COLOMBO, SRI LANKA — Millions of pieces of space junk hover just beyond Earth's atmosphere, vestiges of past space missions over the last century. But for the first time ever, scientists have calculated when and where a chunk of space junk will collide with Earth — November 13.
Experts estimate that on the second Friday of November, a mysterious space object called WT1190F will crash into the ocean 62 miles off the southern coast of Sri Lanka. Based on their observations of the object's orbit and its hollow structure, scientists suspect that the object is man-made.
Dubbed "WTF," the space debris probably came from part of the rocket body of a previous mission and measures up to six or seven feet long. The object's orbit is highly eccentric, meaning that it's more oval-shaped than the orbits of most space debris. While on its orbit, WT1190F reaches distances more than double one lunar distance.
The debris will catch fire once it comes into contact with the Earth's atmosphere above the Indian Ocean, and experts believe that all or most of it will burn up before it collides with Earth's surface.
USA Today reports that the space object was first seen in 2013 by the Catalina Sky Survey. Scientists say that watching WT1190F disintegrate in the Earth's atmosphere next month will help them gain a better understanding what happens to materials in the atmosphere.
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