How to See a 1960s Booster Rocket Flying Over Earth Today
The 1960s were a time of tremendous technological optimism and international competition, and space exploration was the reason – and the venue – for much of this. However, the futuristic will one day go down in history, and it turns out that some of the most sophisticated rocket technologies of the 20th century are now nothing more than space debris that sometimes returns to Earth’s orbit. These circumstances give us the opportunity to reflect on history. They may also be of interest to those interested in astronomy and the science of space exploration.
This is what is expected today when a mysterious object believed to be the Centaur rocket booster, following the launch of the Surveyor 2 rocket in 1966, crosses the sky 31,000 miles from our planet. Originally launched as part of the American Surveyor program, the unmanned lunar expedition failed to reach the moon, transforming what had been a key vessel in the US’s bid for space race supremacy into a wayward chunk of debris floating through the solar system.
Here’s what we know about the object, which can still be an asteroid, and how to see it.
What is this object?
While it is unclear if this flying object is a booster rocket or an asteroid, it does have an official name. The object was first discovered by astronomers using the Pan-STARRS1 telescope in Haleakala, Hawaii, and was named 2020 SO. Although it was quickly marked as an asteroid, the researchers found several differences that led them to believe otherwise.
As Earth Sky points out :
However, it was soon noticed that SO 2020 had some features that set it apart from regular asteroids. According to NASA / JPL calculations, the object flew past Earth’s moon at 1,880 mph (3,025 km / h) or 0.84 km per second (0.5 mph). This is an extremely low speed for an asteroid.
Paul Chodas, director of NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Objects Research, discovered in November that the 2020 SO’s orbital history was strikingly similar to the launch of the Surveyor 2 rocket.
He said in a NASA press release :
“One possible path to 2020 SO brought the object very close to the Earth and the Moon at the end of September 1966. It was like a eureka moment when a quick check of the launch dates for the lunar missions showed a match with the Surveyor 2 mission . “
How long will 2020 SO stay in Earth’s orbit?
On a galactic scale, this is just a brief rendezvous: According to NASA, 2020 SO will remain in Earth’s orbit until March 2021, when it returns to solar orbit.
As the space agency notes:
On November 8, 2020, SO slowly moved into the Earth’s gravitationally dominated sphere, a region called Hill’s sphere, which extends about 930,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) from our planet. This is where SO 2020 will remain for about four months before it re-enters a new orbit around the Sun in March 2021.
The duration of the object’s stay in our orbit will allow us to classify it as a mini-moon of the Earth, albeit not for long. Its proximity to our planet will peak on December 1, that is, today.
How to see it
Unfortunately, you can’t see it with the naked eye, but the Virtual Telescope project has a live stream that you can keep on your computer all day. Today is a pivotal day for determining whether an object is part of history or a normal asteroid, and its close proximity to Earth will give researchers the best chance of making that distinction.
And if you get access to the live stream, you can accompany them on this scientific journey.