Nov. 12, 2015

The International Astronomical Center (IAC) and the United Arab Emirates Space Agency will host a team of veteran U.S. and German observers of spacecraft re-entries, including SETI Institute research scientist Peter Jenniskens, to study the predicted re-entry of an approximately 1-meter piece of space debris near Sri Lanka on November 13, 2015.
"What makes the return of this man-made object so special," says IAC director Mohammad Odeh, "is that it moves on a very elongated orbit, returning to Earth only once every 23 days. When WT1190F, as it is called, finally hits the Earth's atmosphere, it comes in steeper and faster than normal."