Technical / Procedural Advice for Film

Joseph wrote:
I'm an indie filmmaker working on a screenplay about a mysterious
alien object that suddenly appears in Earth orbit. In the story it is
first spotted by the space shuttle and then confirmed by radar and
telescopes on the ground.

I am trying to get a sense of the types of procedures people in the
space and SETI communities would go through in the first few minutes
and hours after discovering it.

There are several programs designed to find Near Earth Objects (NEOs)
http://neat.jpl.nasa.gov/
http://www.ll.mit.edu/LINEAR/

One of these be the most likely to see it first. The odds of it being
seen from a shuttle or ISS are tiny.

After a few observations Brian Marsden from MIT would probably send out
a very cautious and brief announcement giving the object a 1 on the
Torino scale. Of course various news outlets will exploit this for drama
and completely misinterpret Marsden's announcement.

An object heading for earth from another system is likely to be in a
hyperbolic orbit and not in the ecliptic plane. This would intrigue
observers. Most comets from the Oort cloud have near parabolic orbits. A
hyperbolic orbit would mark it as a visitor from interstellar space.

It would be followed by a number of professional and amateur
asteroid/comet enthusiasts. When the space craft does a burn at it's
perihelion to match orbits with earth's circular orbit, many, many
people would notice the change in it's orbital elements. How things
would proceed then is anyone's guess.



--
Hop David
http://clowder.net/hop/index.html

(David Woolley) wrote in message ...
In article ,
(Christopher M. Jones) wrote:
For extra fun let's say it has a hyperbolic Solar
Orbit, which means, automatically, that it does not

Hyperbolic orbits are quite likely for comets.

Actually, this is wrong. There has never been a comet
observed with a hyperbolic solar orbit. Many comets
have such large aphelion distances that their orbits
can be very closely approximated with a hyperbola, but
their orbits are, in fact, very elongated ellipses.

An object in a hyperbolic solar orbit would not be
bound to the Sun and would almost certainly have
arrived via interstellar space. (Also, the term
"orbit" is incorrect for hyperbolic trajectories since
the object is not in orbit, merely passing through.)

Christopher M. Jones wrote:
(David Woolley) wrote in message ...

In article ,
(Christopher M. Jones) wrote:

For extra fun let's say it has a hyperbolic Solar
Orbit, which means, automatically, that it does not

Hyperbolic orbits are quite likely for comets.


Actually, this is wrong. There has never been a comet
observed with a hyperbolic solar orbit. Many comets
have such large aphelion distances that their orbits
can be very closely approximated with a hyperbola,

If the hyperbola has an eccentricity close to 1.

It's better to say the comets from the Oort can be closely approximated
with a parabola.


but
their orbits are, in fact, very elongated ellipses.


Probably many of them are. But I'd guess a good fraction don't make the
return trip.

--
Hop David
http://clowder.net/hop/index.html

In sci.space.policy Jan Knutar wrote:
Jason H. wrote:


With the Space Shuttle currently grounded and only a couple of flights
left in its life to service the space station, perhaps it would be
better to have a space station crewperson see it?

Or a cosmonaut on a Soyuz ship. Then you could have the Soyuz explode, and
subtly hint it was old poorly maintained russian components failing, and
have the world leaders argue about whether teh aliens blew it up or not,
and at the same time have russians plan to blast the aliens away, while the
Good Guys convince them not to.

Fire on ISS, alien ship comes along and engulfs it in a pressurised bay,
with too much helium, so everyone is saved, but talks funny.

"Christopher M. Jones" wrote:

(David Woolley) wrote in message ...


Hyperbolic orbits are quite likely for comets.

Actually, this is wrong. There has never been a comet
observed with a hyperbolic solar orbit. Many comets
have such large aphelion distances that their orbits
can be very closely approximated with a hyperbola, but
their orbits are, in fact, very elongated ellipses.

An object in a hyperbolic solar orbit would not be
bound to the Sun and would almost certainly have
arrived via interstellar space. (Also, the term
"orbit" is incorrect for hyperbolic trajectories since
the object is not in orbit, merely passing through.)

It would be interesting to see a film version of "Rendezvous with Rama".

"Bill Bonde ( Not the man who knows everything, just the man who knows
the important things )" wrote:

It would be interesting to see a film version of "Rendezvous with Rama".

http://www.rendezvouswithrama.com/

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.