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HurricaneIan
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| Joined: | Fri Feb 1st, 2008 |
| Location: | North Fort Myers, Florida USA |
| Posts: | 1715 |
| Name: | Ian J. Hickin | | Role 1: | FPR Founder | | Role 2: | Forum Founder | | Role 3: | Host Sat. Night Paranormal | | Group: | Florida Paranormal Research, Inc. |
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Posted: Thu Jun 11th, 2009 01:40 am |
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IMPACT ALERT:
Japan's Kaguya spacecraft will crash into the Moon on Wednesday, June 10th, at around 1830 UT. The timing favors telescopic observers in east Asia, Australia and New Zealand, who may be able to see a brief flash of light or a plume of debris rising from the Moon's southeastern limb close to selenographic coordinates 80ºE, 63ºS. The expected impact point is marked by a red dot in this image from astrophotographer Pete Lawrence:
Click on the image for a more detailed view.
Kaguya is a big spaceship. It masses 2,900 kg and will hit the Moon at an oblique angle traveling approximately 6,000 km/hr. Whether it tumbles and bounces along the lunar surface or runs headlong into some towering crater wall, no one can say. Clues to the end of Kaguya will come on June 10th in the form of an explosive flash (or lack thereof) and high-res images of the crash site taken by future lunar orbiters. The impact is not accidental. The Japanese space agency, JAXA, has long planned to end the mission in this fashion. Kaguya has been in lunar orbit since Oct. 2007; it has searched dark craters for evidence of frozen water, mapped the moon's gravitational field, and taken some of the all-time prettiest pictures of Earth's satellite. Farewell, Kaguya! Links for observers: #1: #2, #3.
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PROGRESS THROUGH COOPERATION NOT COMPETITION
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HurricaneIan
FORUM FOUNDER
| Joined: | Fri Feb 1st, 2008 |
| Location: | North Fort Myers, Florida USA |
| Posts: | 1715 |
| Name: | Ian J. Hickin | | Role 1: | FPR Founder | | Role 2: | Forum Founder | | Role 3: | Host Sat. Night Paranormal | | Group: | Florida Paranormal Research, Inc. |
| Status: |
Online
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| Mana: | |
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Posted: Thu Jun 11th, 2009 01:41 am |
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KAGUYA IMPACT UPDATE: The nominal impact time (June 10 @ 1830 UT) has passed. So far we have received no reports of a flash or debris plume observed by telescopes on Earth. Stay tuned for updates.
____________________
PROGRESS THROUGH COOPERATION NOT COMPETITION
http://www.FloridaParanormalResearch.com
http://www.TheWhiteNoiseForum.com
http://www.SPI-Texas.org
http://www.SouthEastFloridaParanormal.com
http://www.GhostShow.net
|
HurricaneIan
FORUM FOUNDER
| Joined: | Fri Feb 1st, 2008 |
| Location: | North Fort Myers, Florida USA |
| Posts: | 1715 |
| Name: | Ian J. Hickin | | Role 1: | FPR Founder | | Role 2: | Forum Founder | | Role 3: | Host Sat. Night Paranormal | | Group: | Florida Paranormal Research, Inc. |
| Status: |
Online
|
| Mana: | |
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Posted: Sat Jun 13th, 2009 02:37 am |
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Japanese probe set to crash into moonUpdate at 2115 GMT: See a bright flash from the impact in the image at right (larger version here)
Japan's Kaguya lunar orbiter will end its nearly two-year mission when it collides with the moon at 1825 GMT on Wednesday. Observers in Asia and Australia may be able to spot a bright flash or plume of dust from the crash, and researchers will study its impact site to watch how radiation and micrometeoroids weather the newly exposed lunar soil over time.
Launched in September 2007, Kaguya, formerly known at SELENE, sought to shed light on the formation and evolution of the moon by studying its composition, gravitational field and surface characteristics.
Kaguya deployed two smaller satellites after reaching lunar orbit that allowed it to relay data to Earth while it was on the moon's far side and to better measure anomalies in the moon's gravitational field (see First gravity map of moon's far side unveiled). It also made the world's first HD video of the lunar surface.
Like previous lunar orbiters, including China's Chang'e 1 and Europe's SMART-1 probes, Kaguya will end its voyage in a violent rendezvous with the moon's surface.
Heat and lightIt is set to impact in the lower-right section of the moon's near side (see image). Coming in at a very shallow angle – nearly parallel to the ground – the probe has a high chance of skipping across the surface, like a stone across a pond.
Ground-based observers are unlikely to see this skipping. But those in Asia and Australia might be able to spot a plume of dust raised by the impact, if it is backlit by the sun, like snow thrown up by a skier ploughing through powder, says Bernard Foing, project scientist of the European Space Agency's SMART-1 probe, which impacted the moon in 2006.
Viewers may also see a brief flash as some of the kinetic energy of the probe, which will be moving at 6000 kilometres per hour, is converted to heat and light in the collision. "It's a final show for the Japanese people," says Shin-ichi Sobue, a researcher and spokesperson for the Kaguya mission.
Foing says researchers can learn from these crashes. "Impact is the destiny of each orbiter," he told New Scientist. "We try to make use of it as a research opportunity."
Space weatheringPeter Schultz, an expert on lunar impacts at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, agrees. Depending on the specific terrain of the impact site, the crash could leave an elongated scar, exposing fresh soil, or regolith, to the harsh environment of space.
Scientists could watch how the lunar soil weathers over time under solar radiation and bombardment by smaller meteoroids. It would be like "watching a wound heal", according to Schultz.
After the crash, attention will turn to NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) missions, set to launch a week after Kaguya's demise.
LRO will orbit the moon, studying its composition and topography and searching for possible sites for future human bases, while LCROSS will bombard one of the moon's polar craters with two heavy impactors in search of water ice there.
If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.
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PROGRESS THROUGH COOPERATION NOT COMPETITION
http://www.FloridaParanormalResearch.com
http://www.TheWhiteNoiseForum.com
http://www.SPI-Texas.org
http://www.SouthEastFloridaParanormal.com
http://www.GhostShow.net
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