| Thursday | 2 September 2004 | 11:44am MDT | 2004-09-02 UTC 1744 |
News briefs
Meteor on queue: NASA Ames Research Center has a news release from yesterday about the Genesis sample return capsule (SRC) re-entry that will drop in over Oregon and Nevada like a bright “meteor on queue” on the morning of September 8th. This will be observed from the air with the KC-135 (military Boeing 707) previously used in Leonid MAC campaigns and redubbed “Flying Infrared Signatures Technologies Aircraft (FISTA).” A team led by Peter Jenniskens will study it and the re-entries of the Stardust and Hayabusa SRCs. Beyond learning about the physics of hypervelocity re-entries, this event “is of particular interest to meteor astronomers since the SRC is an analog to meter-sized asteroids that deposit organic material in Earth's atmosphere. . . ‘We are interested in the physical and chemical conditions in the shockwave that can change the organic material in asteroids into pre-biotic molecules for life's origins,’ Jenniskens |
The Asteroid/Comet Connection's Today's issue status: done
said.” His new Hypervelocity reentries Web site predicts that the Genesis SRC will be at 135 km. (84 miles) high at 9:52:46am MDT (8:52:46am PDT) next Wednesday morning. “It may be first seen as high up as about 100 km 25 seconds later, and peak in brightness when at about 60 km altitude 59 seconds later.” It is estimated to reach -9 magnitude. “The object will be most impressive in binoculars from locations south, east and north of the trajectory. WARNING: In following the object move along the sky, be extremely careful not to look towards the Sun, because this can cause blindness.” |
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Risk monitoring
 2 Sept.  At last check Thursday, there is no risk monitoring news to report today. |
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