Posted on 10/06/2009 4:04:55 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Get ready for a unique cosmic collision! Early this coming Friday morning (Oct. 9), NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) will end its mission with a bang — literally.
Currently carrying with it the upper stage of the rocket that launched it on its way to the moon on June 18, the game plan is to send that spent rocket motor on a course to smash into the lunar surface.
But just not anywhere on the lunar surface, but to a thoroughly scrutinized crater called Cabeus that lies near the moon's south pole and is enveloped in perpetual darkness. The hoped-for resultant effects will be to find hidden water ice frozen inside the crater.
And for seasoned skywatchers here on Earth, it should also produce a visible cloud of ejected material. However, only knowledgeable amateur astronomers with the right equipment will be a able to detect the event. Others can watch the event live on NASA TV.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Where and how to observe the LCROSS impacts
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/impact/index.html
Thanks for the ‘heads up’!
The impact is scheduled to occur this Friday, Oct. 9 at 11:30 UT. That’s 7:30 a.m. EDT; 4:30 a.m. PDT.
Cool! My friend has a crater on the Moon named after him. He discovered it with just a basic telescope in his back yard about 20 years ago. :)
darn thing is scheduled for zero zero dark thirty.. what the heck were they thinking?
I hope it makes a good splat.
Just our luck, the probe hits an unknown super fault and the moon splits in half giving us the famous “two moons over Miami!”(attempted humor on)
7:30 AM Eastern isn’t that bad.
Unless you don’t live on the east coast!
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/impact/impact_amateur.html
The LCROSS Centaur impact is scheduled for 4:31 a.m. PDT or 7:31 a.m. EDT (11:31 UTC) on October 9, 2009. The shepherding spacecraft will impact at 4:35 a.m. PDT or 7:35 a.m. EDT (11:35 UTC). Mission scientists estimate that the Centaur impact debris plume should be in view several seconds after Centaur impact and will peak in brightness at 30 to 100 seconds after impact.
probe hits an unknown super fault and the moon splits in half
Let me be the first to say
Bush’s Fault.
From what I understand this will not be visible to the unaided eye. A six inch reflecting telescope may not reveal anything but a scope that can zero in on the South polar region may reward a view of the plume created by light reflecting dust thrown up by the impact.
This thing launched on June 18??
Geesh
Kevin, you back yet?
san jose, ca here. west coast looks to have primo viewing conditions. I guess I can check it out when I take the dogs out. ya don’t see something like this every day.
I hope it doesn’t knock over the flag Armstrong and his pals planted there.
This event will be large enough that the flash from the impact will be visible with the naked eye. The plume it puts up may be visible with a good telescope, but the best bet is to Tivo NASA TV...
Impact is supposed to be around 0430 Pacific time so early risers on the Left Coast might be in for a show if the weather stays clear....
it took a while to get it lined up just right..
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LCROSS Launch Information
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/launch/index.html
The LRO and LCROSS spacecraft were tucked inside the payload fairing at the top of the rocket to protect them from atmospheric heating as the rocket climbed through the atmosphere toward space. The fairing separated as planned and LRO pushed away from LCROSS and the Centaur stage on its way to going into orbit around the moon.
The LCROSS probe remained attached to the Centaur and will steer the empty rocket stage for about four months as mission controllers line up LCROSS and Centaur to collide with the moon in an effort to determine conclusively whether water exists on the lunar surface.
LCROSS is equipped with sensors to evaluate the plume from the Centaur stage when it hits the moon. Then LCROSS will fly through the plume before crashing into the lunar surface to kick up a second plume.
Here’s to big plumes..
Still pretty dark at 7:30 here in the midwest. I’ll watch for the flash but I suspect NASA TV will have the best seat in the house.
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