Space station Mir now showing in Delhi

Space station Mir now showing in Delhi
REUTERS

New Delhi, March 13: Astronomers spotted Russia's Mir space station hurtling over Indian skies on Monday night and said the ageing craft is expected to be visible to the naked eye in New Delhi for the next three nights.

"It will look like a big star. It will be very fast moving, covering the whole sky in a minute or so," Nilesh Vayada, assistant secretary of the Confederation of Indian Amateur Astronomers told Reuters on Tuesday.

The 15-year-old craft, once the pride of the Soviet space programme, is expected to splash down about 3,000 km (1,850 miles) east of New Zealand in open ocean sometime around March 20.

Vayada said the orbiter would emerge on the horizon over the Indian capital at just after 7.33 pm (1203 GMT) on Tuesday and would complete its arc less than three minutes later.

It would be visible for only about a minute because it would be shrouded in pollution on the horizon and it would also take some time for watchers to focus on it.

"Prefer viewing with naked eye," he said. "Don't try hunting it with a telescope, it's only visible for one minute. If you really want, use a bino with wide field of view, but first locate Mir with the naked eye."