Mark 1/15 for a Sky Show

NASA says the January 15th return of the Stardust space capsule will be the fastest human-made object to hit the atmosphere, starting around 1:12 am PST. And it's going to be visible over most of the western US:

According to Stardust officials, the fireball should be visible from San Francisco perhaps up to and beyond Portland, shooting over Nevada toward its Utah landing. The artificial meteor is expected to peak in brightness as it penetrates deeper in the Earth's atmosphere, lighting up to roughly the brilliance of Venus for about 90 seconds. That brightness is expected to peak over Carlin, Nevada.

Stardust collected comet and interstellar dust particles; its capsule will be landing in Utah after the big sky show.

Categories: space, NASA, capsule, Stardust