Watch spaceships crash into the Moon
This coming Friday at 4:30am PT NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) and its Centaur booster rocket will be intentionally slammed into the Moon. The heavy booster strikes first and will create a debris plume 10km high. Following closely behind, the LCROSS mothership will photograph the impact then pass through the plume taking samples to be tested for water, selected minerals, and organic molecules. After sending its findings back to Earth LCROSS itself will crash generating a second, smaller plume.
The Hubble Space Telescope, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), and thousands of telescopes on Earth will closely examine each plume as well as the impact flashes. You too can take a look. The easiest way is to watch via NASA TV on the internet or cable/satellite, with live coverage beginning at 3:15am PT. More fun would be to attend one of the many LCROSS impact parties happening around the US, Mexico and Canada. If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area check out the all night film festival, live music, and impact event at NASA Ames including special guest (and Apollo 16 astronaut) Charlie Duke.
Folks that live in the western US could watch the impacts directly but would need at least a 10” telescope. If you want to give it a try you’ll find lots of helpful information on NASA’s LCROSS observation web site including information on submitting a report of your sighting.
Isn’t it worth getting up early on a Friday morning, or perhaps even partying all night, in order to watch not one but two spaceships crash into the Moon?
