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New Year's space gifts



Only a little over two weeks have remained of the New Year, and the interesting cosmic events of 2014 are not ending. Meteor rain, three rocket launches and a sudden comet - on which numbers should reminders be put?

Heminides



Photo of user Dolph1n Astroforum .

Will be: December 9-16 , a maximum of December 14 .
Right now when you read these lines. If you have a clear sky, take a break for at least a few minutes, look at one of the most powerful meteor showers of the year. By the way, there is no need to look at the radiant - find a darker place, wait a few minutes for your eyes to adapt to the dark and see less bright meteors, and just look at the sky - meteors can flash from any side of the world.
And those who have the sky covered with clouds can:

You can also follow the online update activity on the website of the International Meteor Organization :
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What is curious, the Geminids confused 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, they found the asteroid Phaeton, which was once a comet a long time ago, but approaching the Sun two times closer to the orbit of Mercury, evaporated all the ice and now it is dusting only in orbit.

GSLV Mk.III-X1




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

India plans with one ambitious launch to kill two birds with one stone: test the new GSLV MkIII carrier rocket and the returned capsule for the manned spacecraft.
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 output up to 10 tons to a low orbit and 4-5 tons to a geo-transition orbit.


The first two steps in the collection.


The third step.


Transportation from the MIC to the launch pad.

The shape of the future of the Indian ship is not yet reliably known; different sources draw it in different ways:


But the appearance of the descent vehicle is already clear:



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



The launch is planned suborbital, with the landing of the descent vehicle:



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


SpaceX CRS-5




It 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 gently try to get on the barge. In the history of astronautics such landings have not yet been. And I think it will be interesting for the Mask fans and skeptics to see what happens there. Moreover, after the transfer from December 16, the time has become more convenient for residents of the Urals and Western Siberia.

Photo barge, which plan to land:


Top of the first stage with aerodynamic rudders:


Flight pattern:


You can play cute toy "plant the first step . "
And you can follow the countdown here .

The first launch of "Angara A5"




Will be: December 22-28 .
In the first half of November, the Angara was transported to the launch complex with a training dressing, 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 in the area on December 25, but the starting window was extended to December 22-28. If there are no unforeseen complications, then this will be a very rare case for astronautics when the deadlines are shifted to the “left”.



Removal of the missile to the launch complex may occur as early as 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 imitation of launching the satellite into a geostationary orbit. Instead of a satellite, there will be a weight and weight layout, but all other elements up to the Briz-M upper stage will be regular.
“Angara A5” will become our heaviest carrier rocket, it will be able to launch ~ 25 tons to a low near-earth orbit, which is 3 tons more than “Proton-M”.
Separately, it is worth noting the unique 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 up soon. Photo source .

It will be visible from the end of December, the best conditions for observation are the New Year holidays .
Discovered just six months ago, the comet suddenly will 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 that seen by the naked eye (source: cometbase.net ):



Now the comet is in the southern part of the sky, but already on New Year's Eve it will be not far from the constellation Orion (source - heavens-above.com ):



Unlike comet ISON, which let us down so much, lounging behind the Sun a year ago, this comet has no chance of becoming a comet of the century, but it is guaranteed not to fall apart.
In addition to the resource heavens-above.com, the exact location of the comet can be imported into Stellarium:
  1. General settings (F2) - Plug-ins - Editor of the Solar System (tick "download at startup").
  2. Plugin settings (“configure” button) - “Solar system” tab - 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)", tick the list and click "Add objects".
  5. After this, the comet can be easily found by Ctrl-F.




Information sources


In preparing the review were used:

PS Unlike meteor showers, rocket launches can be postponed to a later date, I recommend following the news.

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/364357/

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