THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: Thursday, March 7, 1996 TAG: 9603070417 SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
If the weather clears, early risers on Saturday should be able to glimpse an errant Italian satellite that broke free of the space shuttle Columbia last week. The satellite and the 12-mile-long tether it is dragging will likely appear as a fast-moving spot of light.
NASA has revised an announced viewing schedule because of the satellite's erratic and decaying orbit. The satellite is expected to re-enter the atmosphere and burn up in two to three weeks.
In Hampton Roads, sightings should occur Saturday, Sunday and Monday. NASA cautions, however, that even this revised schedule could be off by several minutes because of uncertainties in calculating the satellite's exact path.
According to NASA, Hampton Roads sky watchers should look 11 degrees above the southern horizon at 5:01 a.m. Saturday as the satellite travels southeast. Sunday, the satellite can be seen at 5:19 a.m., appearing 11 degrees above south-southwest and moving southeast. Monday, the satellite and tether will also move southeast, but at 10 degrees above the south-southwest horizon.
All three appearances will be brief. The first will last roughly two minutes, and the second and third, three minutes each.
NASA calculations are for Norfolk only. The times and duration of the sightings will vary slightly, depending on where in Hampton Roads viewers live. MEMO: The Associated Press contributed to this report.
ILLUSTRATION: WEB SITE
NASA will offer daily sighting updates on its home page on the
World Wide Web, address http://shuttle.nasa.gov
Once there, browsers should access orbit, then shuttle, then
shuttle sighting information, then shuttle sighting list. The file
TSS/TETHER contains sighting times and information.
by CNB