LCROSS: 1 Hour to Impact

[Octane]

1 hour to impact.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

Regards,
Humayun

[tornado33]

tis sad we cannot see it from here with our own scopes

[Octane]

Who would have thought the Moon could be exciting?

The images coming through look great.

Regards,
Humayun

[matt]

Been watching the last 20 minutes. Very cool.

Looking forward to impact in 43 minutes.

[peterl]

This is going to be fantastic, history happening before our eyes :rolleyes:
34 mins to go

[Matt Wastell]

I wish the Moon was UP!!!!!!!!
Looking forward to the 40 minutes.

[Darth Wader]

10 mins to go!:eyepop:

[erick]

Watching! :thumbsup:

[iceman]

Same!

[snowyskiesau]

Well that was boring. Should have stayed watching the cricket.

[iceman]

I didn't see any bright impact like they expected?

I hope they get some good science from it.

[erick]

The video kept freezing on me. Plenty of interested viewers I guess.

[Rod66]

In fact there was so much lack of impact evidence, even in IR mode as the science team frantically tried to instruct the flight team to change to. I wonder if they will get much from this... The commentators were hilarious at the end - "Well what do we think we saw there" - "Well I'm not exactly sure.." - Reminded me of a couple of beakers from the muppets looking at each other..

[leinad]

Not sure what happened there in the flight directors room after impact?
One of the terminal operators requested a Hi-5 from the other guy and got snubbed, then the guy left the room?
Looked like a rather uncomfortable situation.

I guess we wait an hour or so for the data to be collected.

[hayez]

I was expecting some form of quick flash but nothing, I did blink once or twice towards the end though....:)

[desler]

Yes, Failed to see any impact or anything much at all.

I hope the science they hoped for is still coming. It would be a real set back for Nasa if they have another failure / problem.


Daz

[Clarry]

The only good scene was the bloke left hanging for the hi-5.

[Rick Petrie]

Splashdown was a bit of a letdown!!!!
No visual signs of plume ejecta but they say it will take a few days to analyze I guess????? Mmmmmmh!

[andrewk_82]

If we didn't see anything then I doubt that the Americans watching from the ground with their 10" telescopes would have seen much. It was a bit embarressing to watch really.

[seanliddelow]

Perhaps the plume would take some time to be visible but the damn coverage has ended:mad2:

[batema]

Who was the guy who celebrated for about 10 seconds after the impact and left immediately. Hopefully he did not take the data/

Mark

[DavidU]

Ah, that was a tad ...boring. I hope the amature imaging guys get some stuff soon.
Waiting.........

[Octane]

As anticlimactic as it was, that was really exciting watching it get closer and closer to the surface. Felt like I was looking through Louie's old C11 up at the Paintball Place a few years ago!

I looked away for a second and it seems I missed out on the most exciting part -- the failed high 5. I'm sure it'll end up on the Failblog.

Regards,
Humayun

[andrewk_82]

I can see this being one of the most played bits of footage from the whole thing :D

[seanliddelow]

He was probably getting some sleep because he probably yawned so much after the impact.

[seanliddelow]

Space weather http://www.spaceweather.com/ may have some images in the next hour or so and some american IIS members may post their image:thumbsup:

[SkyViking]

I believe I saw a bit of a flash in both the visual and the thermal imaging when they replayed it, but no plume.
Actually it might be good news if the impact flash wasn't very bright as it would indicate them hitting something other than hard regolith.

[seanliddelow]

I did see a littile thermal pixel. Perhaps they have hit mud.

[DavidU]

:lol:

[astroron]

I thought it was very interesting,I was engrossed in watching the impactor gradually getting closer to the moon.
Listening to the voice from science said that a flash had been observed.
the follow up craft seemed to me to fly through something , but weither that was bad resolution I don't know.
One image did show a brighter point but what that was I don't know.
Let's hope there where some good results from Hubble and earth based telescopes:thumbsup:

[Rick Petrie]

Or maybe the moon is really made of cheese:P

[andrewk_82]

I agree there was something small on the thermal image. Definately not what I was expecting though.

[andrewk_82]

At least there's water in cheese :D

[astroron]

It seemed as if he couldn't get out of the place quick enough:screwy:
It didn't look very good:(
I felt for the guy left hanging in the air for a high five:(

[seanliddelow]

I think they made some aliens very angry:rofl:. They did cook there breakfest with that pixel. The approach was very interesting and it was a once in a lifetime view of the moon.

[astroron]

What where you expecting?
If you had listened to the scientist who was with the commentary team, there where three scenarios and one of them was little or no dust.
We won't know for a couple of hours what the results where :thumbsup:

[Baron von Richthofen]

I think it was a fizzer,a non event

[astroron]

Science is not all "Bells and Whistles"
I am so sorry you where dissapointed :rolleyes:

[picklesrules]

haha i saw that poor guy

[Darth Wader]

I understand you may be a little upset but NEVER LEAVE A MATE HANGING ON A HIGH FIVE!:eyepop:

[andrewk_82]

This part of the broadcast has already been posted on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z4E2s5p3EQ

[Octane]

Oh, man. That's terrible.

What a jerk!

Regards,
Humayun

[seanliddelow]

I have shared the video on facebook.:lol:

[Enchilada]

Here is the "Space : 1999" shot again.

This might cheer you guys up!! :thumbsup:

[seanliddelow]

Yeah, thats what happened..................

[dugnsuz]

Is this how it will be remembered!!??
By an EPIC FAIL as my son remarked!!??
That guy in the black shirt is now officially "NASA Jerk Dude"!!
:lol:

[picklesrules]

ive just relised something though, that guy was laughing after it, maybe they had a bet to see if it was visible or not and the other guy was passionate about it being visible and the guy in red is giving him **** ???

but yes NEVER leave a mate hanging

[leinad]

Post data coverage is on now.

Kitt obs reported an apparent sodium flash, we'll have to wait for all the photos to come in.

Over 12 observatories recorded the event, some very cool video footage over a range of scales! Be very interesting to see the results later on.

The media are already doubting everything and looking sad because they didnt see a 'bang' on TV... :lol:

[leinad]

Hahah! After watching again the guy in the red shirt just won $100 :lol:


Reporter: "We were expecting to see cheese, why didn't we see any cheese?? "

Scientist: "At the moment we've got some good spectroscopic data to analyze, I haven't seen all the data yet."

Lame media, not one good scientific or logical question among them :mad2:

I think I only heard one good media question during the post report and the end, and it was in regards to the sodium flash.

[mac]

I'm glad I didn't stay up for the impact. The anti climax of it all would've nearly killed me. The only good thing to come out of it was the 'high five' situation. It totally deserves an "OH NO YOU DI'N'T!!"

[matt]

Do you think they were parhaps.....joking?

A lame joke, yes. But there's plenty of that around, not just confined to the media. You can even find it here at IIS:)

[Waxing_Gibbous]

Doubtless as a scientific endevour it will yield some results. But as an agency continually on the bleeding edge of budget cuts, NASA could have spent a little more effort in planning its transmission. A simple analogue broadcast would have been better.:(
I think poor Mr. "High Five" deserves some sympathy though. I mean he has to show up for work today!!

[astroron]

APOD has a montage of pics of the impact :thumbsup:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

[Kevnool]

Hey all been away all week just got home and saw this post it started out with a bit of wow factor then fizzled away to what the.

I saw bits on tv in the morning before it happened and sky news had coverage from 10pm but i was sleeping at the moment.

I heard hubble was going to have a look so maybe good piccies will come later on.

Cheers For now Kev.

[astroron]

Impact site taken 10 seconds after impact with the 5mt (200") scope at Mt Palomar, no plume:(
http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/lcross.html

[stephenb]

Did anyone really expect to see anything visual at all? I certainly was skeptical.



From the Space weather site:

"The low brightness of the flash did not dim the enthusiasm of thousands of people around the world who stayed up late for lunar impact parties. At the Sci-Quest science museum in Huntsville, Alabama, about a hundred kids and parents gathered to watch the show. "We donned our party hats, blew our noise makers and waited for the impact," says science writer Dauna Coulter. NASA photographer David Higginbotham documented the scene..."


Party hats and noise makers? A "lunar impact party"?? Some people have way too much time on their hands, I think. :lol:

Some lessons to be learned from this...

1. Never throw a party unless the guest of honour is guaranteed to show up.

2. Never, I repeat never, let anyone hang like that bloke.



Rod you'll be happy to know that the latest images are coming through from LCROSS mission control room, attached below...

[seanliddelow]

They probably hit wet muddy stuff.

[Baron von Richthofen]

I think I know why it didn't work, they sent a 4 ton object to hit the moon, on the moon it would weigh about 600Kg, no enough mass to do the job they should have sent a 24 ton object:face:

[SkyViking]

It seems LRO picked up the impact flash too: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/main/diviner_impacts.html
Does anyone know actually how much the impact would have heated up the lunar surface - are we talking 1000's of degrees, 100's, or much less?

[multiweb]

I think the media pumped it up to be a major bang. They had this NASA guy firing a pellet into a sand disk to simulate the impact. There were editorials like "40 miles high plume of dust" thrown around. So for a lot of people yeah, it might have been a let down.

[astroron]

When Comet Shoemaker Levy 9 impacted Jupiter in July 1994 there was so many different versions of what the impact would be, from nothing happening to large spots.
I was in the camp of nothing happening at all due to the size of Jupiter and the minuscule size of the Comet fragments:(
As it was it turned out to be beyond most peoples imagination and was one of the most memorable sights in my time doing Astronomy:eyepop:
That this impact didn't live up to peoples expectations just goes to show that nothing is certain in when it comes to doing experiments of this kind.
They may get lots of science out of the mission but unfortunately not much in the visible for us interested amateur astronomers and the general public:(

[Screwdriverone]

I think the NASA team have been watching too many "Deep Impact/Armageddon" type Hollywood representations and were expecting something more.......visible....

Pity.

Maybe they should surf to Anthony Wesley's website to see the results, won't be the first time :)

Cheers

Chris

[hayez]

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/main/SSC_impacts.html (what nasa tell are telling us, it was only a few pixels wide)
http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/lcross.html (View from a 200-inch (5.1-meter) Hale Telescope and its adaptive optics system - no plume)

[Clarry]

Quoted from HubbleSite (http://hubblesite.org/) web page. Either they hit a dry patch or the water theory doesn't hold water.

"NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has made a series of observations immediately preceding and following the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) Centaur rocket stage and shepherding spacecraft impacts at the lunar south pole, on October 9 at 7:31 and 7:35 a.m. EDT.
Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) were pointed just off the southern limb of the moon to look for a cloud of vaporized material blasted into space by the successive impacts of the rocket booster and spacecraft. The WFC3 images do not show any evidence for a temporary exosphere resulting from the impacts.
Hubble's ultraviolet sensitivity allowed astronomers to look specifically for hydroxyl (OH) that would have been produced by vaporized material from the impact. The STIS and WFC3 looked for emission from OH which would have formed if water molecules had been thrown into sunlight and broken apart by ultraviolet radiation into hydrogen and hydroxyl.
"A preliminary analysis of the STIS spectra do not show any clear evidence for hydroxyl, but further analysis is needed," said Hubble co-investigator Alex Storrs. The Hubble team plans on further analysis of their data."

[multiweb]

If they wanted a major blast they should have got one of those firecrackers from Dan Akroid in conehead . Remember that movie scene in the stadium, with all those people with burnt faces looking up in awe, then... pause... big cheering. :lol: