On Friday October 9, 2009 (4:30am PST) NASA’s LCROSS spacecraft will separate into two parts (the “Centaur” followed by the “shepherding” observing spacecraft) and both will slam into a crater on the Moon, kicking up a plume of material big enough to be seen from Earth with 10- 12-inch telescopes. NASA has requested that astronomers (amateur and professional) observe the plume if possible to help out with the science of the mission.
Lunar south pole, LCROSS’ target, Photo Credit: NASA / GSFC
The basic facts and a schedule for LCROSS Moon Explosion
- Centaur separation: ~6:50 pm PDT / 01:30 UTC (Centaur and LCROSS go their separate ways)
- Braking burn: ~7:30 pm PDT / 02:30 UTC (sets up 4-minute separation between spacecraft
- Impact Times: Centaur: 4:31:19 am PDT / 11:31:19 UTC; Spacecraft: 4:35:45 a.m. PDT / 11:35:45 UTC
- Impact Locations: Centaur: -84.675, 311.275 E; Spacecraft: -84.729, 310.64 E
You have a chance of observing it directly, here’s a list of places to keep track of what’s going on:
- NASA TV. You can watch it on the Web; I’ll be watching on DirecTV channel 283.
- The cooperative telescope service SLOOH will have two free live feeds (Link) from telescopes located in New Hampshire and Arizona along with live radio commentary, beginning at approximately 3:30 am PDT / 10:30 UTC.
- The Exploratorium (Link) will be streaming live from the Lick Observatory beginning at 4:10 am / 11:10.
Offcial Source to Watch live Stream video here.
This video gives a good look at what is going to happen: LCROSS Impact Animation from NASA.
There are two LCROSS Lunar Visible Light Footage videos are available : One is of Footage taken with a visible light camera on the LCROSS spacecraft. And second is STK animation of the LCROSS lunar swingby. Credit: NASA/Ames Research Center. LCROSS impact NASA LCROSS mission LCROSS video LCROSS live feed are Given here.
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I read someplace that NASA decided to do a manned mission to Mars by August, 1982, but the fact that the Viet Nam war was way too pricey. This sort of mission would have been a drop inside the fiscal bucket, when compared to military spending back then. When you compare the worthiness of a manned mission to Mars to that of slugging it out in Southeast Asia, I vote Mars, entirely. We lost Viet Nam; what a waste. We lost our early trip to Mars; what a waste. Now, we have global financial woes and budget cuts. Again, Mars normally takes the back seat just to fall out of the vehicle. What can we do in order to avoid strike three?