NASA’s lost tool bag orbiting Earth can be spotted with naked eyes on Tuesday

A tool bag that was accidentally slipped by NASA astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS), will be flying over Britain on Tuesday (Nov 21) and be visible from the ground.

The tool bag is orbiting the Earth around five minutes ahead of the ISS, and it has already been spotted by astronauts both onboard the space station and on the ground.

The bag is surprisingly bright and can be spotted with the naked eye in a clear sky. However, amateurs can also use binoculars or a telescope for a clear view.

What time will the tool bag be visible?

Britons in the south are expected to have a clear view of the tool bag on Tuesday evening. The best time to spot the bag would be between 5.30 pm and 5.41 pm.

Astronomers from the Virtual Telescope Project first spotted the object from the ground last week.

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Gianluca Masi, the project founder, posted an image, adding: “The object looks like a sharp dot of light in the centre, as the telescope tracked it.”

How did the bag end up there?

On November 2, when NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara were conducting repairs on the International Space Station’s (ISS) solar panels, they accidentally let a tool bag slip away.

The tool bag is expected to orbit around Earth for a few months, during which it will continue to descend until 70 miles or 113 kilometres.

After reaching there, it will start to disintegrate in Earth’s atmosphere.

Notably, it was not the first time that astronauts dropped a repair kit accidentally into the Earth’s orbit.

On November 18, 2008, astronauts lost a similar repair kit during an operation outside the ISS.

(With inputs from agencies)