Hayabusa, 6 min before reentry, can be seen from Maldives

The asteroid explorer Hayabusa comes back to the earth on June 13. The reentry time is around 13:51 UTC, and it will land in Woomera Prohibited Area in Australia. Just before the reentry, Hayabusa can be seen from Maldives.

Fig 1. The footprint of Hayabusa and the location of Maldives. The time shows the remaining time until the reentry and the distance form the surface of earth is also shown.

As Fig.1 shows, Hayabusa moves toward south-east direction from Maldives, and it can be seen just after the sunset. (The sunset time in Maldives is around 18:10 or 18:20.) The pass of Hayabusa in the sky shows in Fig.2 and Fig.3

The pass of Hayabusa seen from the north part of Maldives (Fig.2) and from the south part of Maldives (Fig.3). The time written in balk is UTC and the time written in red is Maldives time.

It is difficult to see Hayabusa with the naked eyes, so please use telescope or binoculars. Hayabusa goes into the shadow of the earth at six minutes before the reentry, so it cannot be seen around 18:45 in Maldoves time.

Open new window HAYABUSA -The Final Approach-
Asteroid Exploration HAYABUSA (MUSES-C)
Open new window JAXA Space Exploration Center

June 13, 2010