WHY AND WHEN IS IT CRASHING TO EARTH?
* China admitted last year it hadn't been able to contact its first space station since March 2016.
* That confirmed astrononmers' concerns the bus-sized piece of space junk known as Tiangong-1 or "Heavenly Palace 1" was on an unavoidable, uncontrolled collision course with Earth.
* It's predicted to re-enter over the Easter weekend.
WILL IT HIT ME?
* No. You have a better chance buying a regular quick-pick to the next two Saturday lotteries and winning both. (1 in 460 billion v 1 in 1 trillion)
WHAT ARE THE CHANCES IT WILL LAND IN AUSTRALIA?
* Still quite low. It'll come down in the latitudes of 43 degrees north and south, and that is somewhere between southern France and Hobart.
* The few bits of space junk that could possibly survive re-entry (the fuel tanks) will most likely drop in the ocean.
CAN I KEEP THE SPACEJUNK ONCE IT LANDS ON EARTH?
* No, the space junk remains the property of China. That also means China is liable for damage.
WHY IS ITS PATH SO DIFFICULT TO PREDICT?
* Many complex factors can affect the seven-year-old space station on re-entry, including its changing orientation and the varying thickness of the upper atmosphere.
* China hasn't revealed its exact mass and material composition, making it harder to estimate how and what will break-up.
WILL I BE ABLE TO SEE THE RE-ENTRY?
* Depending on location, time of the day and cloud visibility, it may be possible to view pieces of the spacecraft burning up on re-entry.
* The Aerospace Corporation, a US independent space research agency, says visibly incandescent objects will likely last up to a minute or more.
The agency also has a handy location tracker that's updated every few minutes: http://www.aerospace.org/CORDSuploads/TiangongStoryboard.png
(Sources: European Space Agency, Aerospace, Australian Science Media Centre)
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