Moon to be impacted tomorrow morning

UBT - Halifax-lad · Post by **UBT - Halifax-lad** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 6:16 pm

UBT - Halifax-lad · Post by **UBT - Halifax-lad** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 11:13 pm

Just over 7 hrs to go

Post by **UBT - Timbo** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 11:19 pm

UBT - Halifax--lad wrote:Just over 7 hrs to go

The one question I can't find an answer to is:

Is it worth getting up to see the moon - where will it be at 6:43am (BST) - above or below the horizon? (relative to East Anglia, UK)

Anyone know as I'd love to see the impact with my telescope, but staying in a nice warm bed has a great attraction for me at that time of the morning...!

regards

Tim

UBT - Halifax-lad · Post by **UBT - Halifax-lad** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 11:21 pm

Must be somewhere you can check on this Internet thing to find out

Post by **UBT - Timbo** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 11:23 pm

UBT - Halifax--lad wrote:Must be somewhere you can check on this Internet thing to find out

Yup, but most astronomy websites are US based and hence show this sort of stuff relative to their continent.

I'd have thought the BBC link you gave would say - "hey, you can see it from England/UK" - but they didn't have any thing.

I'll keep looking though and if I find it, will report back.

EDIT - info is here and I think it is NOT visible from UK:

The moon sets (dips below horizon) at the following times:

Spain - 00:08 UT
South Africa - 01:36 UT
Tenerife - 01:37 UT
Huntsville - 05:05 UT (they just miss it)

But good news for:

Florida - 06:05 UT (will be v. close to the horizon!)
Kitt Peak - 06:59 UT (will be just above the horizon!)
Argentina - 07:26 UT (one of the better views, perhaps?)

http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object ... ctid=39878

If the impact occurs nominally on 3 September 2006 at 05:41 UT, observers from North and South America and the East Pacific will be able to see the impact or listen to its radio signal during night time, with best views from America's East coasts as well as from Hawaii and the East Pacific.

If the probe impacts one orbit before the nominal one, on 3 September at 00:36 UT, the impact will be easily visible from South America, Canary Islands (Spain) and the US East coast, and from radio observatories from the US in daylight.

Note also - it's possible it will strike the moon one orbit earlier at 00:36 (UT) or 1:36 BST (in 2 hrs 8 minutes time) as the terrain is not known 100% as the satellite is coming in at a low angle.

Have tried to see the webcams, but doesn't look like anyone is covering it live. No doubt it'll be on NEWS 24 as they have covered this story today.

Note: It's predicted that it will strike in the lower left corner (of the moon), which will be in darkness (due to the sun's position). There'll only be "earthshine" to light up that section of the moon, so any dust that gets kicked up might well only be observed by a big optical scope - I doubt small scopes will see much...!).

Any bets on whether the moon will survive such an impact??? Or get kicked off-course and end up smashing into the Earth?

regards,

Tim

Temujin · Post by **Temujin** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 11:34 pm

UBT - Timbo wrote:Note also - it's possible it will strike the moon one orbit earlier at 00:36 (UT) or 01:36 BST (in 2 hrs 8 minutes time) as the terrain is not known 100% as the satellite is coming in at a low angle.

bum, its not visible now either :evil:

UBT - PiezPiedPy · Post by **UBT - PiezPiedPy** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 5:31 am

try NASA tv 8)

UBT - Halifax-lad · Post by **UBT - Halifax-lad** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 5:08 pm

All info on SMART-1 can be found at the ESA Website

Darren · Post by **Darren** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 7:53 pm

It's on BBC1 tonight at 00:30

UBT - Halifax-lad · Post by **UBT - Halifax-lad** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 7:54 pm

Dazza wrote:It's on BBC1 tonight at 00:30

Past my bedtime

UBT - PiezPiedPy · Post by **UBT - PiezPiedPy** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 12:40 am

Is Right - just got back early from work - nice surprise