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How to Watch NASA's Probe Smack the Moon Friday
Space.com ^ | 10/6/09 | Joe Rao

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 ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: moon; nasa; probe; smack
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To: NormsRevenge

This is aimed at that crater where they think ice might reside?


21 posted on 10/06/2009 4:18:34 PM PDT by GeronL
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To: GeronL

Bottoms Up!


22 posted on 10/06/2009 4:19:21 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed .. Monthly Donor Onboard)
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To: airborne

Yeah, but they indicated it will likely be hard to see as the sun will already be up. Too bad.


23 posted on 10/06/2009 4:19:23 PM PDT by brytlea (Jesus loves me, this I know.)
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To: NormsRevenge

I am waiting for the announcement from White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs:

“We have always been at war with the Moon.”


24 posted on 10/06/2009 4:21:24 PM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy
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To: NormsRevenge

Ralph Kramden just tweeted me to say that Alice might get there first.


25 posted on 10/06/2009 4:23:33 PM PDT by Carl LaFong (Experts say experts should be ignored.)
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To: NormsRevenge
“a thoroughly scrutinized crater called Cabeus that lies near the moon's south pole and is enveloped in perpetual darkness. “

That doesn't make sense to me.

Given that one surface of the moon constantly faces Earth,” that the Earth rotates on an axis that “wobbles” (is not in sync with the sun), and that the combined Earth-moon mass cycles around the sun in an elliptic orbit; there's no way that any part of the moon is in perpetual darkness.

We shall see

26 posted on 10/06/2009 4:27:30 PM PDT by OldNavyVet
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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy

Gibb’s on Friday ... “Stimulus package incoming, thank’s be to Obama.”


27 posted on 10/06/2009 4:33:11 PM PDT by OldNavyVet
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To: OldNavyVet

Picture a crater as a ring-shaped mountain range. While it’s true that the precession (wobbling) of the moon tilts these polar craters into and out of the shade, the light only ever hits the peaks of the mountains; the deep “valley” of the crater below remains in their shadows.


28 posted on 10/06/2009 4:39:10 PM PDT by B-Chan (Catholic. Monarchist. Texan. Any questions?)
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To: NormsRevenge

I can’t get excited about a probe landing on the moon when we landed men on the moon forty years ago. We’ve taken a huge step back since then.


29 posted on 10/06/2009 4:43:27 PM PDT by Man50D (Fair Tax, you earn it, you keep it! FairTaxNation.com)
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To: NormsRevenge

dat’s raciss!


30 posted on 10/06/2009 4:51:23 PM PDT by BobbyT
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To: GeronL

June 18th. My daughters an I were at Kennedy Space Center for the shuttle launch. The shuttle was scrubbed and we saw the LCROSS and the LRO launch on an Atlas V rocket, which was a spectacular sight. We then went back to NC only to drive back down to Kennedy for 3 more scrubs, a total of 5. The shuttle launched the day we got back home to NC the second time. Even though we missed the shuttle, I had a great time with my 7 year-old daughter (and wound up going back to school to get a Masters degree in Space Studies at age 48 to fulfill a boyhood dream).


31 posted on 10/06/2009 4:54:31 PM PDT by Mustachistan (Al Gore made the Internet, but George Bush made it plural.)
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To: mdmathis6
I can see into the future, here's what it'll look like:


32 posted on 10/06/2009 4:56:52 PM PDT by Jabba the Nutt (Are they insane, stupid or just evil?)
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To: Mustachistan

Very cool story


33 posted on 10/06/2009 4:58:30 PM PDT by GeronL
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To: NormsRevenge

34 posted on 10/06/2009 5:00:01 PM PDT by BenLurkin (Brave amateurs....they do their part.)
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To: cripplecreek

yah...they are supposed to have live video of the impacts from a number of good sources, so this really ought to be quite a show...


35 posted on 10/06/2009 5:07:48 PM PDT by Bean Counter (Stout Hearts....)
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To: brytlea; NormsRevenge

I plan on setting the TiVo and my alarm.

That way if I don’t get up, I still have it recorded.


36 posted on 10/06/2009 5:22:13 PM PDT by airborne (Don't let history record that, when faced with evil, you did nothing!)
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To: NormsRevenge

I built some hardware for this (the wiring harness that connects all the sensors). It’ll be pretty neat to see my stuff get splatted all over the surface of the moon.


37 posted on 10/06/2009 5:24:35 PM PDT by shorty_harris
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To: NormsRevenge

38 posted on 10/06/2009 6:34:06 PM PDT by mikrofon (Space BUMP)
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To: NormsRevenge
that link is truly frustrating.
The PDF is thorough in illustrations

and short in useful information for the layman.
lots of crater pics, and not a single red dot marking the impact site.

Would that be too much trouble?

39 posted on 10/07/2009 10:27:11 AM PDT by Publius6961 (Obama Garden Club: Nothing but plants.)
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To: NormsRevenge

O.K. Extream heat impact, titaniam rich soil. and?


40 posted on 10/08/2009 7:52:10 PM PDT by fndrbndr
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