Faustini Finder Panel for 12-5 to 12-7 dates

[cano...@yahoo.com]

Based on Dr. Wooden's comment on possible imaging times at 3-10UT
between 12-5 through 12-7 (for the continential U.S. next Wednesday,
Thursday and Friday 12-4 to 12-6), I have prepared a finder and
simulated e.p. view panel in uploaded file
"20081205_7_FaustiniFinderPanel.png" (2mb) tailored only to the south
polar target - crater Faustini.

The panel contains an overview finder and 200x and 500x simulated
single-reversed eyepiece views prepared using Chevally's and
LeGrande's Virtual Moon Atlas and my o.p. at W111, N42. Minor
variations in the simulated e.p. views will occur based on your
observing point due to topocentric libration.

Simple pointing instructions for imagers:

Just find where the terminator intersects the southern limb. Point 1
ccd frame lunar easterly (sidereal westerly) along the limb. You will
probably get the intended target Faustini, which will be on the limb,
in your image.

More detailed pointing instructions for imagers:

Use the top left finder at the top panel of
"20081205_7_FaustiniFinderPanel.png".

On 12/5/2008 3UT, the centers of Mutus and Manzinus point toward the
south pole and bisect between Schomberger and Simpelius. Once you have
located Schomberger, use the right-hand top finder panel to locate
satellite features Schomberger A, C and K. Center on Schomberger K.
Then tranverse the shortest line to the southern limb. You will be at
Faustini.

On 12/6-7/2008 3UT, Curtius, Manzinus and Schomberger make a nice
triangular asterism. Moretus can be used to locate Curtius. Once you
have located Schomberger, use the right-hand top finder panel to
locate satellite features Schomberger A, C and K. Center on
Schomberger K. Then tranverse the shortest line to the southern
limb. You will be at Faustini.

The following are the corresponding MDT and PDT times to the UT date-
times, the terminator colongitude at the specified date-time, the
corresponding lunation day, and atlas pages in Westfall's Atlas of the
Lunar Terminator and Chong's lunar terminator atlas:

12/5/2008 3UT
Thursday 12/4 8 MDT 7 PDT
Colongitude 1.5E (358.5) Lunation 7.4 days
Westfall 357-S (p. 99) Q 3-S (p. 159) Chong Day 7

12/6/2008 3UT
Friday 12/5 8 MDT 7 PDT
Colongitude 10.7W Lunation 8.4 days
Westfall 009-S (p. 107) Q 3-S (p. 159) Chong Day 8

12/7/2008 3UT
Saturday 12/6 8 MDT 7 PDT
Colongitude 22.9W Lunation 9.4 days
Westfall 018-S (p. 111) Q 3-S (p. 159) Chong Day 9

Long-range weather forecasts look good for the western United States
for Thursday with cloudy weather closing in on the northwest south to
Salt Lake City, Utah on Friday and Saturday. Southwestern California,
Arizona and New Mexico look clear.

Conus Sky Cover Loop
http://www.weather.gov/forecasts/graphical/sectors/conusLoop.php

Jet Stream Forecast
http://virga.sfsu.edu/scripts/jetstream_modelsml_fcst.html
http://virga.sfsu.edu/crws/jetstream.html

The most useful online charts that I have found are:

Jim Mosher's renditions of Rukl 73 at:
http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/file/detail/Rukl_73_satellites_SE.jpg
http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/file/detail/Rukl_73_satellites_SW.jpg

Labeled image at the bottom of the 12/28/2007 LPOD:
http://www.lpod.org/?m=20071228
http://www.lpod.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/LunarSLimbLPOD.jpg


Labeled image at the bottom of the 12/21/2007 LPOD:
http://www.lpod.org/?m=20071221
http://www.lpod.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/scott-sm.jpg

Depending on whether your rig is direct view, single reversed or
doubled reversed, downloading and flipping the images to correspond to
your eyepiece and imaging camera can be helpful in getting familar
with the target area.

Clear Skies, Kurt

[cano...@yahoo.com]

On Nov 30, 11:08 pm, "canopu...@yahoo.com" <canopu...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
<snip all>

In looking at Westfall's and Chong's terminator atlases, it looks like
there may be some confusing shading on 20081205 and 20081206, but also
a helpful dark asterism. In low illumination, four craters, Simpelius
and Simpelius D,E and A make a dark hourglass asterism that is
particularly prominent on both Westfall and Chong atlas images of the
terminator. See Westfall 009-S and Westfall 018-S. On Westfall, the
prominent dark hourglass asterism is fat; on Chong it is narrow.
Schomberger is just south of this dark hourglass asterism. I have
uploaded file -

"20081205_3UT_500x__Simpelius_Asterism.png"

- which crudely marks the hourglass asterism around Simpelius.

For 20081207, Simpelius and Simpelius D,E and A make four leave clover
bright asterism, which is also prominent on Chong's atlas. This
grouping of four craters forming a cross is seen on Jim Mosher's
rendition of Rukl 73 at:

http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/file/detail/Rukl_73_satellites_SE.jpg

Clear Skies - Kurt

P.S. - Chong is:

Chong, S.M., Lim, A.C.H. and Ang, P.S. 2002. Photographic Atlas of the
Moon. Cambridge Univ. Press.
(a photographic atlas of the terminator on each lunation day)

[Jim Mosher]

Good work, again, Kurt!

Lest it create confusion, I believe the crater you are calling
"Schomberger K" is actually Malapert K. Schomberger K (probably not
labeled on Rükl’s maps) is a different, and smaller, crater that can
be seen plotted on Ewen Whitaker's sketch map (the letters are placed
on the side pointing towards the parent crater:

http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Whitaker,+1954

Also, I believe the original announcement said that Dr. Wooden's
telescope time was reserved for 2008 Dec 6 through 2008 Dec 8 UT at
04:00 - 10:00. When she mentioned "Thursday Dec. 5-7":

http://groups.google.com/group/lcross_observation/msg/88ed3deb81f921dd

I would guess she was referring to the corresponding local Pacific, or
perhaps Hawaiian, times. But "Thursday" seems to be a typo, since
Dec. 5 is a Friday in all parts of the world I'm aware of.

That is, my understanding is that her first observation window will
start on UT 2008 Dec 6 at 04:00, which is Friday evening in North
America, and Saturday afternoon in East Asia/Australia-New Zealand
(where by 10:00 -- at the end of her run -- the Moon will be nicely
visible in the evening sky).

Perhaps Dr. Wooden can clarify this?

If I am correct, it would seem to me your second two VMA finder charts
correspond to nights she will be observing (although perhaps an hour
early?), while the first finder chart -- for Thursday evening in North
America and Friday evening in Asia (the night before her IRTF session)
-- can serve as a warm-up to become familiar with the foreground
features.

-- Jim

P.S.: I have been using the USGS's ULCN2005 to measure the "correct"
selenographic coordinates of the most prominent landmarks around
Faustini and calibrating some additional amateur photos. So far the
ULCN2005-predicted positions seem to correlate quite well with the
observed positions in those photos. By Wednesday, I'll try to post
some more detailed finder charts "painted" with photos having a
lighting a bit closer than the VMA simulations to that which will be
observed on UT Dec 6-8, as well as the files necessary for those who
mind wish to use LTVT to paint images corresponding to their exact
observing location and telescope configuration.

Also, I think you may find the best landmark is not Malapert K, but
rather the keyhole-shaped double crater Malapert E, situated on the
Earthward side of the elevated area Ewen Whitaker chose to identify as
"Leibnitz Beta". Its distinctive shape is easy to recognize in
photos, and (based on my very limited experience) fairly easy to find
visually when the seeing cooperates. In Ewen's drawing, Faustini
("R3") is skewed considerably to the left of Malapert E, but on the
nights of Dr. Wooden's observations, Faustini will be directly
limbward of the "keyhole".


On Nov 30, 10:08 pm, "canopu...@yahoo.com" <canopu...@yahoo.com>
wrote:

> Jet Stream Forecasthttp://virga.sfsu.edu/scripts/jetstream_modelsml_fcst.htmlhttp://virga.sfsu.edu/crws/jetstream.html

>
> The most useful online charts that I have found are:
>

> Jim Mosher's renditions of Rukl 73 at:http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/file/detail/Rukl_73_satellites_SE.jpghttp://the-moon.wikispaces.com/file/detail/Rukl_73_satellites_SW.jpg
>
> Labeled image at the bottom of the 12/28/2007 LPOD:http://www.lpod.org/?m=20071228http://www.lpod.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/LunarSLimbLPOD.jpg
>
> Labeled image at the bottom of the 12/21/2007 LPOD:http://www.lpod.org/?m=20071221http://www.lpod.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/scott-sm.jpg

[cano...@yahoo.com]

On Dec 1, 1:38 pm, Jim Mosher <jimmos...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Good work, again, Kurt!
> Lest it create confusion,

Thanks for all the corrections, Jim, and my apologies if the prior
posts has thrown anyone of the right track. - Kurt

[cano...@yahoo.com]

On Dec 1, 1:38 pm, Jim Mosher <jimmos...@gmail.com> wrote:

<snip>

> Also, I think you may find the best landmark is not Malapert K, but
> rather the keyhole-shaped double crater Malapert E, situated on the
> Earthward side of the elevated area Ewen Whitaker chose to identify as
> "Leibnitz Beta".  

Yes, the keyhole (Malapert E, 17km dia) looks like a good locater
feature at higher magnifications above 200x. An easier slew would be
to go the intersection of the terminator and south limb, and then slew
lunar eastward along the limb until you see the keyhole. The keyhole
appears on:

Whitaker's 1954 Map (as you noted Jim)
http://www.lpod.org/?m=20070512

Dr. Wooden's Nov. 7, 2008 image at the lunar east end of Malapert (in
the files section)
mosaic_Spole_2008nov07UT_zm_craters2.png

Labeled image at the bottom of the 12/21/2007 LPOD (in the upper right-
hand corner, unlabeled)
http://www.lpod.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/scott-sm.jpg

Looking forward to your finders.

Clear Skies, Kurt

[Clif]

I have just uploaded an image which I cropped from a lunar mosaic
taken
on November 9, 2008 of the South Polar region shown in Whitaker's map.
The image was taken using a DMK31 camera coupled to my f/14 7.25"
Schupmann Medial using a 2x Barlow lens. 30 second videos were taken
at 1/137th sec. per frame and 30 frames per second. The videos were
processed using Registax4 and the resultant sharpened stacks were
combined in PhotoShop to give the mosaic of which this clipping is a
small.
Portion. I have indicated what I believe to be the "keyhole"
formation of two
small overlapping craters, the location of the south pole itself, as
well as the
craters, Malapert, Cabeus, and Faustini. I believe Faustini is
exactly on
the limb in this picture and shows up as a depressed region in
profile.
I think this depressed region would be my aiming point for the actual
Lcross mission. Comments?

Clif Ashcraft

> > Jet Stream Forecasthttp://virga.sfsu.edu/scripts/jetstream_modelsml_fcst.htmlhttp://virg...

>
> > The most useful online charts that I have found are:
>

> > Jim Mosher's renditions of Rukl 73 at:http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/file/detail/Rukl_73_satellites_SE.jpgh...
>
> > Labeled image at the bottom of the 12/28/2007 LPOD:http://www.lpod.org/?m=20071228http://www.lpod.org/wp-content/uploads...
>
> > Labeled image at the bottom of the 12/21/2007 LPOD:http://www.lpod.org/?m=20071221http://www.lpod.org/wp-content/uploads...

[Jim Mosher]

Clif,

In response to your request for comments:

1. That's a nice mosaic of the Moon's south polar region.

2. It would be helpful to mention the time at which it was taken so
that the librations could be computed.

3. Yes, you have correctly identified what I was calling the
"keyhole", of which Malapert E is the larger (and lower) part.

4. The shadowed area you have labeled "Malapert" is actually the
crater now known as "Shoemaker" (which was, incidentally, the site of
the Lunar Prospector impact). It is labeled "R4" on Whitaker's sketch
map:

http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Whitaker,+1954

Malapert is a somewhat poorly defined depression in front of it. The
rounded sunlit peak to the right of your Malapert label is what
Whitaker called "Malapert Alpha".

5. Your "South Pole" label is pointing roughly to the center of the
shadowed bowl of Shackleton. The Moon's rotation axis is actually
thought to penetrate the surface near its right-hand edge (close to
where it abuts the bright sunlit ridge shown in your photo):

http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/South+Pole

Whitaker shows a round crater of similar size near the south pole, but
what he has drawn is not Shackleton, and may not be a crater at all.

6. I am not at home at the moment, so it is slightly inconvenient for
me to check the librations (plus you forgot to mention the time), but
I believe Faustini is completely onto the visible disk in your image.
I believe you can see sunlight striking both its near and far rims.
The interior wall of the far rim is the first light streak immediately
under your "Faustini" label, and extends to the right where it becomes
broader near the "M" of "Malapert". The sunlit Earthward (outer) side
of the near rim is the next streak down below your "Faustini" label.
The shadowed bowl of Faustini is the dark area between the two. The
hypothetical impact site that Dr. Wooden will be practicing pointing
at this weekend will presumably be somewhere in this shadowed area,
although she has not responded to the question about whether her
"sweet spot" is the exact center of Faustini or some point offset from
it.

7. The impression of a depressed bowl along the limb, with the
Faustini label on its "floor" and, extending considerably to the left,
is probably created by the random association of unrelated peaks in
front of and behind the limb. It is unlikely to be a crater.

8. If the imaginary impact plume is expected to arise out of the
exact center of Faustini, then it should appear just slightly to the
left of your violet line to the "Keyhole" -- in the first dark band
that the line crosses below the "Faustini" label. I would be looking
at around pixel (633, 191) in the image as you posted it.

9. As to scale, Dr. Wooden has released some further details and a
different version of her IRTF slit-jaw image from Nov. 7th at :

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/news/NASA_Developing_Plans_to_Capture_Lunar_Impacts.html

and

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/news/image_specifications.html

where it is mentioned that the bright part of the actual LCROSS plume
is expected to rise no more than 4 km, which is only about 1/10th the
diameter of Faustini. That will make it a small target from Earth, but
not out of reach of the excellent resolution of your image.

10. I have been working on creating some web-pages related to the Dec.
6-8 (UT) training exercise:

http://ltvt.wikispaces.com/LCROSS+Dec+2008+Campaign

which you may or may not find helpful in locating Faustini, should you
have a chance this weekend. The pages are not completed yet, but the
one referenced above includes links to six existing amateur images
available on the web that show Faustini under similar lighting and
libration (at least in terms of how far Faustini will be onto the disk
-- not necessarily as to how it is skewed "horizontally") to the way
it will appear during the IRTF observations.


-- Jim

[Arnold Ashcraft]

Jim:
1) Thanks. The whole mosaic is a lot bigger, extending up past
Clavius.
2) The video from which this part of the mosaic was made was saved at
8:51 pm, EST, so it was probably taken between 8:50 and 8:51.
3) That is a good landmark. I should be able to spot it in the
live image
on my computer screen from the webcam.
4) I like that mountain peak too. Might be another good landmark
if illumination is right
5) I had assumed that the crater Whitaker drew was the one which is
visible
near edge on in my picture. OK, that's Shackleton.
6) I see the back rim. Is Faustini the same as R3 in Whitaker's
drawing?

8) I wonder if the plume will be visible if it is back lit by the
far wall of Faustini?
I suspect that if we really do get a plume of ice and snow it will
be quite
a bit brighter than the moon surface, considering how moon dirt looked
on our astronauts white space suits. Here's hoping they don't just
knock
up a plume of moon dirt.
9.10) Thanks for the URL's I will check your site occasionally
looking for helpful
material.

Clif

>>>> Conus Sky Cover Loophttp://www.weather.gov/forecasts/graphical/
>>>> sectors/conusLoop.php
>>
>>>> Jet Stream Forecasthttp://virga.sfsu.edu/scripts/

[Arnold Ashcraft]

Jim:
I deleted the image and replaced it with one with the labels fixed
and a few more things labeled acc. to Whitaker's sketch.

Clif
On Dec 4, 2008, at 4:56 PM, Jim Mosher wrote:

>

> http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/news/
> NASA_Developing_Plans_to_Capture_Lunar_Impacts.html
>
> and
>
> http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/news/
> image_specifications.html
>

>>>> Conus Sky Cover Loophttp://www.weather.gov/forecasts/graphical/
>>>> sectors/conusLoop.php
>>
>>>> Jet Stream Forecasthttp://virga.sfsu.edu/scripts/

[cano...@yahoo.com]

Clif, Great image. Lots of shadow detail. You might want to
consider downloading Jim's LTVT program. It has a great utility that
will quickly calibrate your image to a lunar globe, assuming you have
the op lat and long and the UT time the image was taken. It can then
be used to print your image with the craters automatically labeled.
Did I mention it was free? - Kurt

http://ltvt.wikispaces.com/LTVT+Download

On Dec 4, 4:31 pm, Arnold Ashcraft <wa2...@optonline.net> wrote:
<snip all>

[Arnold Ashcraft]

Thanks, I'll download it. Sounds interesting.
Clif

[Jim Mosher]

On Dec 4, 2:26 pm, Arnold Ashcraft <wa2...@optonline.net> wrote:

> 6) I see the back rim. Is Faustini the same as R3 in
> Whitaker's drawing?

Yes.

See:

http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Whitaker,+1954

for other identifications of his nomenclature with the current IAU
nomenclature.

--

> 8) I wonder if the plume will be visible if it is back
> lit by the far wall of Faustini? I suspect that if we
> really do get a plume of ice and snow it will be quite a
> bit brighter than the moon surface, considering how moon
> dirt looked on our astronauts white space suits. Here's
> hoping they don't just knock up a plume of moon dirt.

I have no idea how meaningful the LCROSS scientist's estimates of the
plume size and brightness might be. If it contains ice, I would think
that (like a comet) it would be very dirty ice and not necessarily all
that different in reflectivity from the general surface. I would also
think it might be quite tenuous, so that one would see through it to
whatever is behind it, although I have no idea if that is right or
wrong. The photometric estimates that seem to suggest a dust cloud at
Quarter phase would be as much as 5 times brighter than the general
surface (as bright as a piece of Full Moon) seem slightly improbable
to me. I find it hard to see why it would be that bright even it was
totally opaque. Instead, I would imagine that trying to photograph it
against a sunlit background would be something like trying to get a
good photo of a dust devil in the desert -- it can certainly be seen,
but its contrast with its surroundings is not likely to be very
great. But I have no expertise in this field, and I guess the LCROSS
scientists are building on their experience from Deep Impact.

As to scale, in your photo from Nov. 10, 2008:

http://lcross_observation.googlegroups.com/web/Whittaker+sketch+region.jpg?gda=wEYEwU0AAAC8_-JHixGtmWM2rgqKTVrF_MtpvQzvXPmaGGwUCbAbouLd7sjAmTuy1-gi3_AS5aiTVj17n7D8L_lvxwgLYjZk5Tb_vjspK02CR95VRrtmeQ

the sunlit far rim of Faustini (the final bright streak under the
label) spans roughly 0.15% of the lunar radius (reading the change in
"Y" coordinate off the calibrated south-up photo in LTVT). If I have
my math right that is the equivalent to a projected distance of
0.0015*1737 = 2.6 km.

The most recent NASA/LCROSS press release:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/news/image_specifications.html

says "The densest and brightest part of the LCROSS ejecta plume is
expected to extend two to four kilometers above the crater rim".
Taking that literally, it sounds like they would expect to see a blip
of brightness that extends the thickness of the crater rim you imaged
by about one additional "rim-height" into the darkness beyond the
limb.

I guess that means they expect only the lower part of the plume will
be backlit.

-- Jim

[Arnold Ashcraft]

Thanks Jim. So far weather has wiped out my efforts this weekend. I
have some faint hope that I will get a chance tonight, although winds
may make it hard to keep the long tube of the Schupmann lined up with
my target.
Clif