Satellite to put on a show

Bob Shemeligian

Thursday, Feb. 29, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

QUESTION: What's 12 miles long, speeds along on a path 250 miles above the earth, and soon will be visible to the naked eye:

ANSWER: The Italian Space Agency's satellite, which broke loose from the shuttle Columbia on Sunday.

The half-ton metal satellite and its 12-mile leash will be visible to the naked eye for only a few moments next week as it travels through the sky, from the West Coast to the East.

The tether, holding the $443 million electricity-generating experimental satellite, snapped Sunday night after having been extended 12.2 miles. Within hours the satellite was hundreds of miles from the Columbia and irretrievable, at least for now.

NASA reports that the satellite will be visible to Las Vegas residents at 5:04 a.m. March 7 and at 5:19 a.m. March 8.

"It looks like the second day will offer the best view of the satellite," said Robert Pippin, Planetarium manager at the Community College of Southern Nevada. "But you certainly would want to try both days."

On March 7, Pippin said, the track of the satellite will run from 10 degrees above south, will reach a height of only about 11 degrees, and will disappear from view 10 degrees above south by southeast.

The duration period should be about one minute on that day.

"On the second day, we should have a little longer duration of about three minutes," said Pippin, who explained that track of the satellite will begin at 10 degrees above south by southwest.

Pippin explained that because the satellite will be moving across the sky very quickly, it wouldn't be practical to use a telescope.

"Binoculars are good, but a telescope has too small a field of view, and is not designed for something that's zooming across the sky," Pippin said.

The spherical satellite and 12-mile tail is traveling at more than 17,500-mph.

"You have to be going that fast to reach orbit and to stay in orbit," Pippin said.

Still, astronauts aboard the space shuttle Columbia said the satellite dragging 12 miles of tether should be an "absolutely awesome sight."

"It will be the only time for most people that they'll ever be able to see something in Earth orbit that's other than a point of light," astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman said Tuesday from the space shuttle Columbia. "They'll actually see a line moving through the sky."

To potential satellite seekers, Pippin suggests using a dark, unlit area as a vantage point.

"I wouldn't look for it from the Fremont Street Experience," Pippin said.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS contributed to this story.