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Science You only saw Moon impacts with infrared eyes
Science You only saw Moon impacts with infrared eyes | You only saw Moon impacts with infrared eyes |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Sunday, 11 October 2009 | |
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Science DiscussionsA two-ton spent Centaur rocket booster from the LCROSS spacecraft was crashed into the Moon early in the morning of Friday, October 9, 2009. Moongazers had gathered around the United States to observe the much-awaited bright flashes from the debris plumes. However, nothing was seen by people aiming telescopes on the impact site, the lunar crater Cabeus, or by people watching on NASA TV. In fact, the Los Angeles Times reported that a Moon-crashing party had collected early in the morning on Friday outside of the NASA Ames Research Center (Moffitt Field, California) to observe the event on a very large TV screen. The LA Times reports, “Huddled in sleeping bags and tents, hundreds of people had gathered on a chilly Bay Area evening Thursday in front of a big outdoor screen to await what they hoped would be a celestial fireworks display as a NASA rocket plunged into a dark crater in search of ice on the moon." Further, "The Friday crash was supposed to send up a debris plume big enough to be seen from some Earth-based telescopes; a following spacecraft was to fly through plume and analyze its contents.” [LA Times (10-10-09): “NASA's moon crash is no spectacle, but could be a success”] David Morrison, head of the Lunar Science Institute at Ames, commented, "We all expected to see something. In that sense it was a disappointment." [LA Times] Page two continues. |
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