The Moon at LCROSS impact, Oct. 8

[LunarPioneer]

"The event is timed to occur next October 8, when the Moon is over
Hawaii," Colaprette confirmed, which is an optimum for Keck
Observatory and others on the summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of
Hawai'i, and other formal and informal observing partners "from South
Korea to "about as far east as Texas."

Discussion of perigee and libration at 04:26.30 HST, 8 Oct.

http://lunarnetworks.blogspot.com/2009/05/moon-at-lcross-impact.html

[Jim Mosher]

Joel,

Thanks for posting this information.

Assuming October 8th is the correct impact date, I have created a
webpage showing the expected appearance of the Moon at:

http://ltvt.wikispaces.com/LCROSS+Impact


-- Jim

[cano...@yahoo.com]

The primary source for the report appears to be a May 21, 2009
broadcast on NASA/TV as described on the LCROSS Facebook page. I
have not found any captured videos of the broadcast on either a NASA
site or Youtube.

The Facebook page also links to three videos done in April 2009 by
Brian Day on the role of amateurs in observing the impact. I will
link them into the animations page tomorrow.

- Kurt

[LunarPioneer]

Thanks, Jim. I was just lucky enough to be listening in on the news
briefing, last week.
Dr. Colaprette mentioned October 8 almost casually and at least three
times, which surprised me, frankly.

Configuring "ephemerally," I quickly noted within the range of
visibility Dr. Colaprette also mentioned (Texas to Korea), that
Transit for Keck occurs 47 minutes prior to perigee, early that
morning.

Of course, I knew the Group would want to know, particularly since a
singularly productive group of individuals were likely to be working
at the time of the Joint mission briefing.

Unfortunately, I haven't had time to look for a Vodcast, not even on
the mission websites, on deadline with a project myself.
Perhaps some enterprising member has the few moments needed to look
around. If LCROSS hasn't posted the briefing, they ought to.

Thanks, so much, also for a definitive impact website. (My
illustration were easily misunderstood sketches only. Someone was
bound to mistake the VMA libration indicator arrow, for example, as an
actual impact prediction!

Cheers!

-Joel R
joel...@lunarpioneer.com
http://lunarpioneer.blogspot.com

[LunarPioneer]

Great!

Thank you for posting a source for viewing the briefing.

Joel R

[Derek C Breit]

Could someone create a correctly oriented (binocular) graphic that shows
the whole moon, the terminator, and the general impact location??

All I really want to know is where the impact will be in relation to the
bright limb.. The graphic can be very simple.. Or highly detailed.. As long
as it depicts the sunlight cusp..

Thanks in advance..

Derek
www.poyntsource.com/New/index.htm

[Jim Mosher]

Derek,

I'm not sure I entirely understand the question. It is difficult to
mark the impact position because, to the best of my knowledge, it has
not been announced (other than the rumor that it may be near the
Moon's south pole in October). Also, the orientation of the
terminator in a "binocular" view depends very much on the observer's
location on Earth: as seen through binoculars (or any other Dobsonian-
type alt-az mount) the direction of the terminator rotates as the Moon
moves from horizon to meridian and back.

If you are using a PC, you can easily create a binocular-oriented
graphic customized to your location by entering the expected dates and
times (and your location) into the LTVT software available at:

http://ltvt.wikispaces.com

A binocular orientation is not the default, but you can get it by
selecting "Local Zenith" for the vertical axis in the menu illustrated
at:

http://ltvt.wikispaces.com/Cartographic+Options

There is also a "dot" file called " 1994 ULCN Supplement v2.csv"
available at:

http://ltvt.wikispaces.com/Dot+Files

This contains accurate positions and diameters for all the target
craters that have been mentioned so far in connection with the LCROSS
campagin, as listed in the table at the start of:

http://groups.google.com/group/lcross_observation/web/finders

The north polar locations are listed as LCROSS B-F and Nansen F. The
south polar targets appear under the names listed in the table
mentioned above. You can use the dot file to automatically overlay
markers at these positions, or you can enter the positions manually
and mark them on your map using the "Goto" function:

http://ltvt.wikispaces.com/Go+To+Tool

I, of course, do not know which crater will be selected, nor whether
it will even be one on that list. I also don't know exactly where in
any of these craters the actual impact would be targeted. For these
reasons, it seems a bit premature to make detailed maps; and based on
the sketchy information that has been released so far it is difficult
(at least for me) to say even in a general way how the impact will be
oriented relative to the bright limb. That would, I think, depend
entirely on the crater that is selected.

Hope this helps,

Jim

[Derek C Breit]

Thanks Jim.

Someone already sent me the graphic I requested..

:-))

Derek