Lcross, the next Day…Not everything you can see is visible. October 10, 2009
Posted by jcconwell in Astronomy, moon.Tags: Lcross, moon
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Visible light that is. For humans that’s from 380nm to 740nm in wavelength. If you’ve been watching the news, you know that the Lcross lunar impacts did not give off a spectacular plume that would be visible to the many amateurs. Heck, not even the Hubble space telescope or Mt. Palomar saw anything in the visible. I take a small consolation, since the EIU observatory was clouded over and I was home drinking a cup of coffee and watching NASA TV.
But sometimes visable is not where the action is, Infrared and ultraviolet are, as you can see below.
The picture below is from The Planetary Society Blog By Emily Lakdawalla
Uncalibrated Diviner thermal maps of the LCROSS impact region Credit: NASA / GSFC / UCLA
Pictured above is the preliminary, uncalibrated Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Diviner thermal (infrared) maps. These four channels operate in a band from 12.5nm to 200nm in the infrared. Look for the small dot just below the center. The impact site pictures were acquired two hours before the impact, and 90 seconds after the impact.The detection is consistent with the notion that the LCROSS impact resulted in significant local heating of the lunar surface.
View the Lcross Lunar Impact October 8, 2009
Posted by jcconwell in Astronomy, moon.Tags: Lcross, Lunar Impact, moon
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Guide to Lcross Impact Site
When: Following the latest trajectory correction maneuvers, the time of impact on Friday, October 9, 2009 is 11:31:19 UTC for the Centaur and 11:35:45 for LCROSS spacecraft.
7:31:19 a.m. EDT and 7:35:45 a.m. EDT.
6:31:19 a.m. CDT and 6:35:45 a.m. CDT
5:31:19 a.m. MDT and 5:35:45 a.m. MDT
4:31:19 a.m. PDT and 4:35:45 a.m. PDT
But if your area is going to be cloudy you can see it live on NASA TV http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
For a more detailed guide to tomorrow morning event go to the article at Universe Today
New Podcast on Saturn’s Moon Enceladus August 28, 2009
Posted by jcconwell in Astronomy, IYA 2009, Podcast, moon, planets.Tags: EIU, Enceladus, International Year of Astronomy, IYA 2009, Podcast
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The podcast for today at “365 days of astronomy” is sponsored by the Physics department at EIU. This podcast covers the history, current understanding, and upcoming plans for Enceladus, and is moderated by David Seal, Cassini Mission Planner at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The permanent link is at
New Podcast is up at 365 days of Astronomy July 21, 2009
Posted by jcconwell in Astronomy, IYA 2009, Podcast, moon.Tags: EIU, International Year of Astronomy, Podcast
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A change in the date of our sponserd podcast to TODAY. Link is at:
http://365daysofastronomy.org/2009/07/21/july-21st-astronomy-in-anglo-saxon-england/
Yes!! We really did land on the Moon 40 years ago,Today! July 20, 2009
Posted by jcconwell in Astronomy, IYA 2009, Space Craft, moon.Tags: Apollo 11, IYA 2009, moon
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Forty years ago today Apollo 11 landed on the moon. When I have an open house at the observatory, one of the things people want to know is, can we see the landers that are left on the moon from the Apollo missions. I have to tell them no, too much atmosphere, and not enough telescope.
The scary thing is the 6% of the public who believe the landing was all just one big hoax. Now to answer both questions on the 40th anniversary…we’ve got pictures!!!!
All images credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has returned its first imagery of the Apollo moon landing sites. The pictures show the Apollo missions’ lunar module descent stages sitting on the moon’s surface, as long shadows from a low sun angle make the modules’ locations evident.
The satellite reached lunar orbit June 23 and captured the Apollo sites between July 11 and 15. Though it had been expected that LRO would be able to resolve the remnants of the Apollo mission, these first images came before the spacecraft reached its final mapping orbit. Future LROC images from these sites will have two to three times greater resolution.
Apollo 11 Site, Click for Larger picture
The Apollo 14 site shows even more detail in the full picture below and the magnified Captions
Apollo 14 Landing Site
Apollo 14 Site showing foot path and instruments
These pictures are reminder of a past era of NASA exploration, but the LRO’s mission is paving the way for the future. By returning detailed lunar data, the mission will help NASA identify future landing sites robots and astronauts, locate potential resources,like water, and measure the moon’s radiation environment while testing new technologies.
