Leonids on the Moon, What happens "tonight" on the moon Options

[efron_01]

Here in the dark corners of the Netherlands (21.50h) I have seen the first streaks of light.
I know that what I see is the result of friction between the atmosphere and the left overs of a comet that passed this area a long time ago..

But traveling with us in space is Luna... The Moon.

No atmosphere, so -I suppose !!- no light show there, but what if an astronaut was there now... What would (s)he notice ??
what would (s)he see ???

Is the Leonid "storm" strong enough (are the particles large enough) to create some new (mini) craters ??
Would an astronaut be able to see small impacts (plumes of dust)... If an astronaut was under a large shield of glass would (s)he (indoors) hear the sound of
hail stones on the glass.. would (s)he even be safe ???? Perhaps you remember the movie "Enemy Mine"

And if on the near site of Luna... Earth would be fixed in the sky... as in not moving very much
As Luna is small now in our morning sky, our planet must be full of light, but still would an astronaut on Luna be able to see flashes of light on the dark site of the earth..

Or would nothing happen, as the particles are way too small and the light show we get to see here in the coming ours is too "minor" too see from the moon as well.

I hope some one can tell us about it.. It is intriging

[dvandorn]

I think that the "dust swarms" which make up the various meteor showers pose a small but quantifiable risk to both manned and unmanned spacecraft, be they in LEO or on Luna.

I believe that the ISS has recorded micro-impacts during meteor showers, but the fact that there's never been a serious damage event on such a large structure, after it has passed through several annual encounters per year, speaks to the probability of such an event.

I don't have density-per-square-kilometer figures to back this up, but I'd bet you that you're in greater danger from earthquakes in California than you would be from Leonid dust on Luna or in LEO.

-the other Doug

[Guest_Myran_*]

Hello efron_01

One astronaut on the Moon / Luna would most likely dont see anything on the surface there.

We see a lot of Leonids here on Earth since we ae able to view a big part of the atmosphere above us. This gives the impression of a lot more meteors - inreality they are very much spread out. And just as dvandorn said, even though they can be seem as a streak of light most are still only the size of dust particles or very small pebbles.

[mchan]

Hmm, since there is no atmosphere to speak of, the particles will directly impact the surface of the moon. If one were standing on top of one of the lunar peaks looking down on the night side, would the impacts register as brief flashes of light across the dark plains? If the SMART-1 impact was visible from Earth, would much smaller impacts be visible from a closer range?

It may also be too exciting considering that there is a miniscule probability that one of the impact points could coincide in space and time with one's observation location.

[karolp]

Check THIS out:

Explosions on the Moon - During the 2001 Leonid meteor storm...

And this:

A Meteoroid Hits the Moon

...and this one:

Meteor Strike on the Moon

[Guest_Myran_*]

Oh yes you're right karolp.
When we can see the entire near hemisphere we have a good chance of spotting impacts on the Moon, especially when we train some good instruments for the search.
But one astronaut would have the horizon quite close (remember the Apollo mission photographs) unless you're standing on a mountain peak like what mchan suggested, that would of course improve the chance of seeing one impact.
But back to efron_01's original question I dont think one astronaut would be able to pick out meteors on the nightside of Earth, our world isnt that big in the Lunar sky and citylights would drown out most meteor lights, perhaps if the astronaut had a small telescope........

[efron_01]

Oh yes you're right karolp.
When we can see the entire near hemisphere we have a good chance of spotting impacts on the Moon, especially when we train some good instruments for the search.
But one astronaut would have the horizon quite close (remember the Apollo mission photographs) unless you're standing on a mountain peak like what mchan suggested, that would of course improve the chance of seeing one impact.
But back to efron_01's original question I dont think one astronaut would be able to pick out meteors on the nightside of Earth, our world isnt that big in the Lunar sky and citylights would drown out most meteor lights, perhaps if the astronaut had a small telescope........

It is a long time ago.. 2 years almost
but I think most of you are still around

thanks for the answers.. I saw them tonight.

On the impacts... : They have seen some flashes on the Moon during Leonid-storms recently (from Earth, with telescopes)