Posted on 10/08/2009 6:35:15 AM PDT by Reaganesque
NASA's Lunar Prospector first detected some hydrogen signatures in craters on the dark side of the moon in 1999. Ever since, researchers have been keen to confirm the presence of water on the moon. The Lunar CRater Observing and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) is tasked with crashing through the mists of speculation and conjecture and discover the truth. And you can watch all the action as it happens.
LCROSS was launched on June 18th and executed a fly-by of the moon five days later before entering into a wide orbit. On Friday October 9th, the craft will start to make its final approach, not to land but to crash land. The upper stage rocket in front, the Centaur, will separate from LCROSS which will, in turn, slow down a little. Creating a four minute gap between each vessel, the Centaur will crash into the Cabeus crater at the Moon's south pole. The heavy impact will create a great plume of debris.
Following behind, the LCROSS will pass through the debris, collecting and relaying data back to Earth before itself impacting the crater. As well as a visible camera and radiometer, the LCROSS payload also includes two near-infrared spectrometers, a visible light spectrometer, two mid-infrared cameras and two near-infrared cameras.
"As the ejecta rises above the target crater's rim and is exposed to sunlight, any water-ice, hydrocarbons or organics will vaporize and break down into their basic components. These components primarily will be monitored by the visible and infrared spectrometers. The near-infrared and mid-infrared cameras will determine the total amount and distribution of water in the debris plume. The spacecraft's visible camera will track the impact location and the behavior of the debris plume while the visible radiometer will measure the flash created by the Centaur impact," NASA explains in the mission overview.
The good news for all you space fans out there is that NASA will be broadcasting the whole event live on NASA TV. The one and a half hour long show will start at 6:15 am EDT / 3:15 am PDT on Friday October 9th, with the first impact currently scheduled for 7:30 am EDT / 4:30 am PDT.
The broadcast will include live footage from the spacecraft's camera, real-time telemetry based animation, various location clips and (of course, sports fans) live commentary with special guests. For information on how and where to best enjoy the experience, visit NASA's Impact index page.
What kind of scope do you have? I’ve got a Meade 10 inch GPS with a wedge. I really need a big guidescope and guide camera, try as I might, I can’t get perfect tracking with the wedge. But, I do have a focal reducer which helps. M42 is always a good reliable target, I hope to someday get some great long exposure shots, I shoot with a DSLR and my laptop
They’ll be the best, however, we are also going to try our best to obtain impact images from our location...
I’ve always wanted to observe a lunar impact, and now that chance seems very near...
I really like large impacts and explosions...lol
Main camera is a Canon 40D.
We have tracking down pretty well up to approximately 10 minutes..If you're not familiar with drift alignment, google it and do it.
See post 37...We are fortunate enough to have the scope permanently mounted inside a small observatory, that we can operate via computer, remotely from the home.
Leaving the scope mounted and aligned and ready to go is great and allows near instant imaging/observing after throwing a few switches.
And below is a close of the Eagle center, "Pillars of Creation" that Hubble made famous.
The height of the tallest pillar is approximately 24 trillion miles high or 4 light years long....lol
The shot of the Eagle in post#44 with the amateur scope, shows the same area as taken with the Hubble telescope below. Of course we have considerably less than a billion dollars into our scope/cameras... 
A little less than 9 hours to impact!
dude... that so rocks.
The orbit room...I actually set up a little bar in there...
A nice place to launch...an get away from earth for a while.
Yeah, I have to drive many miles for darkness. Even finding polaris in my neighborhood is tough. I’m using a Canon 450D, it does OK. I found something cool, a scope cover that is also a focusing mask, makes life very easy
corporate space ventures are the way to go.
I’m sort of thinking a Las Vegas type venture, casino in space.
Any way you look at it private interests are way more economically viable and less wasteful than N..A.S.A.,
lots more inventive too.
That's amazing. What are those structures? What are they made of? Thanks.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.