LCROSS en route |
LCROSS en route |
Jul 15 2009, 03:08 PM
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#1
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 87 Joined: 9-November 07 Member No.: 3958 |
While we're waiting for Those Pictures, here are a couple of shots of LCROSS from our campus observatory last night (0221, 027 UT on 15 July). 4 minute exposures tracking expected motion from the Horizons ephemeris, within 20 degrees of the southern horizon and fighting summertime haze as well as city lights. I wanted to catch it before its inclined orbit takes it too far south, after which it spends a week or so as a predawn object. The range was about 563,000 km, and the Centaur is no bigger than a CSM/LM combination, so this is a more difficult target than spotting an Apollo enroute was. (On the other hand, nobody had CCD imagers in 1969).
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Oct 6 2009, 03:06 AM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 808 Joined: 10-October 06 From: Maynard Mass USA Member No.: 1241 |
impact is Oct 9, 7:30am-ish local time with the sun up here in Boston....don't think I going to see anything (sun rises at 6:50am).
West Coast Amateurs : you are our only hope! 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 sheparding 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. Lunar Impact Locations Centaur: -84.675, 311.275 E Shepherding spacecraft: -84.729, 310.64 E Time Zone Lighting Conditions for Viewing Eastern Daybreak will prevent viewing of the debris plumes. Central Best viewing is West of the Mississippi River. Mountain Excellent lighting conditions. Pacific Excellent lighting conditions. Alaska Excellent lighting conditions. Hawaii Excellent lighting conditions. cheers -------------------- CLA CLL
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Oct 6 2009, 04:12 PM
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#3
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 4763 Joined: 15-March 05 From: Glendale, AZ Member No.: 197 |
impact is Oct 9, 7:30am-ish local time with the sun up here in Boston....don't think I going to see anything (sun rises at 6:50am). West Coast Amateurs : you are our only hope! Well I don't have any decent equipment set up, but I'll put my Canon SLR on a tripod with a 300mm and start firing off the 700 images that fit on the 4G card just prior to the impact and that should take me several minutes down the road, though I seriously doubt anything will be visible at that macro scale. S'pose I could also put my video camera on full zoom which will be similar to the 300mm SLR. But I'm hoping it will be carried live somewhere. Anyone know if NASA TV has planned a feed of anything useful for that time slot? -------------------- If Occam had heard my theory, things would be very different now.
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Oct 6 2009, 05:23 PM
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#4
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Member Group: Members Posts: 311 Joined: 31-August 05 From: Florida & Texas, USA Member No.: 482 |
But I'm hoping it will be carried live somewhere. Anyone know if NASA TV has planned a feed of anything useful for that time slot? I saw this on the NASA link: a list of public viewing opportunities. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/i...vent_index.html NASA TV will also show it: LCROSS Lunar Impact 7:31 a.m. EDT/4:31 a.m. PDT Friday Oct. 9 An approximately 1.5 hour Live NASA TV Broadcast is planned for the LCROSS impacts starting at 6:15 a.m. EDT/3:15 a.m. PDT, Oct. 9, on NASA TV and www.nasa.gov/ntv. The broadcast includes: Live footage from spacecraft camera Real-time telemetry based animation Views of LCROSS Mission and Science Operations Broadcast commentary with expert guests Prepared video segments Views of the public impact viewing event at NASA Ames Possible live footage from the University of Hawaii, 88-inch telescope on Mauna Kea. The live LCROSS Post-Impact News Conference will be 10 a.m. EDT/7 a.m. PDT on NASA TV and www.nasa.gov/ntv. It looks like viewing should be good for most of the western USA/Canada. It'll be dark here in Dallas, TX, but right on the edge of dawn... well, with light pollution it's always on the edge of dawn. It'd be nice to head west a bit, like to the party in San Angelo, to get the high contrast sky. I just have a 3.5" Schmidt-Cassi, so I'm torn between trying to watch it live on the web or my toy-scope. |
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Oct 6 2009, 09:52 PM
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#5
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The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
I just have a 3.5" Schmidt-Cassi, so I'm torn between trying to watch it live on the web or my toy-scope. DEFINITELY go watch it! For one thing, if it turns out that the plume WAS visible in a smaller scope, and you missed it cos you didn't even try, you will never forgive yourself. Also, even if you don't see anything you can still look back in years to come and enjoy the fact that you were watching the Moon at the time of the impact, which is quite historic, right? You can watch re-runs of anything picked up by biggers scopes afterwards. -------------------- |
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