ALPO Lunar Meteoritic Impact Search
So
far, aside from the NASA-MSFC program, I know of one confirmed Geminid observation-my own. I have an image, alongside that
from NASA showing the impact flash near peak intensity. It is interesting to
see the difference in brightness owing to the fact that their instrument was a
14 inch telescope and mine was the 8 inch telescope. Others who may have
observed the Geminids are encouraged to check their
tapes for the impact events listed below or others not listed. People may also
check the NASA Meteoroid office website for more Geminid
candidate impact events when they become available.
The
moon was well placed in the evening sky for the Geminid
meteor shower and we were able to capture some good data. I had clear skies the
three nights I videotaped the moon, but prior commitments delayed my start
times. The following is a list of lunar Geminid
observations made by Robert Spellman and the Meteoroid Environment Group at the
NASA Marshall Space Flight center. I video recorded one of their impacts, but
the others were made either when I was not set up to observe or they were
events too faint to detect conclusively with my setup. The event I recorded occurred
on 14 December 2010 at 3:33:38.775 (Time obtained directly off the video frame,
it is a timestamp from KIWI-OSD). More candidates will be reported as I receive
them.
From Robert
Spellman:
13 December
2010 1:28:26UT ±1min
14 December
2010 3:09UT ± 1 min (out of MSFC FOV)
http://www.angelfire.com/space2/robertspellman/geminidflash.html
From NASA-MSFC:
December 13/14
Weather
reasonably good with occasional patchy clouds (3 14" telescopes used)
# UT # of frms
1 23:53:51.635
4 Bright
2 01:16:14.634
2 Bright
3 01:16:42.028
2 Bright
4 01:49:31.547
3 Bright
5 01:55:48.120
1 Bright
6 02:51:00.704
1 Moderate Bright
7 02:55:57.598
2 Bright
8 03:33:38.773
3 Bright
9 04:08:31.080
3 Bright
10 04:35:39.761
2 Faint
11 04:43:03.534
1 Moderate Bright
12 04:52:12.078
2 Moderate Bright
Flash 3 has no
independent confirmation...Bill Cooke, NASA Meteoroid Environment Office
Robert
Spellman, Griffith Observatory Telescope Operator, reported a Lunar Orionid impact candidate that he has recorded: “I recorded a flash on
2 frames, the best time I could get was 2:08:45 UT 10/22/2009. This is very
uncertain due to very poor radio reception from station WWV. My Boss Tony Cook
was observing visually from Griffith Observatory using a 4" refractor and
may have seen the flash (see below). The flash appeared to be just north of
Mare Serenatatis. I was using 2 recorders the first directly into the computer
via video capture software and a DVD recorder. The DVD recorder was in the long
play mode so the image recorded on only one frame. The video capture via the
computer shows the flash on 2 frames, the images are somewhat darker due to an
error in setting the brightness.” Images and information about this and other
impacts that Mr. Spellman has observed can be seen at http://www.angelfire.com/space2/robertspellman/.
In
October 2009, LRO reported seeing a faint plume in images over-exposing the
bright part, enabling the faint plume to be recorded. From the ground, nothing
was seen, based on numerous reports from ground-based observers using instruments
which ranged from 8 inches on up to the 200 inch Hale telescope, with adaptive
optics, at Palomar Observatory in
A confirmed lunar meteor impact was spotted by
George Varros at 01:45:26UT on April 28, 2009. This
was a sporadic meteoroid, too dim for LunarScan to
pick up, but spotted upon close visual inspection of the videotape after a call
for a confirmation by the MSFC group. Their remote telescope was experiencing
cloudy weather rendering it unavailable for a remote confirmation. This
underscores the importance of mutually supportive observations to provide
backup and confirmation of events that may be detected by one party, but missed
by a second due to weather. A third party would then have the potential to make
the confirming observation. For more information on this and other such
surprises, visit http://www.lunarimpacts.com/lunarimpacts.htm.
One impact candidate from the recent Quadrantid stream has been reported by Mr. George Varros. The event occurred at 0:26UT 3 January 2009 and
more information can be found at http://www.gvarros.com/002622_curve.jpg. Mr. Varros and I
videotaped the Moon again between 23:30UT, January 3 and 2:45UT, January 4, but
no impact candidates were observed during this interval.
NASA-MSFC effort now has 222 impact candidates (as
of November 2, 2010, plus the 12 reported Geminid impact
candidates from 13 December 2010). The dates, times, selenographic
coordinates, and source (sporadic or shower) are included in the table on their
home page (link below). Observers are encouraged to carefully check their
videotapes near these dates/times for corroborating impact signatures. Please
visit http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/lunar/index.html for
information on these impact candidates. The number of impacts recorded by this
group serves as a reminder that these events are happening on a regular basis
and is a motivator for individuals to keep up the observations in support of
this and lunar meteor work in general. The locations of the candidates on the
lunar surface can be viewed on the above link.
So far, I have
received reports of 5 Lunar Perseid impact candidates, all made on 9 August
2008UT. As the Perseid shower winds
down, I want to bring to your attention some impact candidates that were
recorded last week. We saw some moon-based activity early on, with two bright
candidates and two secondary candidates being recorded on August 9UT. Robert
Spellman recorded a bright impact at 4:06:22UT, which can be seen at this site:
http://www.angelfire.com/space2/robertspellman/observationarchive.html. George Varros recorded a bright impact at 2:27:04UT, whose image
appears here: http://www.lunarimpacts.com/ 022704_candidate .jpg. He also
reports two additional (though not definite, yet) candidates at 1:59:46 and
2:18:18. If anyone was observing the moon during these times, please check your
recordings for these impacts. You can look at the above images to find out
where they occurred.
Four impact
candidates from the Quadrantid stream have been
published online by the NASA/MSFC group, including one event lasting 10 video
frames. This long event took place at 11:42:39UT, 4 January 2008, so observers
are asked to check tapes for this event. Three fainter events, each lasting 1
to 2 frames, but observed through 2 or 3 telescopes simultaneously, also have
been reported. I also have a report of up to 10 Geminid
impact candidates, several confirmed already, observed in
NASA-MSFC
effort now has 112 impact candidates (as of July 15, 2008). The dates, times,
selenographic coordinates, and source (sporadic or shower) are included in the
table on their home page (link below). Observers are encouraged to carefully
check their videotapes near these dates/times for corroborating impact
signatures. Please visit http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/lunar/index.html for information on these impact candidates. The number of impacts
recorded by this group serves as a reminder that these events are happening on
a regular basis and is a motivator for individuals to keep up the observations
in support of this and lunar meteor work in general. The locations of the
candidates on the lunar surface can be viewed on the above link.
Two candidate
Lunar Lyrid impacts are presented at http://www.gvarros.com/. The first was recorded at 3:12:24UT on 22 April 2007, and the
second at 1:17:35 on 23 April 2007. Observers are strongly encouraged to check
tapes at these times for validating imagery.
Two of the Lyrid impacts have been confirmed
by remote observers: George Varros in
Maurice Collins
reports a bright impact flash candidate from
NOTE: I have
completed a comprehensive and better organized catalogue of impact candidates
received to date. It is in pdf format and has 15
pages of text and includes all of the candidates reported to ALPO and IOTA from
1999 to 2004. Images of the 1999 Leonid impacts courtesy of David Dunham and
IOTA. This catalog is a portion of the observing manual “An Observer’s Guide to
Lunar Meteoritic Phenomena” which is currently in the final stages of preparation.
Click here to vie
A Lunar Perseid Candidate was observed at
Other attempts for Lunar Perseids
were made by
2:53 - 3:02 UT on August 10th, 2005
2:37 - 3:28 UT on August 11th, 2005
2:49 - 3:34 UT on August 12th, 2005
No candidates are reported from these attempts. In
addition, Masayuki Ishida writes that he observed the Moon from
On
The characteristics of the event are as follows:
1) Flash duration ~0.5 sec
2) No motion detected
3) Observer location: City of
4) The flash was seen with the naked eye
14 April 2005
An observer
from
Is is possible that someone has observed lunar Leonids in
1997? At least one observer in Florida has been observing lunar meteor
impacts since 1997, observing in the near-infrared (800-1100nm). Impact
flashes are much brighter in the infrared than the visible, and anyone who is
equipped with a Wratten 87 filter and a low-light
video camera sensitive at these wavelengths is encouraged to observe the Moon
during the Earthshine periods. Click here to read
more about Allan Kimble's work.
Infrared Observations in the 5-micron
and 10-micron range are especially encouraged during the 2002 November Leonids
event, since a Full Moon at this wavelength will appear dim compared to the
brightness of Leonid impacts. The eastern half (celestial coordinates) is
the half of the moon to watch during this event (see the lunar impact plots).
Anyone who is interested in being
included on the impact mailing list is encouraged to e-mail the Coordinator,
who will then send an invitation to join the lunar-impact Yahoo! group.
This is a group whose purpose is to share ideas and observations and general
comments concerning the lunar meteor phenomena.
There's an excellent article online
that describes what happens on the Moon when a sizable Leonid meteoroid
impacts. Click here to read
about the dynamics of the explosions produced by Leonid meteoroids on the Moon.