In some unusual news, NASA astronauts have lost a tool bag that is now travelling through space at speed and will briefly appear above London over the next week. There are conflicting reports, but experts appear to agree that amateurs may be able to view the floating object with binoculars or a telescope on Thurs 23rd (6.15pm), Friday 24th (at 7pm) or Tues 28th November (6.30pm). The bag is expected to track over North London after south Wales, the Cotswolds and Oxfordshire.
The bag started its orbit on Thurs 2nd November when two astronauts, Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara, let go of it while working on repairs to one of the International Space Station’s solar panels. A blog post on the NASA website confirmed that they were still successful in the objective of their spacewalk, however, and that the risk of the bag “recontacting” the station is low. It has been orbiting Earth since and astronomers have been tracking its course, also spotting it in Italy and Japan. Experts claim that it will eventually fall back to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere as it does, but estimate that this won’t be until next summer.
Virtual Telescope Project, a telescope platform, was successful in photographing the missing bag which was reportedly moving at the “extremely fast” speed of 1000″/second and is described as looking like “a sharp dot of light”. It sounds like a sighting might be tricky – and only for a split second – but if you’ve got the equipment, you may as well try and catch a glimpse of the rogue bag.
