NASA watches total lunar eclipse for meteoroids

William Atkins
Monday, 27 August 2007 19:03

Science - Space

During the ninety-minute total lunar eclipse on Tuesday, August 28, 2007, NASA astronomers hope to record a meteoroid impacting the Moon.

NASA astronomers last saw such an event when they used a 10-inch (25-centimeter) telescope, on May 2, 2006, to visualize a meteoroid impacting the Sea of Clouds (Mare Nubrium), a lunar mare that is located on the Moon’s near side, just southeast of Oceanus Procellarum. It left a 46-foot (14-meter) wide, 10-foot (3-meter) deep crater on the Moon.

NASA astronomer Bill Cooke, head of the Meteoroid Environment Office (Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama, United States) said the explosion was about the same size as “four tons of TNT”. The original meteoroid was about 10 inches (25 centimeters) wide and its speed when it hit the Moon’s surface was about 85,000 miles per hour (38 kilometers per second).

Cooke and his MEO group is “responsible for meteoroid environments pertaining to spacecraft engineering and operations”.

To watch the slow motion video of the May 2 event, go to the NASA website “A Meteoroid Hits the Moon”.

Cooke explains the difference between a meteoroid hitting the Moon versus the Earth when he says, "A 10-inch meteoroid would disintegrate in mid-air [on Earth], making a spectacular fireball in the sky but no crater." With no atmosphere on the Moon, meteoroids travel unimpeded until they hit its surface.

Cooke and fellow astronomers hope to understand better the number of meteoroids that hit the Moon each day. Before humans return to the Moon and establish lunar outposts there, it will be important to know such statistics in order to plan our defenses against such meteoroids. They are learning that meteoroids hit the Moon in patterns, what they call “known meteoroid streams”. By learning more about such patterns, NASA will be better able to plan for manned lunar activities.

This article was adapted from the NASA article “A Meteoroid Hits the Moon”.
For additional information on the August 28th total lunar eclipse, go to the iTWire article "Total lunar eclipse set to turn Moon red"