(Image: © NASA)
Two defunct satellites will zip past each other at , (mph) . 7 kilometers per second) in the sky over Pittsburgh on Wednesday evening (Jan. 
). If the two satellites were to collide, the debris could endanger spacecraft around the planet. 
It will be a near miss: LeoLabs, the satellite-tracking company that made the prediction, said they should pass between (feet and
feet apart ( to meters (at 6:) pm local time.
LeoLabs uses its own network of ground-based radar to track orbiting objects . Still, Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics astronomer who tracks satellites using public data, said the near-miss prediction was plausible.
“I confirm there is a close approach of these two satellites around UTC Jan . How close isn’t clear from the data I have, but it’s reasonable that LEOLabs data is better, “McDowell told Live Science.
(When it’s
: UTC it’s 6: pm Eastern time, which is the time zone in Pittsburgh.)
It’s pretty common for bits of orbital debris to have near misses in orbit, Ceperley said, which usually go untracked. It’s more unusual, though, for two full-size satellites to come this close in space. IRAS in particular is the size of a truck, at .8 feet by .6 feet by 6.7 feet (3.6 by 3.2 by 2.1 m).
“Events like this highlight the need for responsible, timely deorbiting of satellites for space sustainability moving forward. We will continue to monitor this event through the coming days and provide updates as available, “LeoLabs said on Twitter Editor’s note: This story has been corrected. January is Wednesday, not Thursday. In Photos: A Look at China’s Space Station That’s Crashing to Earth
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