SMART-1 to Crash the Moon

Here is something interesting that might provide some saturday night entertainment for amateur astronomers.

Amateur astronomers, grab your telescopes. A spaceship is about to crash into the Moon, and you may be able to see the impact.

The spacecraft: SMART-1, a lunar orbiter belonging to the European Space Agency (ESA).

The impact site: Lacus Excellentiae (The Lake of Excellence), an ancient, 100-mile wide crater in the Moon's southern hemisphere.

The time to watch: Saturday, September 2nd at 10:41 p.m. PDT (Sept. 3rd, 0541 UT).

science.nasa.gov...

The impact will be pretty faint, "Estimates range from 7th to 15th magnitude", which will be difficult to see without binoculars or a telescope. After the impact, I would expect the plume of lunar dust might be easy to spot if it is in the light.

The Moon will be low in the southern sky, so I will probably not be able to see it. I also hear it will be better viewing on the west coast because of the lunar phase.

Just to note, that time (PDT) is Pacific Daylight Time Zone on the west coast, so adjust the time to your own time zone.

Hopefully some pictures will be made available.

I don't have any moon conspiracy theories, so I don't think this will be a problem, but if you have one, let's hear it.

[edit on 8/30/2006 by Hal9000]

I better clean up my telescope , I just hope the moon doesnt blow up or something.

It looks like Ernesto is going to put a damper on the weekend here in Ohio and the east coast.

Oh well, I guess I'll be looking for pictures online.

Edit: BTW, the title was supposed to be "SMART-1 to Crash INTO the Moon".

[edit on 8/31/2006 by Hal9000]

yeah this is what first came to mind...







Wish I had my scope. I'd love to see the little puff of dust she makes.

Yeah I read about this but not sure what time it happens on the west coast of Canada, and seems I am worse for wear. any helpers?

You should be in the same time zone as PDT, so you should expect it at 10:41 PM tomorrow night.



Good luck.

Europe's lunar satellite, the Smart 1 probe, has ended its mission by crashing onto the Moon's surface.

source

oh well looks like the probe ahs done its job and gone out in a blaze of glory reputedly spreading debris over 30 sq miles

amazing... a Mars sized object might have crashed into Earth a long time ago and the excess debris formed the moon. Cool stuff.

solidshot's link has a nice diagram illustrating the basics of an ion engine.