LCROSS en route Options

[ElkGroveDan]

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?

[Marz]

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.

[MahFL]

"NASA to Bomb the Moon Friday "
Good god......

"....on a mission to fire a missile into the south pole of the moon that is twice the speed of a bullet..."

nice reporting....

Link.

[centsworth_II]

"NASA to Bomb the Moon Friday "
Good god......

I found the first sentence the most offensive: "NASA's going for full impact Friday, firing a bomb-laden missile at the moon in a dramatic search for water."

"Bomb-laden"!? What truly awful reporting.

[Stu]

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.

[nprev]

Okay, I'm convinced. Gonna dust off the ol' NexStar 8 & go for it!

Frankly, I'm more concerned about it being washed out by the high-phase Moonshine; if it was @ a quarter or less, I'd be more confident about catching it. Guessing that this particular geometry offers better forecasted plume illumination for the spacecraft?

[AndyG]

I suspect it won't be up to Gervase of Canterbury's report from 1178:

This year on the 18th of June, when the Moon, a slim crescent, first became visible, a marvellous phenomenon was seen by several men who were watching it. Suddenly, the upper horn of the crescent was split in two. From the mid point of the division, a flaming torch sprang up, spewing out over a considerable distance fire, hot coals and sparks. The body of the Moon which was below, writhed like a wounded snake. This happened a dozen times or more, and when the Moon returned to normal, the whole crescent took on a blackish appearance.

Andy

[MahFL]

A far far better report. Good to see media coverage.

Link

I can't watch video at work so I'll have to do with this.

KSC still.

[centsworth_II]

LCROSS audio briefing HERE.

Thursday, Oct. 8, 2:30 p.m. EDT

LCROSS Pre-Impact Briefing

NASA will hold a pre-impact media teleconference on Thursday, Oct. 8 at 2:30 p.m. from NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., which will provide a mission update and discuss what to expect as the Centaur upper stage rocket and the LCROSS spacecraft impact Cabeus crater, near the lunar south pole.

[scalbers]

Wonder if there are any flyover movies (or sequence of views) that illustrate both the zenith view and the Earth perspective in a way that transitions from one to the other? I may try with Celestia using a relatively hi-res map.

[Phil Stooke]

Phil

[nprev]

AAACKKK!!!! I thought he was gonna drop out of the public eye & re-evaluate himself, but noooo....

(Killer, Phil! )

[scalbers]

Here's a crude attempt at animating the lunar perspective with Celestia. It rotates from the Earth view to a more zenithal view over the impact site. The site is marked with a faint yellow paintbrush stroke if you look carefully.

http://laps.noaa.gov/albers/lcross.avi

Steve

[centsworth_II]

"NASA to Bomb the Moon Friday "
Good god...... Link.

I sent an e-mail, don't know if others did also.
The title still stands but the line I found most offensive has been changed.

From:
"NASA's going for full impact Friday, firing a bomb-laden missile at the moon in a dramatic search for water."

To:
"NASA's going for full impact Friday, firing a missile at the moon in a dramatic search for water."


The sub-title may also have been changed, I can't remember what it was.

[nprev]

LCROSS- Centaur separation succesful!!!

Starting new thread...