Mar 96 03:01:41 -0800
From: Peter Langston <psl>
To: Fun_People
Subject: Runaway satellite viewing opportunity

Forwarded-by: bostic@bsdi.com (Keith Bostic)
Forwarded-by: Mike Olson <mao@illustra.com>
Forwarded-by: "Martin Siegenthaler" <siegenth>
Forwarded-by: foulser@zymurgy.boston.sgi.com (Dave Foulser)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- The satellite that broke free from space
shuttle Columbia will be visible next week to people looking skyward in
cities across the country.  The satellite and its dangling 12-mile cord
will be visible to the naked eye just before sunrise as it travels through
the sky, from the West Coast to the East.  "It should be an absolutely
awesome sight because the 20 kilometers of tether, assuming that it's all
strung out, will be definitely visible," astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman said
Tuesday from space shuttle Columbia.  "It will be the only time for most
people that they'll ever be able to see something in Earth orbit that's
other than a point of light.  They'll actually see a line moving through
the sky," he said.  Here is a list, provided by NASA, of some major cities
over which the satellite will fly. The satellite is traveling in an
elliptical orbit, between 200 and 250 miles above Earth. Times shown are
local. The duration of each sighting will be from one to three minutes.

	[ list omitted ]

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for viewing times, visit http://www.osf.hq.nasa.gov/shuttle/sts75/tss/.

[Unfortunately, Seattle is outside of the "viewing area" (up to 46.8 degrees  
latitude)... -psl]

© 1996 Peter Langston