Sending Rockets to the Moon! October 9th!

[BATCATGIRL]

SENDING ROCKETS TO THE MOON! October 9th!

because they want to see if there is water in the moon!

NASA has chosen the final destination for the LCROSS lunar impacting probe: the crater Cabeus A, near the Moon’s south pole.

So why is NASA smacking a probe into the Moon at high speed, and why there?

The idea is that over millions and billions of years, a lot of comets have hit the Moon. The water from these comets hits the surface and sublimates away… but if any settles at the bottoms of deep craters near the Moon’s poles, these permanently shadowed regions can act as a refrigerator, keeping the water from disappearing. It can stay there, locked up as ice, for a long, long time. Some estimates indicate there could be billions of tons of ice near the Moon’s south pole.

Detecting that water is tough. Radar results have been inconclusive, with some people saying there’s lots of water, and others saying there’s none at all. By impacting a probe there, any ice located at the impact site will be shot up above the lunar surface, where sunlight will break it up into H+ and OH- molecules, which can be detected. Thus, LCROSS. I have a more detailed description of all this in an earlier blog post about LCROSS.

The choice of Cabeus A for the impact site is a good one. It’s near the south pole, it’s a likely spot for there to be ice under the surface, it’s on the near side of the Moon, so people back here on Earth can observe it, but close enough to the limb that any ejected water can be seen.

Here is the link to the website http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/09/14/lcross-impact-site-picked/

[Nefarious Soy]

BearHuggy

SENDING ROCKETS TO THE MOON! October 9th!

because they want to see if there is water in the moon!

NASA has chosen the final destination for the LCROSS lunar impacting probe: the crater Cabeus A, near the Moon’s south pole.

So why is NASA smacking a probe into the Moon at high speed, and why there?

The idea is that over millions and billions of years, a lot of comets have hit the Moon. The water from these comets hits the surface and sublimates away… but if any settles at the bottoms of deep craters near the Moon’s poles, these permanently shadowed regions can act as a refrigerator, keeping the water from disappearing. It can stay there, locked up as ice, for a long, long time. Some estimates indicate there could be billions of tons of ice near the Moon’s south pole.

Detecting that water is tough. Radar results have been inconclusive, with some people saying there’s lots of water, and others saying there’s none at all. By impacting a probe there, any ice located at the impact site will be shot up above the lunar surface, where sunlight will break it up into H+ and OH- molecules, which can be detected. Thus, LCROSS. I have a more detailed description of all this in an earlier blog post about LCROSS.

The choice of Cabeus A for the impact site is a good one. It’s near the south pole, it’s a likely spot for there to be ice under the surface, it’s on the near side of the Moon, so people back here on Earth can observe it, but close enough to the limb that any ejected water can be seen.

Here is the link to the website http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/09/14/lcross-impact-site-picked/

Blogger from Discover magazine on Gaia? I can dig it.

What's the significance of finding ice on the moon though? It doesn't seem as if the moon would be able to support any form of life even if there was water since there's no atmosphere and it's constantly being bombarded with comets/asteroids/meteors/meteorites (pick the appropriate term). Would we be able to harvest the ice and bring it back to earth and sell moon water to people?

[Irahatam]

When I heard about this on the news I laughed. Granted no disaster is going to come from it but, I couldn't help but think...only man would have the audacity to shoot something vital to their existence!

[Heartfout]

Nefarious Soy

BearHuggy

SENDING ROCKETS TO THE MOON! October 9th!

because they want to see if there is water in the moon!

NASA has chosen the final destination for the LCROSS lunar impacting probe: the crater Cabeus A, near the Moon’s south pole.

So why is NASA smacking a probe into the Moon at high speed, and why there?

The idea is that over millions and billions of years, a lot of comets have hit the Moon. The water from these comets hits the surface and sublimates away… but if any settles at the bottoms of deep craters near the Moon’s poles, these permanently shadowed regions can act as a refrigerator, keeping the water from disappearing. It can stay there, locked up as ice, for a long, long time. Some estimates indicate there could be billions of tons of ice near the Moon’s south pole.

Detecting that water is tough. Radar results have been inconclusive, with some people saying there’s lots of water, and others saying there’s none at all. By impacting a probe there, any ice located at the impact site will be shot up above the lunar surface, where sunlight will break it up into H+ and OH- molecules, which can be detected. Thus, LCROSS. I have a more detailed description of all this in an earlier blog post about LCROSS.

The choice of Cabeus A for the impact site is a good one. It’s near the south pole, it’s a likely spot for there to be ice under the surface, it’s on the near side of the Moon, so people back here on Earth can observe it, but close enough to the limb that any ejected water can be seen.

Here is the link to the website http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/09/14/lcross-impact-site-picked/

Blogger from Discover magazine on Gaia? I can dig it.

What's the significance of finding ice on the moon though? It doesn't seem as if the moon would be able to support any form of life even if there was water since there's no atmosphere and it's constantly being bombarded with comets/asteroids/meteors/meteorites (pick the appropriate term). Would we be able to harvest the ice and bring it back to earth and sell moon water to people?

Well, even if there is only a small amount, water can be harvested if people ever live on the moon, and can also be used in the production of energy and rocket fuel. Useful resource to have.

[Moroii]

Here's a page from NASA for amateur observers.

Quote:

TELESCOPES/OPTICS:

Q: What kind of telescope should I buy to see this?

A: First, unless you plan to do future astro viewing (something I fully recommend), I don't suggest you spend the money on a telescope to view this 2 minute event. Would hate to have you spend a fair amount of money & then just put the scope in the closet for the next 5 years & then sell it.

Second -- If you pass this first checkpoint, the best view for the buck may be a Dobsonian telescope of the 10-14 inch variety. While this event will still be very small and hard to see with this telescope, it can serve you later very well for a large amount of celestial viewing objects. There are numerous manufacturers of these & you should shop around for a good deal. You'll want eyepieces in the 12-18mm range for general viewing of the heavens, but because of the moon's brightness and proximity/size, you'll want eyepieces in the 4-8mm range for this event. These smaller focal length eyepieces magnify more, and are also good for viewing Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Telescope purchasing assistance is beyond the ability of this site, so we recommend you do some research and talk with retailers and go to some start parties and ask the folks at them -- they are typically very willing to share much info on their telescope experiences and can tailor responses for your expected future needs. They are a great information resource.

Q: Can I observe this event using binoculars?

A: No. In general you'll need at least 200x magnification, and maybe only possible with 300x & above. More importantly, you will need the greater light collecting capability of a large aperture optic. Even some of the larger binoculars (25x by 125mm) still won't do the job. Zoom binoculars (such as 10x-40x by 80mm for example) at maximum zoom (2mm exit pupil in this example) are great for very bright terrestrial viewing of birds and hangliders during bright daylight viewing, but are not useful at that magnification for low light viewing which is required here.

Q: I have an old 6-inch Newtonian with a reasonably good mirror. What are my chances?

A: Not great.

Q: I have an 80mm refractor I bought for my son some time ago. What are my chances?

A: Refractors of that size are great for clear and sharp viewing of wide stellar fields, but this size does not have much magnification capability which is needed for viewing such a small event as this.

Q: I have an 8-inch Newtonian, with pretty old optics. Assuming the plume is bright enough, will I be able to resolve this event using my optics?

A: Good question. For those who don't know, but suspect, every optical set has a limit on what it can actually resolve ie; the ability to separate two distinct items. In general, because of good optics in even 100 year old telescopes, only very small telescopes would not be able to resolve this event size. That doesn't mean a two-inch telescope will see this (see table above), just means that the optics have the ability to resolve something of this size given all other factors working well.

Unfortunately, amateur astronomers will need at least a 10-inch telescope to actually see anything from the event.
Looks like my Astroscan just isn't up to the task. Those spam e-mails were right! crying

[JackWisps]

Nefarious Soy

What's the significance of finding ice on the moon though? It doesn't seem as if the moon would be able to support any form of life even if there was water since there's no atmosphere and it's constantly being bombarded with comets/asteroids/meteors/meteorites (pick the appropriate term). Would we be able to harvest the ice and bring it back to earth and sell moon water to people?

it would be alot easier to set up a base of some sort on the moon if there were water on it. As was said, it can be used to support our life and create fuel. That would make a moon base possible, thus allowing us to use it as a jumping point for future missions. It may also allow us to set up mining operations there, if that would be at all cost efficient. None of that would happen right away, of course.

For now it's probably just 'cause scientists hadn't thrown an impactor at anything in a while, and they really wanted to see a big bang. Oh, and the science... but mostly the bang. rolleyes

[stellaangelo]

I just have to say: Awesome. About time we did something interesting out in space.

[MarmaladeDuo]

I just watched the NASA feed, nothing was visible from the data stream they sent on the web. I'm hoping that some of the other observatories got a better view than the cameras on the Probe.
There was little to no dust cloud visible it might have been obscured by the shadow of the crater and maybe visible from a different angle - at least I hope so.
I really wanted to see the impact crying
not fair, now it's almost 5am and I haven't gotten any sleep because I wanted to watch, how dissapointing.
I hope they got more data than it looked like or they may have some trouble justifying the expenditure - at least if there was a show (explosion) the public wouldn't mind as much.

[Vryko Lakas]

The live footage may have been a let-down, but the Twitter feed was awesome. Here it is in chronological order:

Quote:

# RT @worden With less than two hours to go for LCROSS! Incredible precision. Will impact target point within 70 meters! Go NASA, Go moon!about
8 hours ago from web

# NASA TV will begin broadcasting soon. Watch the action at: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
about 8 hours ago from web

# RT @ThisIsTheMoon I can see those two orbiting things getting closer to me and I'm cool with it. #NASA #LCROSS #MOON
about 8 hours ago from web

# Another 8600km to go, just like a trip from San Francisco to London #lcross
about 8 hours ago from web

# Live coverage of LCROSS Impact Event has started on NASA TV at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv #lcross
about 8 hours ago from web

# Where am I now? Travelin' 1.51km/s(3370mph). 7,784km from the Moon. T-1hr
about 8 hours ago from web

# My science payload is being turned on! Live streaming data to NASATV #LCROSS
about 8 hours ago from web

# Looking at the lunar surface, closing in at ~4000mph, as my team evalautes the health of my science instruments.
about 8 hours ago from web

# Where am I now? Travelin' 2.49km/s (5577mph). 1,737km from the Moon. T-2min #lcross
about 7 hours ago from web

# Centaur Impact into Cabeus! #lcross Now it's my turn!
about 7 hours ago from web

# I'm 300km from the moon! #lcross
about 7 hours ago from web

# Wow, 150km from the moon! #lcross
about 7 hours ago from web

# “And what's this thing coming toward me very fast? So big and flat and round,
about 7 hours ago from web

# it needs a big wide sounding name like 'Ow', 'Ownge', 'Round', 'Ground'!”
about 7 hours ago from web

# “That's it! Ground! Ha! I wonder if it'll be friends with me?”
about 7 hours ago from web

[dgirl555]

My friend kept looking at the moon for holes for a week after that. stressed