LCross and the Moon

[NovaTJ]

As i'm quite sure most know of the Nasa probe that is due to impact with the moon this coming Friday morning. Does anyone know if the plume will be visible with either a camera with a telephoto lens on a tripod, or with an 80mm achromat on a GEM mount shooting prime or afocal? Will the normal moon camera settings be ok as the sun will be rising a few minutes later? I plan on being ready and will post anything I can get.

[Celestron]

As i'm quite sure most know of the Nasa probe that is due to impact with the moon this coming Friday morning. Does anyone know if the plume will be visible with either a camera with a telephoto lens on a tripod, or with an 80mm achromat on a GEM mount shooting prime or afocal? Will the normal moon camera settings be ok as the sun will be rising a few minutes later? I plan on being ready and will post anything I can get.


You can watch it live from NASA (http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html) TV .

[unnerv]

I had posted a similar question in the "talk" section and from this site - http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/main/observing_the_impacts.html - it looks like you will need about a 10 inch scope to see it.

[NovaTJ]

Thanks! That saved me some effort! Not supposed to be visible in the eastern U.S. and yes, a 10 to 12 inch scope would be required. I'll just watch it on TV.

[Adrena1in]

Damn, I was SO looking forward to trying to see this with my 11" SCT! :(

[garyeaton]

hey it already impacted the moon, here's the photo I got :)

http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss334/garyeatonstudios/IMG_8084a.jpg?t=1255010345

[NovaTJ]

Nice PhotoShop!

[ejicon]

NASA will probably use the same trick ;) just kidding. Can't wait to see this happen.

[Veger]

I'm assuming a 70-200 with a 1.4 extender doesn't count as a 10 inch scope? :(


I guess you need a 10-12 DIAMETER, not length, scope to see it

[Celestron]

I'm assuming a 70-200 with a 1.4 extender doesn't count as a 10 inch scope? :(


I guess you need a 10-12 DIAMETER, not length, scope to see it


No body is going to catch anything more than likely with a camera and lens unless that lens is a 1600mm + 2x Tele . You would have to have a scope like THIS ONE (http://www.telescope.com/control/product/~category_id=dobsonians/~pcategory=telescopes/~product_id=08947) or bigger to see even the smallest of the activity . Unless it blows out like a giant sunflare .

[SteveInNZ]

Just to put this into some context, I worked out the focal length used to get these Afocal moon shots (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=763637) to be 4900mm at f/24. They are taken with a S3IS which has a crop factor of 6x so that's going to be a mighty long lens on a full frame body.
On the best frames I can see details (craters) <3km. I believe NASA are expecting a plume up to 10km. So it could be possible with a moderate telescope (ie anything that you don't want to carry up stairs) but it would be the tiniest of smudges.

Steve.

[Adrena1in]

Well the Live NASA Feed wasn't very interesting...anyone get any shots?

[Celestron]

I was able to watch it at work on a wall screen 10'x10' . I work in a technology buildg. and we have alot of the latest equip so we are able to do Distance Learning which means we can watch anyone live from anywhere in the world that has the same setup and are connected throught our connections . But anyway like you we did not see anything that happened . I myself wonder if the bombs blew or just sank in the ground like a meteorite does ?? Guess we will never know . However they did acknowledge that some type of thermal detection was detected which is probably from the bombs egniting . Hope someone with big scopes were able to capture something . If they did it will be posted later this week probably somewhere on the web .

[Jeff]

Were there actually explosives on board or was it just the spent rocket crashing into the surface?

[ejicon]

cant wait to see user submitted photos of this

[Crashoran]

There was no dust that kicked up

[Celestron]

There was no dust that kicked up

I saw it live on a 10'x10' wall screen and i saw nothing also :(:cry: ??