Astronomer captures possible image of NASA’s long-lost Centurion rocket booster

A small mysterious object is zipping to Earth today, giving astronomers an excellent opportunity to finally confirm it as the upper stage of the Centaur rocket. That Launched by NASA in 1966.

Is it or not This is the question astronomers have been asking since September, when scientists with the Pan-Stars 1 survey in Maui, Hawaii. Spot This substance, named 2020 SO. Astronomers have good reason to believe that the junk of space has returned, especially a Surveyor 2 Centaur rocket booster, dating to the 1960s. The trouble is, they haven’t really been able to prove it.

The 2020 SO normally orbits the Sun, but the Earth’s gravity, temporarily, converts this object into an artificial minimal. The object will complete a new orbit around the Sun before it completes a pair of orbits around our planet, but today (December 1, 2020) is a special day, as the object object makes a closer approach to Earth.

Astronomer Gianluca Masi, with Virtual Telescope Project 2.0, a group that uses remote controlled telescopes for space observation – took Opportunity to capture a photo of the budget Last night

“I managed to get a tracked image of the project, but also a trial [upper left in the photo] And the latter shows a dotted pattern, basically a bright point, then a dizzy and so on, ”Auntie explained in an email. “This indicates that 10 objects were rotating with a duration of about 10 seconds.”

Auntie said she has more to share sooner, so we’re looking forward to that.

Looking at the image, we still can’t be sure we’re looking at the lost rocket booster, but we believe it is. The purpose of NASA’s Surveyor 2 mission was to investigate the lunar surface before THe misses Apollo. Beginning on September 20, 1966, the mission began well, but the next day, The thyristor on Surveyor 2 failed to ignite, throwing the spacecraft into a spin. Surveyor 2 crashed on the lunar surface, while the centaur floated to the moon in the upper phase. And in unfamiliar orbits around the sun.

After that, no one gave him more thought.

NDespite two of the seven attempts to make a soft landing on the lunar surface between 1966 and 1968, the ASA’s surveyor program was a real success. You can learn more about this mission Here.

Soon after 2020, the flag project was flagged due to its unpredictable behavior by astronomers from the Center for New-Earth Stud BJT Studies (CNEOS) at the Snack Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The orbit of the Object object was more like that of an Earth than that of an asteroid, which has an almost circular orbit inside the Earth’s rotation plane. It is not commonly found in asteroids.

Additional observations showed that the 2020 SO had a route modified by an event known as solar radiation pressure, as NASA Explains:

The pressure exerted by sunlight is low but constant, and it has a greater effect on the hollow on the object than on the solid. A spent rocket is essentially an empty tube and is therefore a low-density object object with a large surface area. So it will be pushed forward by solar radiation pressure, more than a solid, high-density rock – more than a small stone will be pushed by wind like empty soda.

Given these obstacles, CNEOS Director Paul Chodas sought to determine the origin of the project, which he did by working behind its orbit. To see where the past was. His calculations show that the 2020 SOA has made some close approaches to Earth over the past few decades, but in 1966 the flybye of the object object was so close that it could originate from Earth.

“One of the potential avenues for 2020 SO, in late September 1966, brought the object very close to Earth and the Moon,” NASA said in a statement. “It was like the Eureka moment when a quick check of the launch dates for the lunar mission showed a match with the Surveyor 2 mission.”

Today’s close Flyby 2020 SO presents an excellent opportunity for further study and for scientists to confirm the iron of its identity.. In addition to optical images, astronomers can study the ters object with spectrometers to determine its chemical composition. We should know very soon if this mysterious object object is really the highest stage of the centaur.

Then whether it is artificial or natural, this object budget is definitely a temporary minimum. 2020 SO entered this special phase of its orbit on November 8 And Earth’s gravity will get out of control in March 2021. There was earth Recently visited By natural minimum, Asteroid 2020 CD3, which had spent the past 2.7 years as a temporarily bound satellite.