When the Stardust sample return capsule nose dives back to Earth in January, it will become the fastest human-made object to streak through the atmosphere. Scientists and engineers are at the ready to observe the spectacular sky show—and savvy skywatchers can join in on the aerial action too.

If all goes to plan, Stardust will release its sample return capsule carrying comet and interstellar dust particles on Jan. 15 at 12:57 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). Four hours later, the capsule will enter Earth's atmosphere, zooming toward Utah and a parachute landing at roughly 5:12 a.m. EST.

During its plummet into Utah, the heat-thwarting capsule will skyrocket across the Western United States [map].

According to Stardust officials, the fireball should be visible from San Francisco perhaps up to and beyond Portland, shooting over Nevada toward its Utah landing. The artificial meteor is expected to peak in brightness as it penetrates deeper in the Earth's atmosphere, lighting up to roughly the brilliance of Venus for about 90 seconds. That brightness is expected to peak over Carlin, Nevada.

So if you live in Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Northern Nevada, Southern Idaho or Western Utah you should be able to see some part of Stardust sky show. The closer you live to the trajectory, which runs from Crescent City, California and then through Winnemucca and Elko Nevada, and finally to Western Utah, the higher the fireworks in the early morning sky will be.

The velocity of Stardust's sample return capsule as it slices through the Earth's atmosphere is a hasty 28,860 mph (12.9 kilometers per second). At that speed, the capsule surpasses the record set in May 1969 during the return of the Apollo 10 command module, the highest speed ever attained by human beings: 24,861 mph (11.11 kilometers per second).

Even at that rate, it still doesn't beat the heat seen by the Galileo probe as it plunged into Jupiter's atmosphere on Dec. 7, 1995. The small craft reached a blistering 106,000 mph (47.4 kilometers per second)...