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No,
that's not a meteor or an alien spaceship - that's an image of the falling
NASA satellite UARS, captured by amateur astronomer Thierry Legault:
The six-tonne, 20-year-old spacecraft has fallen out of orbit and is expected to crash somewhere on Earth on or around 24 September.
The US space agency says the risk to life from the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) is 1 in 3,200. [...] Nasa says that most of the satellite will break or burn up before reaching Earth.
But scientists have identified 26 separate pieces that could survive the fall through the atmosphere. This debris could rain across an area 400-500km (250-310 miles) wide.
Link | Thierry's webpage (Image: Thierry Legault)
Astrophotographer Thierry Legault took what is probably one of the most incredible photographs of the Sun. What’s the big deal about the big yellow ball? Look closely:
OK, so you look at it and say, “So what? It’s a picture of the quiet Sun seen in overcast conditions. Big deal!”
Ah, but a big deal it is. See those spots in the lower left quadrant of our nearest star? Those aren’t sunspots… here, let me show you what those are:
Yes, that is in fact the Space Shuttle Atlantis silhouetted against the Sun. But wait, there’s something else, isn’t there. What’s that spot below the Shuttle?That, me droogs, is the Hubble Space Telescope. Perhaps you’ve heard of it.
Holy Haleakala!
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