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I heard the Lucy probe will be doing a gravity assist flyby of Earth on Sunday. Should be quite a view from Aus, but JPL Horizons suggests it will be more than 30 degs above the horizon from the UK late evening Sunday. Not sure how bright it will be though.
Is anyone else going to have a bash at it?
I got the spacecraft and Centaur upper stage a day after launch in 2021 October and so will certainly be having a go for this flyby. Closest Earth approach is 11:02 UTC on 2022 October 16 when it should be visible with the naked eye from Australia. Our best opportunity is the morning of October 17 when it will be in Gemini. It was mag 17 when I imaged it on the way out in 2021 and the SWRI web page below suggests it will be 12-16 the day after flyby then fading at around 2 mags/day.
https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20211017_203152_36007e488544b44e
http://lucy.swri.edu/SpotTheSpacecraft-EGA1.htmlA few tiny gaps between the rain clouds in Chelmsford. The fact that it is very close to the Moon doesn’t help but it is around 16.5 at the moment on the one out-of-focus image that I’ve managed to get.
Here’s the badly out of focus image:
https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20221017_033930_ce425b3fe9fb12a2Much better conditions tonight but the spacecraft is now around mag 19.
https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20221018_013758_7e01f580c6581403
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