December 14, 2014 at 19:02

New Year's space gifts



    Only two and a few weeks are left but the New Year, and the interesting space events of 2014 do not end there. Meteor rain, three rocket launches and a sudden comet - what numbers should I put reminders on?

    Geminids



    Photo by Dolph1n Astroforum .

    Will be: December 9-16, December 14 maximum.
    Right now, when you read these lines. If you have a clear sky, get distracted for at least a few minutes, see one of the most powerful meteor showers of the year. By the way, it is not necessary to look at the radiant exactly - find a darker place, wait a few minutes for the eyes to adapt to the dark and see less bright meteors, and just look at the sky - meteors can flash from any direction of the world.
    And those who have the sky covered with clouds can:

    You can also follow the online activity update on the website of the International Meteor Organization :
    image

    Curiously, the Geminids embarrassed astronomers for a long time because they were relatively slow and there was no comet that would litter in its orbit. Only in 1983, analyzing data from the IRAS space infrared telescope, did they find the asteroid Phaeton, which had long been a comet, but, approaching the Sun two times closer than the orbit of Mercury, evaporated all the ice and now only dust is scattered in its orbit.

    GSLV Mk.III-X1




    Will be: December 18, from 06:30 to 10:30 Moscow time .

    India plans to kill two birds with one stone in one ambitious launch: to test the new GSLV MkIII launch vehicle and the return capsule for the manned vehicle.
    The new Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk III rocket is very similar in design to the American "Titans" -III and -IV and will be able to put up to 10 tons into low orbit and 4-5 tons into geo-transition orbit.


    The first two steps are complete.


    Third stage.


    Transportation from MIK to the launch pad.

    The shape of the future Indian ship is still reliably unknown, different sources draw it differently:


    But the appearance of the descent vehicle is already clear:



    The device is mounted on a rocket with a heat shield forward. This is “upside down” from the normal position in real flights, but this option does not require a coup after separation.



    Start-up is planned suborbital, with splashdown of the descent vehicle:



    You can also watch the video (in some local language):


    SpaceX CRS-5




    Will be: December 19, 21:20 Moscow time .
    The next launch of the Dragon cargo ship to the ISS will be special - the first stage of the Falcon rocket will try to gently board the barge. There have not been such landings in the history of astronautics. And Mask fans and skeptics, I think, will be interested to see what happens there. Moreover, after the transfer from December 16, time has become more convenient for residents of the Urals and Western Siberia.

    Photo of the barge on which they plan to land: The


    upper part of the first stage with aerodynamic rudders:


    Flight pattern:


    You can play the cute toy “plant the first stage” .
    And you can follow the countdown here .

    The first launch of the "Hangar A5"




    Will be: December 22-28 .
    In the first half of November, the Angara was transported to the launch site with training refueling, electrical and other tests. The transportation of the rocket back to the MIC took place as expected, which indirectly indicates the absence of serious problems in preparation for the first launch. Initially, the launch was expected around December 25, but the launch window was expanded to December 22-28. If there are no unforeseen complications, then this will be a very rare case for the astronautics to shift the terms to the “left”.



    Missile export to the launch complex may occur already on December 15, stay tuned.
    Unlike the light Angara, the test launch of which was originally planned to be suborbital, in this case there will be a complete simulation of the satellite’s launch into geostationary orbit. Instead of the satellite, there will be a weight-size model, but all other elements up to the Briz-M booster block will be standard.
    Angara A5 will become our heaviest launch vehicle, it will be able to launch ~ 25 tons into low Earth orbit, which is 3 tons more than Proton-M.
    Separately, it is worth noting the uniqueness of the design - assemblies of five universal rocket modules in the history of astronautics have not yet flown.

    Comet C / 2014 Q2 (Lovejoy)



    She is still small, but will grow soon. Source of photo .

    It will be visible from the end of December, the best conditions for observation are the New Year holidays .
    Discovered just six months ago, a comet will suddenly delight us in the New Year holidays. Despite the fact that its perihelion is between the orbits of the Earth and Mars, the projected maximum brightness is higher than visible to the naked eye (source - cometbase.net ):



    Now the comet is in the southern part of the sky, but already on New Year's Eve will be close to the constellation Orion (source - heavens-above.com ):



    Unlike the comet ISON, which so let us down, lounging behind the Sun a year ago, this comet has no chance of becoming a comet of the century, but it is not guaranteed to fall apart.
    In addition to heavens-above.com, the exact location of the comet can be imported into Stellarium:
    1. General Settings (F2) - Plugins - Solar System Editor (check the box “download at startup”).
    2. Plugin settings (“configure” button) - tab “Solar system” - import of objects in MPC format.
    3. In the window that appears, select the type of "comet", select the source "MPC's list of observable comets", click the "get orbit elements" button.
    4. In the window that appears, find "C / 2014 Q2 (Lovejoy)", put a check in the list and click the "Add Objects" button.
    5. After this, the comet is easily found by searching for Ctrl-F.




    Sources of information


    In preparing the review, the following were used:

    PS Unlike meteor showers, missile launches can be postponed to a later date, I recommend to follow the news.
    Tags:

    Also popular now: