UARS a few days before reentry
Any use of one of these images other than strictly private must be subject to prior authorization from legault@astrophoto.fr
This video of UARS (Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite) has been taken from Northern France (Dunkerque) on September 15th 2011 between 04:42:14 and 04:44:02 UTC. Distance to observer: 316 km. Altitude of the satellite: 252 km. Angular speed at culmination: 1.36°/s. The speed of the sequence is accelerated two times with regard to real time (20 fps vs 10 fps). The satellite is tumbling, perhaps because of a collision with satellite debris a few years ago.
The satellite is out of control and its atmospheric reentry is currently scheduled for Friday Sept 23th, plus or minus one day.
Instrument: Celestron EdgeHD 14” Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (at a focal length of 8500mm) on automatic tracking system, as described on this page. Camera: Lumenera Skynyx L2-2.
If the video is not visible on this page (server problem), it
is visible on Youtube:: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98DHFIkHaec
Downloadable DivX file (for private show only).