LCROSS near Izar 8_15UT 7_2

[cano...@yahoo.com]

Tonight, the LCROSS satellite will pass about 2 degs, PA225 from Izar
(eps Boo) and 1 deg, PA250 from 36 Boo (for my o.p. at W110 N41) at
around 8:15UT, July 2, 2009. Because there are no USPCMD two-line
elements,topocentric plots can be generated using the NASA JPL
Horizons emphermis generator.
http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi

Two successful imagers have captured the satellite at its current
distance as a 16mag object using 16 inches of aperture and both CCD
and DSLR cameras at 30 to 60 secs of exposure.

See chart at:
http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/observed/LCROSS/CruiseFinder/20090702_0815_EQDetail.jpg

in http://canopus56.wikispaces.com/LCROSS_Cruise_Orbit for detailed
local circumstances for W110 N42.

For pacific coast and intermountain CONUS observers, given the rising
Moon time and increasing lunar skywashout, this probably represents
one of the last opportunities to image LCROSS during orbit 1.

Clear skies - Kurt

[cano...@yahoo.com]

To correct: "and 1 deg, PA250 from 34 Boo . . . " - Kurt

[Paul Mortfield]

Hi gang,
an fyi, its currently passing near SAO 83647 (actually a bit west and north
of the star) at the moment. dist is ~528,000km. Will probably pass the star
in 30min. Its still pretty easy with the CCD even with the bright moon.
Then again, not much else in the deep sky to photograph with the moon up.
...paul.