When to look for NASA’s out of control satellite

At this stage, no one is exactly sure to look for NASA’s out of control Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite. Unfortunately the satellite will not be making any more evening passes over Australia before it is expected to be destroyed reentering the Earth’s atmosphere Saturday morning Australian Time. The next best thing that we can hope for is that it reenters over Australia during one of Fridays (23 September Australian time) daylight passes. If so, you will be lucky enough to see a bright fireball pass over head in broad daylight.

The approximate times that UARS will be pass over major East Coast Australian capital cities is listed below. Click on the name of the city to be taken to the appropriate page on the Heavens-Above.com satellite viewing website. All times correct for the Australian Eastern Standard Time zone and are listed in 24 hour time to avoid confusion (Hours, minutes and seconds). Note also that there are two times listed for each pass. The first is when UARS will appear above the horizon and the second when it disappears. Under normal circumstances, the satellite won’t be visible.

Keep in mind that these times are approximate and were correct at the time of writing this post. These times will also vary as the satellite’s orbit is rapidly changing as it plunges to Earth.