Pegasus Research Consortium

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/wtf-space-object-indian-ocean_5630105be4b06317991002eb

Chris D'Angelo
Associate Editor, HuffPost Hawaii
Posted: 10/28/2015 09:10 AM EDT


A hunk of mysterious space junk is en route for a crash landing in the Indian Ocean next month, according to the European Space Agency.

Officially, the object is named WT1190F. Unofficially, however, its name has been appropriately shortened to "WTF."

The European Space Agency said in a release that it believes the object is a discarded rocket body. While its reentry "poses very little risk to anyone," it could help scientists improve our understanding of how any object -- man-made or natural -- interacts with Earth's atmosphere.

"The object is quite small," Tim Flohrer of ESA's Space Debris Office in Darmstadt, Germany, said in a release, "at most a couple of meters in diameter, and a significant fraction if not all of it can be expected to completely burn up in the atmosphere."

Whatever remains is expected to fall into the ocean about 60 miles off the southern coast of Sri Lanka at around 11:49 a.m. local time on Nov. 13.

ESA said that while its mass does not pose a risk, the show "will still be spectacular, since for a few seconds the object will become quite bright in the mid-day sky."

WT1190F was discovered in 2013 by the Catalina Sky Survey, based at the University of Arizona, and has been spotted several times since then.

Nature reports the object was previously orbiting far beyond the Moon, "ignored and unidentified," when a telescope spotted it earlier this month. Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, told the publication it is "a lost piece of space history that's come back to haunt us."

It is now orbiting Earth every three weeks in a "highly eccentric," or non-circular, orbit, according to the ESA scientists.

News of "WTF" comes just days after a NASA announcement about a larger -- but also non-threatening -- object headed in Earth's direction.

On Halloween, a recently discovered asteroid, dubbed 2015 TB145, will come within 310,000 miles of Earth -- nearly as close as our own moon. It will be the closest encounter our planet has had with an asteroid in nearly a decade.



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http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/space-junk-will-enter-earths-atmosphere-on-friday-the-13th/story-fnjwlcze-1227585040514

Friday the 13th, huh....bwhahahahahahaha let see who posts the gloom and doom thread for this

Space junk will enter Earth's atmosphere on Friday the 13th

October 28, 201510:40am
Emily Moulton,news.com.au

WHAT could be more terrifying that a mysterious object hurtling its way to Earth?

A mysterious object that is expected to hit Earth on Friday the 13th.

Dubbed WT1190F by scientists, this strange bit of space junk is estimated to be 1-2 metres long and has been calculated to enter the Earth's atmosphere above the Indian Ocean in Sri Lanka on November 13.

According to the journal, Nature, experts were unsure what it was when it was first detected by the Catalina Sky Survey at the University of Arizona earlier this month.

It is thought the object could be debris from a spent rocket or panelling from a recent Moon mission. Or it could be left over from the Apollo Moon missions.

Back in 2002 part of the Saturn V rocket that launched the second mission to land men on the Moon was seen orbiting the Earth.

Astronomy software developer Bill Gray, who has been tracking the debris with astronomers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told Nature they were able to identify the object after unearthing 2012 and 2013 sightings from telescope archives.

He said they found WT1190F travelled at a highly elliptical orbit, swinging out twice as far as the Earth–Moon distance and calculated it will hit the ocean about 65km off the southern tip of Sri Lanka.

And while they believe most of it will burn up in the atmosphere, Mr Gray said he wouldn't take any chances.

"I would not necessarily want to be going fishing directly underneath it," he said.

Currently, scientists are monitoring the space junk in a bid to figure out what it is.

They are also using the event to test out protocols put in place in case a catastrophic object was headed our way.

"What we planned to do seems to work," Gerhard Drolshagen, from the European Space Agency's said. "But it's still three weeks to go."

Mr Drolshagen said he planned to carry out the observations on board ships or aeroplanes.

However there are funding problems.

While asteroids attract plenty of attention, space debris attracts minimal attention, as well as funding.

According to Nature, the US military, which tracks space debris, says that it lacks the ability to identify WT1190F or to predict its path.

"There is no official, funded effort to do tracking of deep-Earth orbits the way we track low-Earth orbit," Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said. "I think that has to change".

And while WT1190F may not be able to attract funding, it is attracting fans after a Twitter account popped up over the last few days.

Besides inquiring about the weather at its intended destination, WT1190F also seems to be a little sensitive about being called names



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http://heavy.com/news/2015/10/what-is-wt1190f-space-object-ufo-junk-rocket-booster-alien-wtf-asteroid-mystery/


Published 5:05 pm EDT, October 27, 2015       By Stephanie Dube Dwilson

WT1190F is hurtling toward Earth, expected to reach us by November 13. No one is actually sure what this space object is. Some speculate that it's manmade and not an asteroid because it appears to be hollow. But exactly where the strange object came from is not yet known.

Here's what you need to know.
1. WT1190F Has a Trajectory That Looks Suspiciously Artificial

(https://heavyeditorial.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/object_wt1190f.gif?w=780)

WT1190F as observed from Hawaii on October 9. (B. Bolin, R. Jedicke, M. Micheli)

WT1190F is not thought to be an asteroid or any other type of natural object because of its trajectory and highly elliptical orbit, Scientific American reported. The orbit suggests that the object, which is just 1 to 2 meters in length. has a low density and may be hollow with a thin shell. It's likely artificial and not natural, experts agree.


2. The Object May Land Near the Indian Ocean on November 13, Or It May Burn Up When It Enters the Atmosphere
The object orbits the Earth every three weeks in a very irregular, concentric orbit, the European Space Agency reported. Experts are predicting that it will re-enter the atmosphere on November 13 and fall into the Indian Ocean off the southern coast of Sri Lanka. Most of it will burn up in the atmosphere, but it'll provide a spectacular show and brief brightening of the sky in the middle of the day. The size should be too small to pose any risk to people in the area. Although, Bill Gray, astronomy-software developer, said that he wouldn't necessarily want to be fishing right under it, according to Scientific American.

This May Be "A Lost Piece of Space History That's Come Back to Haunt Us," an Astrophysicist Said
(https://heavyeditorial.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/gettyimages-1764996.jpg?quality=65&strip=all&w=780&strip=all)

According to the European Space Agency there are 8,500 objects larger than 10 cm orbiting the earth and 150,000 larger than 1 cm. (Getty)

Some experts suggest that WT1190F might be part of a space rocket, a piece of panel shed from a Moon mission, or even debris dating back to Apollo. This isn't entirely unheard of, since an object that was orbiting the moon in 2002 was part of the second mission to ever land men on the moon. Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told Scientific American that this could very likely be a lost piece of space history, returning to haunt us. According to the ESA, 8,500 objects larger than 10 cm orbit the Earth, along with 150,000 objects larger than 1 cm.


4. The Object Was First Discovered in 2013 And Then Rediscovered in October
The object was first discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey in 2013, the European Space Agency reported. The same team has observed it several times since and was keeping track of it.  Bill Gray, a poster In the Asteroid and Comet Researcher Yahoo group, wrote that the area and mass of the object was almost exactly the same as DSCOVR and Chang'e 2 and 3 boosters.


5. Others Think the Object May Have More Mysterious Origins

tweet things are at  link
Not everyone is so convinced that WT1190F is just a manmade piece of space junk. Some conspiracy theorists are going wild over the idea that the object is crashing into the Earth on the superstitious date of Friday the 13th. One theorist said on YouTube that this could be the mythical "millstone" that God casts into the sea, Express reported. However, we'll likely never know. It's predicted that the object might burn up completely when it enters the atmosphere

NORAD tracks every piece of space debris larger than 3 cm...

HOW do they not know what this is?

IF they don't know what it is  HOW do they know is 'just space debris'?

In the meantime --- NASA Spots the 'Great Pumpkin': Halloween Asteroid a Treat for Radar Astronomers
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news190.html


MILITARY says:  "According to Nature, the US military, which tracks space debris, says that it lacks the ability to identify WT1190F or to predict its path."

SCIENTISTS say: "WTF Space Object Will Crash Into Indian Ocean Next Month"

ESA says "We BELIEVE the object is a discarded rocket body."


So in summary... seems NO ONE really knows ANYTHING :P  but don't worry. it's SAFE

::)