Falcon 9 predicted lunar impact

[DaveC426913]

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

"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...

 

[loop quantum gravity]

As the saying goes:"the Moon is not there, if nobody is looking..."

 

[DaveC426913]

Somebody on Facebook posted their image but said they couldn't see anything.

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.

 

[berkeman]

So did it impact or not? Kinda hard to tell from your images...

 

[Baluncore]

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.

 

[DaveC426913]

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.

 

[sbrothy]

You really have a talent for finding those interesting tidbits! I'm glad I'm following you.

 

[pinball1970]

A side by side from a Korean satellite, from Phys.org https://phys.org/news/2026-08-south-korean-satellite-captures-views.html