NASA LCROSS OBSERVATION SITE NOW AVAILABLE

[XB70man]

To all LCROSS Google Group Members,

Since the storage capacity of the LCROSS Google Groups for large files
and images is limited, a new site has been created to gather photos,
exposure information, comments etc. related to the LCROSS IMPACT. The
NASA site is now available at:

http://apps.nasa.gov/lcross/

You will have to "Sign In" and "Register for an Account" the first
time in.

LCROSS Google Groups will REMAIN the primary tool for discussions (and
there have been some great ones!) Please continue to use Google
Groups as you have been. However, pre-impact data and photos that
have been posted on Google Groups may find use on the new site. I ask
that Google Group Members that have posted relevant photos and
information now re-post some of their info to the new site. Please
constrain the information to impact-relevant content -- i.e. South
Pole images, not North Pole, etc.

There are some issues with remote moderation of the site. For the
next few days, please try one or two posts only and give us time to
work the system. All posts are moderated (at present), and we do not
want to overwhelm the moderators. Be patient -- your posts will show
on the site soon.

A blog on the new site is available, as are comments. Again, this
Google Groups site has worked quite well for the discussions, so I
would urge you to keep using it as the primary method for
disseminating information.

We have not yet decided how to handle VIDEO imaging most efficiently.
NASA-Ames personnel are working that issue. More on that later.

Feel free to contact me directly or make a post if you have any
questions.

Many thanks.




Rick Baldridge

[Jim Mosher]

Rick,

Congratulations on the launch of the new website!

Am I correct in assuming there is no place there for discussion,
questions or comment about the posted images? or is that what the
"blog" is for?

Also, are you the author of the excellent "About" page? If, so, it
might be helpful to put a revision date on it, so people (like me) who
don't understand "feeds" (and/or access the internet from different
computers at remote sites) can know when it needs to be scanned for
new information.

Even if you are not the author, do you know if the "4-6 visual
magnitudes per arcsec-squared in the first minute" surface brightness
estimate is averaged over both height and width? If so, what height
and width? If only over width, at what height? Or is it at the point
of maximum brightness? If so, where is that point?

Finally, where does the information that "the dust will polarize the
scattered light" come from? How strongly polarized will it be and in
what direction?? It seems pretty important for observers to know in
advance if there will be any advantage to doing this, and in what
direction to set their polarizers (I don't think the reflected light
from the Moon, itself, would have much polarization).

-- Jim

[Rick Baldridge]

 

Jim,

 

We are glad the site has started.  I personally did not have much to do with the site other than to offer some suggestions during its development and volunteer to moderate the site along with Paul Mortfield.  There were many talented NASA people working very hard on the site in a very short time.  It needs a few fixes, but it is operational.  There were many ideas that could not be implemented due to time constraints (like giving observers Station, Equipment and Observer codes so you wouldn't have to re-enter all the metadata for every image, etc.) but the main function of allowing storage of large files has been met.

 

There is a blog, and it certainly can be used.  There are comments possible once an image is uploaded.  But the development team feels the LCROSS Google Groups site is really still the best place to continue the "Discussions".  It's easier to maintain, etc.  You , Kurt and several others have done an AMAZING job with the site providing pages, images and much excellent content.  Thank you so much for all your efforts.  The new site is intended primarily for images including full resolution uploads now that we are not limited by file size.

 

I summarized available information on the "About" page and do realize it needs some revision already.  Most of the photography comments are mine, and of course were intended to be very short summaries of several possible techniques.  It is my guess that anyone seriously interested in imaging the LCROSS impact plume is already an advanced amateur at least and would know how to do use their equipment and plan for the event.      

 

There have been many good discussions recently about the plume, its expected size, brightness, etc. I will try to get some up-to-date estimates from the project team.  But please realize - just like the Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact on Jupiter, even expert estimates could be drastically wrong for this type of event.  We may have to simply do the best we can with the imaging.  Personally, I am going to use my StellaCam III and get the exposure set so I can barely see the dark limb of the moon (a bit away from the terminator) so I know it is a little above the background noise, and that's about it.  If the illuminated plume does get above the limb (or is in the foreground against a shadowed region) one would think it would have to be at least a bit brighter than the dark limb if it's going to be observable.  Of course, the discussions on this site have been most helpful in trying to choose a proper image scale to make the plume size appear adequate on video / DSLR cameras / CCD cameras. 

 

I'm sure we all anxiously await the announcement of the target crater / region.  It should be an exciting week!

 

 

Clear Skies,

 

 

Rick B.

[cano...@yahoo.com]

On Sep 4, 9:35 pm, "Rick Baldridge" <rickbaldri...@comcast.net> wrote:
<snip> Personally, I am going to use my StellaCam III and get the

exposure set so I can barely see the dark limb of the
> moon (a bit away from the terminator) so I know it is a little above the background noise, and that's about it. If the illuminated
> plume does get above the limb (or is in the foreground against a shadowed region) one would think it would have to be at '
> least a bit brighter than the dark limb if it's going to be observable.

That sounds like a pretty good common sense solution.

If it's available, do we have a calibrated magnitude in mpsas for the
dark floor Cabeus A and B in the NMSU image?

Thanks, Kurt

[Rick Baldridge]

We will have to wait 'til the announcement of the impact target crater /
region to request additional information of illumination / plume details.
Please be patient. Because of the extreme negative latitude libration, as
some have speculated, depending on the target region, the plume may not
reach above the lunar limb as viewed from Earth. However, as stated before,
the shadow conditions still may cause the plume to be visible against a
darkened background. (The plume will certainly get into sunlight, as is a
requirement for the LCROSS sheparding spacecraft observations.) This is a
highly dynamic situation which cannot be resolved at present until the
target location is announced -- probably within the next week. The Science
Team / PI knows the issues well. Lunar orbit spacecraft science
(LCROSS/LRO) is paramount, followed by high-altitude infrared facilities
like Mauna Kea / Haleakala, then by Earth-orbit facilities and lastly
ground-based west coast facilities in the USA, Canada, Mexico, etc.
including all us amateurs. NASA is quite adamant that the amateur community
can provide some good, scientifically valuable imaging!



Rick B.
____________________________________________
Any opinions expressed in this message are strictly my own and do not
necessarily reflect those of NASA, its contracting agencies, or any other
life form in the Universe.