Nuts, I get so overwhelmed with stuff to do that some important notices get blown off. Like, for example, the fact that the European lunar probe SMART-1 will impact the Moon at 10:41 Pacific time (05:41 Greenwich time) tonight! This probe has been orbiting the Moon since November 2004, taking great data of our nearest astronomical neighbor.
As the mission wound down, the decision was made to have it smack into the Moon so that it will raise a plume of dust and other stuff, so that astronomers back here on Earth can investigate it. The flash from the impact will be faint, almost certainly too faint to see with your unaided eye, but a telescope might make it visible.
For updates, check out The Planetary Society’s website. And if you see anything, report it here!
September 2nd, 2006 at 11:53 am
Considering that the European lunar probe SMART-1 will impact the Moon at 10:41 Pacific time (05:41 Greenwich time) tonight, I will try to see it in my telescope! Will I be able?
September 2nd, 2006 at 12:01 pm
And too bad the moon sets from my area before the scheduled impact. Oh well, it’s going to be cloudy here anyways.
September 2nd, 2006 at 12:37 pm
If anyone wants a laugh while your waiting for the big bang, check this out in about an hour or so.
I post regularly on the Flat Earth Society forum (yes, there really is such a thing.) I like to see how ridiculus I can make their arguments sound before they shrug me off as part of the conspiracy. Anyway, I started a topic based on whats going on tonight.
http://theflatearthsociety.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4629
Lets see what they make of this SMART stuff.
By the way, thanks Phil for you book’s chapter on the technicalities of libration!
http://theflatearthsociety.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4571
September 2nd, 2006 at 2:01 pm
No one in the mid atlantic area saw it as the Tropical Storm decided to dump on us…and it’s still raining!
September 2nd, 2006 at 4:36 pm
Grr. Doesn’t look like my weather’s going to cooperate for the event (mostly cloudy, chance of T-storms). If it clears, the Moon will only be some 13° off the horizon at the estimated time of impact, so if I do get a chance to drag out the ’scope it’ll get pretty murky in short order.
September 2nd, 2006 at 6:23 pm
Set up and ready – after the BBQ and post game celebrations!
September 2nd, 2006 at 7:04 pm
ARRRRRRRRRRGH!
And of course, I read the blog at 5:54 GMT,
September 2nd, 2006 at 7:18 pm
Will I be able to see it with benoculers?!?
September 2nd, 2006 at 7:27 pm
Oh, Max Fagin, why did you lead me astray?!!
I’d been avoiding that message board like the plague, knowing I’d get sucked into trying to talk common sense into folks like that.
This time, I just couldn’t help myself.
The poster who refuted your argument on meteorites and the moon made a nonsense claim that no one had ever provided picture of a meteorite striking the moon, so I posted the the url of the video taken earlier this year showing the Taurid striking the moon. (My user name is mooppoint there.)
Of course, it’s a NASA site, so it has to be misinformation, right?
September 2nd, 2006 at 7:29 pm
Pardon me, that should be “meteoroid” rather than meteorite.
I knew that!
September 2nd, 2006 at 7:33 pm
Kaptain K, as I write this, the impact is in 3 hours and 13 minutes.
September 2nd, 2006 at 7:39 pm
Kaptain K, it’s 5:41 GMT at September 3rd the impact happens, we are ahead of the US here in London.
You still have time, unless you live in Europe and have gone to bed. In which case, when you read this, you will have missed it again.
Darn! you missed it twice
September 2nd, 2006 at 8:02 pm
Oh that was you eddie? I thought it was a bit of a coincidence that we both got video from Bad Astronomy. I was just about to post the same link in a different post. Thanks for taking care of it! Any actual science on the FEF helps!
September 2nd, 2006 at 8:45 pm
Almost never rains in Phoenix and it’s raining tonight. We had this all set up for my birthday today and now we’re just settling for Italian food and wine. Oh well.
September 2nd, 2006 at 10:06 pm
damn clouds.
September 2nd, 2006 at 10:08 pm
[...] (From The Bad Astronomer) SMART, an ESA mission in lunar orbit, will end soon. It will not bode well for the spacecraft, as it will end up smashing into the moon. [...]
September 2nd, 2006 at 10:47 pm
Ooops! I went the wrong way in my mental (mis)calculation of time shift. Anyway, the question is moot, since it has been totally overcast here all night!
September 2nd, 2006 at 11:08 pm
Any video or pictures available?
September 3rd, 2006 at 12:02 am
i was watching from 10:33 through 10:50 and didn’t see anything, maybe my binoculars wernt’ strong enough
September 3rd, 2006 at 2:12 am
ESA is still uploading the images. I’ve put up some blurryscreenshots from the webcam of SMART-1’s last moments (maybe) at astroblog.
September 3rd, 2006 at 8:56 am
I didn’t see anything, either (just using binoculars). Here’s an animation from the CFHT at Mauna Kea, showing an infrared flash: http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/News/Smart1/anim2.gif
September 3rd, 2006 at 10:37 am
I was hoping SMART-1 would have sent back images of Apollo hardware, since it has the resolution to show it (within its closest orbital ranges). They decided it was not a mission priority. I was hoping it would make a splash with the moon landing doubters, though now it is making a crash with everyone.
December 31st, 2006 at 4:21 pm
Of course there were no pictures of Apollo hardware… they never got there.
You should check out the video of apollo11 crew faking being half-way to the moon.
It’s on google. search for moon hoax.