Bend's On The Astrological Map

Sorry about the lack of blogging today, as I've been stupidly busy with projects at home. Anyway, Barney's really into this, but still do think it's pretty cool.

Meteors are unpredictable. You never know, not exactly, when one will streak across the sky.

Not so on Wednesday, September 8th. At precisely 8:52:46 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT), northwest of Bend, Oregon, a fireball will appear: a white-hot dot of light, brighter than the planet Venus, gliding across the blue morning sky.

This is no ordinary meteor. It's a space capsule jettisoned by NASA's Genesis spacecraft, returning to Earth with precious samples of the Sun, and we know exactly where it will go:

From Bend, traveling 25,000 mph (11 km/s), the fireball will streak across eastern Oregon, brightening as it descends into denser parts of Earth's atmosphere. At 8:53:35 a.m. PDT it crosses the southwestern corner of Idaho and, moments later, northern Nevada not far from the tiny town of Elko. Finally, at 8:54 a.m. PDT, slowed to a near-halt by the capsule's drogue parachute, the fireball will fade over Utah.

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