Falcon 9 predicted lunar impact

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DaveC426913
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TL;DR
Falcon 9 is expected to impact the Moon's limb at or around Wed Aug. 5 at 2:34:32.9 a.m. ET
https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/falcon9-rocket-moon-impact-9.7290981

1785792575627.webp


"You need to be taking an image every tenth, hundredth of a second, something like that, to try and catch this brief flash," he said. "If you're trying to catch the plumes, that's probably quite a bit easier because we expect the plume to last [in] the order of one to 10 minutes, something like that."

Alas, I always leave it till too late to ensure my gear is in working order for a night sky event.


But seeing conditions look pretty favourable for me, so...

1785793058917.webp
 
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Astronomy news on Phys.org
As the saying goes:"the Moon is not there, if nobody is looking..."
:oldbiggrin:
 
Somebody on Facebook posted their image but said they couldn't see anything.
1785976681834.webp

The problem, it seems is that the plume is way, way too dim next to the well-exposed Moon.

So with a little Photoshop magic, boosting the exposure by scads and scads, there it is.

1785976708318.webp
 
Yes it did, but it was very hard to see.
We must wait a few days for the radar image of the crater it produced.
 
berkeman said:
So did it impact or not? Kinda hard to tell from your images...
Yes. Open the second pic in a new window at full scale.
 
You really have a talent for finding those interesting tidbits! I'm glad I'm following you.
 
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