Phrobus Grunt

Hi Nimbus , This site http://celestrak.com/events/reentry/phobos-grunt.asp shows the orbital passes for Phobos Grunt . It shows that it reaches as far north as the UK (but not far enough north to affect Newcastle Brown or Tetleys but could reach as far as Spitfire and Fursty Ferret country - last two are great beers).
The new (Red Dwarf X series) is being recorded now http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a356420/red-dwarf-begins-new-series-filming-video.html and it does look like its on Dave ( Octoberish 2012 )

Just stumbled on some radar based tracking and a Google Earth dynamic path display http://www.fhr.fraunhofer.de/fhr/fhr_c753_en.html .
Go to the base of the page and click Current position of Mars Orbiter Phobos Grunt . The track should come up !

The next predicted visible pass of Phobus Grunt at my location is at 17:27 on January 22nd, although it
is very low on the horizon.
It's a shame that it is looking like it will re-enter before than.
Still, I am still hoping that it might hold out until then.

When checking on Heavens Above website for your location click on 'All passes' in addition to 'Visible passes' .It does pass over southern UK reaching up to 34 degs altitude on the 14 th and 31 degs on the 15 th January. There are other 'shadow' passes .These are passes in the dark (in earths shadow) BUT if it starts re- entry then it will be visible due to ablation on re-entry and the hydrazine 'big bang' . The re-entry creates the light emmision. Worth a look in the right sky area at the critical times.

Thanks LeoLion, I hadn't thought to check out the "all" option.
Since the site doesn't display a sky chart for the invisible passes, am I correct in assuming that if the track
will start and end roughly in the direction it crosses the circle?
What puzzles me slightly is that the visible passes don't actually appear to enter the circle.

We are talking of the 'Ground track plot' ? That circle defines where the satellite is 10 degs above your horizon. It's just reffering to altitude alone. The earths shadow ,cast by the sun defines if it will be a visible pass or not . The 22/01/2012 pass would be just about 10 degs for me (much further south) so your maximum altitude would probably mean it was outwith the 10 deg circle ( a few degrees lower ).
I will be looking out on the basis of 'time of pass' using an accurate watch and on the basis of azimuth (given as compass rose - I would convert to degrees !!) and altitude at the ID d time. I would use one of my PC /Palm/Android planetarium charts to verify where to look. For me the 15/01/2012 pass would be 'southing' for me @ 21h25m30 s at a maximum altitude of 31 degs coming from 10 degs alt in WSW @ 21h24m06s and dropping to 10 degs alt in the ESE. For me that would mean it would be coming up from Eridanus area , passing near Rigel in Orion as it 'southed' and dropping below 10 degs around Canis Major. On these 'shadow' passes , if it re- enters we should see the fireball . More likely to enter over the sea somewhere however

This source http://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/ really has his finger on the 'satellite' button . Viewing todays blog gives the variation in 'times' and the 'error bars' . As he says most predictions favour the second part of Sunday the 15 th. Using Heavens Above http://www.heavens-above.com/ and ' All Passes ' gives you the times it will be above the horizon for your location . Most of these passes will be in the earths shadow. When it re- enters it will be a full load of rocket fuel/oxidant to combust By observing the sky in the right part of the sky from a few minutes earlier than the prediction until a few minutes after you could see a spectacular fireball . We don't know exactly when the fat lady will sing . Worth being outdoors for the few minutes it takes for our northern passes .

Just found this that could be of interest http://www.spaceflight101.com/phobos-grunt-re-entry-information.html . I'm keeping an eye on Twitter on some reliable sources to find out what is/has happened fairly quickly after the re-entry event. I'm hoping for some clear sky for the near UK passes this early evening but not too promising at the moment.

Theres a Twitter avalanche at the moment with lots of twitter and little or no factoids ! . The Ruskies say that its down in the Pacific , a little east of Wellington Island . I'll let the dust settle a bit ( 27 more Tweets flagged up as I type ) - Oops now 42. Will now wait and see

BBC have confirmed this aswell. Good to hear its down and hasnt caused any damage.

Next time this happens we should take predictions!