Asteroid transits Moon

[loomberah (Gordon)]

Originally Posted by Uchtungbaby

Loomberah,
>> One moment it was there silhuoetted against the moon, the next it had passed.

Had I taken the time to time the transit of the object I might now know its' speed. Knowing its' speed would assist location once direction has been established.

So, did you actually see it moving? Did you take any other photos of the Moon around the same time, any other photos of anything bright with your lens set to a high f/#? They will no doubt show the dust spot too, and the 2 in the upper part of the Moon if none of them moved.

Looking at the image, the dark spot in the middle is about 20" across, so:

*IF* it was a 1m diameter weather balloon, it would have been about 10km range.

*IF* it was a satellite at say 500km range it would have to be about 50m across, ie it is not a satellite as its not ISS.

*IF* it was an asteroid half way to the Moon it would be about 20km diameter, and there are no asteroids that big anywhere near Earth now. There are unlikely to be any undiscovered Near-Earth asteroids that size anyway.

A small dust spot would look exactly like what you have in your image.

Gordon

[Astroman (Andrew Wall)]

Now I have had a closer look, it does look like a speck of dust. Very similar but not the same as I have seen on my images.

[okiscopey (Mike)]

Dear Mr. Uchtungbaby,

I'm collecting material for a new website that is destined to become one of the most referenced URLs on the Web and rival UTube in popularity. I hope that you will allow me to include some of the recent material you've posted on IIS, as it's all ideal content.

The site will be called "www.great-ideas-yeah-right.com.au" and I have every confidence you will allow me to include your lunar-transit image and ideas. You will have your own page which will be updatable at any time with a personal access code as you derive new facts on the object's orbit and other details as you work them out. I see your observations being included in in the section alongside 'Planet Barbarossa', 'PCM mirrors' and similar material.

Please do not read me incorrectly: although some of the items on the 'g-i-y-r' site will be jokes, mistakes or hoaxes, these will exist only to provide light relief from the serious content, which is designed to bring 'left-field' and disputed sightings and theories to the fore. 'Anomalous astronomical observations' will be one of the serious sections, with all content being supported by some sort of physical evidence, similar to your photograph.

I am dismayed by some of the responses on this site which have unfairly suggested your sighting is due to sensor dust or some similar terrestrial effect, and hope that my offer for inclusion of your observations in this new web site will help redress any negative feelings you may have about our community. By the way, there is a separate section on 'dust artefacts' in digital images (especially the one that started World War Three in 1989!) but I don't think that's the appropriate section in your case. There is obviously something real passing between the earth and its moon. In my view, an asteroid or intergalactic mothership are the only two possible explanations.

If you could send me more details on the other topics you've covered here, I'd be most grateful as the site is a bit deficient in things astronomical. In particular, some original diagrams and calculations relating to the real purpose of the Eiffel and ABC Brisbane towers (as giant reflector telescopes) and perhaps some further explanation of your observations about primary school children disputing the Einsteinian mass-energy equation. As a primary school teacher, I have experienced the same questions from my year three students, but I have been at a loss to explain how they came to this knowledge.

There will be a section on 'yeah-right' dealing with the science of new materials. I feel that your new formulations of commonly-ocurring material such as 'cardboard, paper and water based glue' to support the weight of a 95kg humanoid will attract many materials scientists to the site and help promote its ranking in the googlesphere.

Also if you could send some more information on "why it is better for a child to view celestial objects during periods of atmospheric disturbance (i.e. smog)" I can include this in the 'ophthalmology' section, which also is lacking material at this stage.

Thank you in anticipation.

Mike. (Editor, www.great-ideas-yeah-right.com.au)

[ice9481]

That night, Sunday a.m., I caught this object (likely a satellite) moving through Corona Australis. I wonder whether anyone can track it backwards and see if it was anywhere near the moon round about Saturday 6:30 pm?

[matt]

Awesome...and well said!!



LMAO

Originally Posted by okiscopey

Dear Mr. Uchtungbaby,

I'm collecting material for a new website that is destined to become one of the most referenced URLs on the Web and rival UTube in popularity. I hope that you will allow me to include some of the recent material you've posted on IIS, as it's all ideal content.

The site will be called "www.great-ideas-yeah-right.com.au" and I have every confidence you will allow me to include your lunar-transit image and ideas. You will have your own page which will be updatable at any time with a personal access code as you derive new facts on the object's orbit and other details as you work them out. I see your observations being included in in the section alongside 'Planet Barbarossa', 'PCM mirrors' and similar material.

Please do not read me incorrectly: although some of the items on the 'g-i-y-r' site will be jokes, mistakes or hoaxes, these will exist only to provide light relief from the serious content, which is designed to bring 'left-field' and disputed sightings and theories to the fore. 'Anomalous astronomical observations' will be one of the serious sections, with all content being supported by some sort of physical evidence, similar to your photograph.

I am dismayed by some of the responses on this site which have unfairly suggested your sighting is due to sensor dust or some similar terrestrial effect, and hope that my offer for inclusion of your observations in this new web site will help redress any negative feelings you may have about our community. By the way, there is a separate section on 'dust artefacts' in digital images (especially the one that started World War Three in 1989!) but I don't think that's the appropriate section in your case. There is obviously something real passing between the earth and its moon. In my view, an asteroid or intergalactic mothership are the only two possible explanations.

If you could send me more details on the other topics you've covered here, I'd be most grateful as the site is a bit deficient in things astronomical. In particular, some original diagrams and calculations relating to the real purpose of the Eiffel and ABC Brisbane towers (as giant reflector telescopes) and perhaps some further explanation of your observations about primary school children disputing the Einsteinian mass-energy equation. As a primary school teacher, I have experienced the same questions from my year three students, but I have been at a loss to explain how they came to this knowledge.

There will be a section on 'yeah-right' dealing with the science of new materials. I feel that your new formulations of commonly-ocurring material such as 'cardboard, paper and water based glue' to support the weight of a 95kg humanoid will attract many materials scientists to the site and help promote its ranking in the googlesphere.

Also if you could send some more information on "why it is better for a child to view celestial objects during periods of atmospheric disturbance (i.e. smog)" I can include this in the 'ophthalmology' section, which also is lacking material at this stage.

Thank you in anticipation.

Mike. (Editor, www.great-ideas-yeah-right.com.au)

[Uchtungbaby]

okaydockhe Okiscopey,

you are free to use the gifs that I put up for any revision you so choose. It is a free world after all.

Getting back to it. I was thinking that I would need to find the triangular shaped shadow that occupies the inside of the dominant crater in the image. The crater is of Copernicus. If I know the size of the crater then I get an idea of the size of the base measure of the shadow occupying the crater wall.

How do we get a crude measure of the the length of the shadow? We can scale the size of the crater to the size of the diameter of the Moon. To do this we simply stack copies of the crater across the diagram like rosarie beads across a persons' face.

I took an outside measure of the crater photo, so I ended up with a crater that is 1/30th the diameter of the Moon. I have attached a diagram showing the method that I used to establish the base length of the crater.

Knowing the size of the crater will enable me to know the size of the shadow which occuppies most of its' circumference. For now, I have found one length without resorting to a text which will tell me the correct size of the crater. I already know the correct size, but that size is unimportant because, the asteroid is only of significance to me.

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/4...ithdotbkb3.jpg

[Uchtungbaby]

Loomberah,

I think I saw it move discernibly. I must say that at the time I was taken aghast by it because, I thought that my mirror was dirty. I didn't want my mirror to get dirty. Other photos were taken but the quality is not very good because the camera mount doesn't always centre the picture properly.

The camera mount is actually made of cardboard using a tissue box and an empty toilet roll glued together using papier mache methodologies. I just couldn't afford to buy a camera/telescope coupling, so I had to make it myself. It would have cost me 30-40 dollars ya know!

Anyway, maybe if you search the web you can find a catalogue of dust particle images on lens. That would be an interesting catalogue to look at now that I think about it. Of course, you know that there is only one organisation which has a catalogue of specs which have caused the creation of a spectacle.

[Garyh]

Oh boy this is one interesting thread......
I am assuming you think this is a shadow cast on the moon by the object?
How can you tell if its a shadow or a silluette of a object crossing the path of the moon?
If its a silluette, how can you tell by a image like this the distance it is away from the viewer or the moon by a matter of fact?
I think this object is much closer to you than you first thought...
very close.....
Do you have other pics with the object and a timeframe between them. I would like to see them posted..

[Ric]

Quote "No, it's not a mirror spectre. I hosed off the mirror with the garden hose before I began. " unquote.

Do you know how much rubbish comes out of a garden hose in the way of dust ,dirt rocks, bugs, chemicals etc.

I hope that was a joke.

Cheers

[Uchtungbaby]

Garyh,

no, I don't think the object is a shadow cast onto the surface of the Moon, though the view exists to be explored at a later time perhaps.

I've attached a diagram which locates the picture in lunar time. In the image you can see Copernicus and a long shadow stretching across the crater basin.

The crater wall is obviously shorter than the crater diameter. In fact, a general universal rule throughout the universe is- the longer the shadow is from an object the lower the light source will be in relation to the object.

From the shadow on Copernicus I can see that night is approaching on the Lunar surface inside the Copernicus crater. The shadow stretches quite far, so we may say that the sun is lower than 45 degrees and approaching 0 degrees. At an estimate it is later afternoon inside the Copernicus crater.

To test the theory all one need do is grab a stick, place it in the ground, and watch how the shadow stretches as the sun sinks in the west. As the sun sinks in the west, shadows get longer.

At an estimate I would say that the line of shadow heading to the sun is roughly 15 to 35 degrees (.i.e.,d1), and that is all I can say on the issue for now, until I deduce more information from the image.

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/6...craterbmv0.jpg