The Last Photo of Cosmos 482

If we're to believe Space.com's story, the end of the 53 year wandering of the failed Cosmos 482 Venus lander occurred this morning within minutes of the center of the time predicted yesterday.  Yesterday's prediction from the European Space Agency was centered on 0637 GMT (I prefer to call it Universal Time UT or Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)):  "2:37 a.m. ET (0637 GMT) on May 10 +/- 3.28 hours." 

Today's story said:

Reentry occurred at 2:24 a.m. ET (0624 GMT or 9:24 a.m. Moscow time) over the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta, Indonesia, according to Russia's space agency Roscosmos. Kosmos 482 appears to have fallen harmlessly into the sea. [Bold added - SiG]

A mere 13 minutes earlier than the predicted time - 2:24 AM instead of 2:37 AM ET.  

They posted this picture, credited to Astronomer Gianluca Masi of the Virtual Telescope Project taken just before sunrise in Rome, Italy.   Judging by the time in lower right hand corner, 0304 UTC, this was more than three hours before the end of the mission, so "a couple" of orbits.

The image credit is, of course, up above the picture: Gianluca Masi.  I have to confess to stretching the brightness and contrast in my photo editor because I found it difficult to read in the real photograph.  

Should Gianluca Masi or anyone associated with the Virtual Telescope Project prefer I take this down, let me know by commenting here or the email address in the right column, and I'll remove it.

Oh, and BTW, I opened this piece with, "if we're to believe Space.com's story," because I'm not sure they believe that time, based on the wording they used. 

That's just one estimate, however; other space agencies and tracking organizations predicted different reentry locations, from the South Asian mainland to the eastern Pacific. It's unclear when or if we'll get a definitive answer to where Kosmos 482 came down.