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Post by swamprat on Nov 17, 2012 16:45:48 GMT -6
This organization is setting up a network of amateur astronomers to detect space debris that is endangering satellites. View the video on their website. www.spaceviewnetwork.com/
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Post by skywalker on Nov 17, 2012 20:35:21 GMT -6
Cliff was just telling me about that. I suppose it is the government's way of cutting costs for the space program. It sounds like an interesting thing for amateur astronomers to get involved in. I was wondering though...why don't they just use all of those fancy tracking machines that they already have? Wouldn't that be easier?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2012 21:56:28 GMT -6
Cliff was just telling me about that. I suppose it is the government's way of cutting costs for the space program. It sounds like an interesting thing for amateur astronomers to get involved in. I was wondering though...why don't they just use all of those fancy tracking machines that they already have? Wouldn't that be easier? There are so many particles up there that I agree with the way they're attempting to handle this. At any given time or area in the night sky I'll see several flying through the field of view in just a matter of a few minutes. I can see why this has become a serious problem and concern. Before this was proposed I had been thinking about this and have mentioned it here and there on the forum about the amount of junk that's up there. When just one of these small particles hit a satellite it causes an explosion which scatters even more particles around. I don't know what they're going to do about this problem in the near future but I guess for now they'll just have to track them with as many observers they can get and hope they identify the majority of them. If they would've done something like this about 15 years ago I would have joined in but my situation now probably wouldn't allow it, unfortunately.
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