Skylab visible this week

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33254, 18 June 1973, Page 1

Skylab visible this week

(New Zealand Press Association?

WELLINGTON. June 17. The American space station Sk\ lab should be visible from most of New Zealand north of Christchurch on six occasions before the end of this month, if conditions allow.

People in the Wellington area may get one other glimpse of it, on June 28.

The Skylab will look like a moving star, varying in brightness from the equivalent of the brightest star in the sky to a dot barely visible to the naked eye. The American Embassy in Wellington today released details of the sighting times, provided by the Marshall Space Flight Centre at Huntsville, Alabama. The Skylab will reach its nearest point to New Zealand on June 29, when it will be 328 miles away. It will then appear soon after 7 a.m. and move across the sky from the north-west to the south-east, being visible for almost 7 min, if the weather is clear.

Other sightings will range in time from 2min. Bsec. on the

morning of June 28, when the Skylab will move close to the horizon from the north-east to the north, to 6min. 49sec. on June 19, when it should be visible fairly high in the sky moving from the south-w r est to the north-east at 5.42 p.m. The Skylab should also be visible on June 18 at 6.26 p.m. moving from the west to the north to the north-east for 6min. 21sec., and on June 21, for 4min. 13sec. at 5.53 p.m. The Skylab will again be visible, weather permitting, for 4min. 40sec. on June 27, north to east, at 7.2 a.m.; for 2min. Bsec. at 6.20 a.m. on June 28 (north-east to east); and for 6min. 29sec. on June 30, at 6.28 a.m., from northwest to east