Brian Cudnik 
Coordinator

11851 Leaf Oak Drive
Houston, Texas 77065-5224
mailto:cudnik@sbcglobal.net

This program is designed to standardize and coordinate amateur observations of potential meteor impacts on the Moon. This field has exciting possibilities but only if the observations are done in a uniform manner and pooled to look for confirmations of positive observations. Anyone interested in participating should contact the Coordinator above for further information. The Coordinator maintains an "Impact" e-mailing list of regular participants, e-mail him if you would like to be added to the list. Click here to read the full mission statement.

What's New (05/11/07)?

Lunar Impact Alert Notice

Upcoming Observing Opportunities

Definitions to Describe the Quality of Lunar Meteor Observations

Lunar Impact Plots (1999-2006) by Peter Gural

Infrared Lunar Meteor Observations & More
Featured Equipment & Instrument Information
Links to Lunar Impact Information

Lunar Impact Alert Notice!

LunarScan 1.3 by Peter Gural now Available!

The long-awaited automated detection software is ready for download. Go to http://www.gvarros.com/lunarscan.zip to download a copy. The software is free under the condition that you provide impact flash observations (date/time/location) to NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at the e-mail address listed under "Contact Us" at http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/lunar/index.html.

An Observer’s Guide to Lunar Meteoritic Phenomena

The book is at last complete! I am considering releasing a preliminary version in PDF as I search for publishers. Since the initial completion in December, things have happened that necessitates Version 2.0 to be written already! I will be working on the updates to upgrade the book in the Summer Months, then will have an online version ready for download (a smaller version which will be download-friendly). When a publisher is found the full published version will become available, hopefully later this year.

Recent Lunar Meteor Impact Candidate Observations

Two more candidate impacts are presented at http://www.gvarros.com/, possibly Lunar Lyrids. 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.

Maurice Collins reports a bright impact flash candidate from New Zealand which he observed at 5:52UT on 8 December 2006 (uncertainty in observation of +/-2 min). He described the event as follows: “Was just observing the moon half and hour ago in daylight and saw a very bright flash in the centre of the lunar disk at 0552UT +- 2mins. Extremely bright. Can't really believe it was real, but that is what I saw. South of Godin. Flared up and down over a fraction of a second. Estimate it to being about 3 times brighter than the moon background itself. Can't reproduce it, so either in my eye itself or on the Moon. Using 40mm A.H. eyepiece at time on my 3.5" Mak. Seeing was III-IV Antonadia scale. I will report it as that is what I definitely saw, made me go "whoa!", but wouldn't expect it to be an actual impact unless someone else in say Australia reports it too. Though I have no other explanation at this time.”

NASA-MSFC effort now has 38 impact candidates (37 confirmations and one satellite, through February 23, 2007). The dates, times, apparent magnitudes, 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 locations of the candidates on the lunar surface is included below.

Moon Image Courtesy of NASA/MSFC

Opportunities to Observer Lunar Meteor Impacts

Observers are also requested to monitor the moon for up to 10 nights per month in support of the NASA-MSFC effort to regularly patrol the moon, from a waxing crescent of 10% illumination to the first quarter (55% illuminated) phase and again from last quarter to near new moon.  The Moon will be favorably placed between 12 and 16 March and again from 23 to 26 March. Observations will help to shore up the validity of any impact candidates the team captures. Current estimates predict up to 260 impacts per month of objects of 1 kg or greater on the lunar surface, many of which can be captured with ground-based equipment. Thus, it is important to observe the moon as much as possible in order to refine these estimates, which will become even more useful when NASA sends astronauts back to the moon no later than 2020. The LMIS is coordinating monthly campaigns during 2007. The dates of each campaign, both routine and related to annual meteor showers, are now posted here. In addition, observers will be encouraged to monitor the moon during the total eclipse of 28 August 2007.

SMART-1 Project Update

One amateur astronomer, Peter Lipscomb, recorded an apparent impact flash of the SMART-1 spacecraft; more information can be seen at his website: http://cosmonut.org/SMART-1.htm

Of 25 reports that I had received of the impact, 1 reported a positive event (mentioned above), 14 reported a clear view of the moon but no impact signature, and ten were clouded out. The negative reports were made with apertures ranging from 8 to 12 inches, with one 36-inch scope used (George Observatory, Brazos Bend State Park, south of Houston, Texas)

The SMART-1 spacecraft impacted the Moon as expected on 3 September 2006 at 5:42:15UT. The impact occurred after the spacecraft approached at an angle of 1 degree with the level surface. The spacecraft collided with the Moon at a speed of 4,500 mile per hour (7,200 km / h). Observers on the 3.6 meter Canada-France-Hawaii telescope in Hawaii recorded a bright flash in the Infrared. In contrast, nearly all amateur astronomers who had clear skies for the event and a clear view of the Moon were not able to see anything. The impact was likely too faint in the visible for most amateurs to observe in small to moderate instrumentation (this includes both the flash itself and any dust cloud that resulted from the impact. There is one notable exception to the lack of amateur footage of this event, with Peter Lipscomb of Santa Fe, New Mexico, recording the impact on video through an 8-inch telescope. The following web links contain much more information about the impact event:

          CFHT in Hawaii-their Press Release: http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/News/Smart1/

          The ESA Press Release: http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=39961

          Science @ NASA  (Pre-Impact): http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/30aug_smart1.htm

The website that contains the information about the impact location, etc. can be seen via the links below, which is the homepage of the SL/REA SMART-1 Lunar Impact Project, in the Lunar Section of the Rede de Astronomia Observacional REA – BRAZIL Results of the impact experiment are posted here as well.

English Version: http://slrea-smart1lunar-impact-project-ing.blogspot.com/

Portuguese Version:  http://www.slrea-smart1lunar-impact-project.blogspot.com/

Spanish Version: http://www.slrea-smart1lunar-impact-project-esp.blogspot.com/

REA Brasil Lunar Section : http://www.reabrasil.org/lunar/smart1impact.htm

More Lunar Impact Candidate Reports

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 view the catalog. The reports provided below are of candidates reported since September of 2004, and all of these are, as of late, unconfirmed. 

12 August 2005

A Lunar Perseid Candidate was observed at 3:33:08UT, 12 August 2005. by Robert Spellman, who was monitoring the Moon by video from 2:35UT to 4:40UT. His website contains images of the candidate: http://www.angelfire.com/space2/robertspellman/perseid2005.html

 

Other attempts for Lunar Perseids were made by Chad E. as follows:

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 10:50 to 11:40 UTC on 2005 Aug 12 with video, but he did not detect any lunar meteor impact candidates.

12 July 2005

On July 12, 2005, at 9:18 EDT (1:18 July 11 UT) a Bright flash, estimated brighter than Jupiter (about -3 or -4 magnitude) was observed in the northern hemisphere of the moon's earthshine with the naked eye. Possibilities of its nature include a point meteor or optic flashes, but the observer reported that the event “certainly looked real”. The sky was overcast with thick cirrus, with only the Moon and Jupiter visible at the time of the observation. The observer’s name was William Watson, who observed it from the U.S.

 

The characteristics of the event are as follows:

1) Flash duration ~0.5 sec

2) No motion detected

3) Observer location: City of Tonawanda (north of Buffalo, NY)

4) The flash was seen with the naked eye

 

 

14 April 2005

On 14 April 2005 at 18:32.5UT, an observer with the UAI observed a bright, long duration impact candidate event near the crater Archimedes. Anyone observing the moon within a few minutes of this time is asked to submit any observations, positive or negative, to the Coordinator (note that a valid negative observation or two would likely rule out an impact event and enable consideration of other causes to be made).

12 February 2005

An observer from Minneapolis, MN observed an impact candidate at 0:13UT on 12 February 2005. The observer, Peter Jevne, wrote: “[From] Minneapolis, while viewing the moon through six inch binoculars I observed a bright flash on the dark portion. It looked like a 4th Mag. star blinking on and then off”. Several days later, Roger Venable reported a similar observation at a similar time: “I thought I saw a momentary flash on the dark side of the moon, and I immediate thought, "Sheesh!  That looked just like the video of a flash of a meteor impact that I have," that I recorded in the 2001 Leonid shower.  It seemed to me to be too rare an event to believe my eyes --  after all, it lasted only a small fraction of a second. Besides, I considered it to be too bright, about 1st or 2nd magnitude in consideration of the proximity to the sunlit crescent, to be a true meteor strike. I am certain of the date, and of the twilight condition, but I did not check the time.  It was late twilight.  My guess is that it was near the end of nautical twilight, which ended at 00:08 UT on February 12 as seen from my location.  This guess is approximate.  I leave it to others to decide whether the error of such an estimate spans the time of 00:13 reported by Peter Jevne."

Roger continues with a helpful description of the location of the event: “Here is my description of where on the lunar surface the flash occurred. Imagine a crescent that is only 12.3% illuminated, so that the width of the sunlit portion is only one eighth of the diameter of the moon.  The crescent was nearly horizontal, so that the northern cusp was at only slightly greater altitude than the southern.  The flash occurred slightly to the left of the midline, about one third of the way from the edge of the sunlit portion to the dark limb.  This puts it at roughly 6 degrees south latitude and 17 degrees east longitude (IAU convention) on Luna.  Like the estimate of the time, this position estimate is approximate.”

If you have observed the Moon during this time, for Lunar Geminid impacts, or for any other event, please report, even if you observe nothing. Null observations are valuable in that they establish upper limits to the size and/or frequency of impacts from a given source (to also include all other sources, but to a lesser extent, since they would contribute far fewer impactors).

Lunar Leonid Impact Candidates Recorded

At least one observer has recorded several impact candidates from the 2004 Leonid meteor shower. (The Leonid shower of 2005 will likely be back to normal levels, with little chance of a lunar impact being recorded; the moon is several days past Full on the date of the peak). Although the shower was much less spectacular than in recent years, the combination of high velocity and higher-than-normal Zenithal Hourly Rate potential, along with a favorably positioned Moon, made for a decent opportunity to observe the moon for meteoroid impacts. This web page has images and details of the impact candidates:

http://www.geocities.com/xetor_2000/impact.html

Observers are encouraged to check their tapes and records for these or additional impact candidates. 

Several observers have videotaped the Moon during the recent total lunar eclipse, but no impact candidates have been reported.

Lunar Perseid Impact Confirmed in Japan

A team of astronomers in Japan have confirmed the impact of a (likely) Perseid meteor on the Northwest edge of the Moon on 11 August 2004. This is the first non-Leonid impact confirmed to date. Check out the following website for more details:

http://www.ice.uec.ac.jp/yanagi/English/ImpactFlash/2004Perseids.html

Anyone who has observed the moon for lunar Perseids and / or video taped the moon are encouraged to check their data / tapes for more events.

Definitions to Describe Quality of Lunar Meteor Observations

    In order to better qualify the probability of an observation being genuinely impact in nature, we have adopted a definitive classification scheme.  The descriptors are given below

  • Confirmed Observation: Those impacts observed by at least two independent observers separated by at least 50 km (30 mi) within 2 degrees of latitude and longitude on the moon and 2 seconds of time (99% confidence).
  • Tentatively Confirmed Observation: Those impacts observed by at least two independent observers separated by less than 50 km (30 mi) within 5 degrees of longitude and 5 seconds of time (95% confidence).
  • Probable: Those impacts observed by a single observer having the characteristics of an impact observation--appearing on two or more video frames, a measurable point-spread-function (i.e. appearing similar to a star), and/or confidence at least 80%.
  • Candidate: Any impact observation submitted by a single observer with a confidence of at least 50%.

With these criteria in place, we can better group observations in terms of quality and estimate the likelihood of the observation being that of an actual impact event.  It is very possible that a candidate could be elevated to the status of "confirmed" with the corroborative observation of a second independent observer, as stated in the qualifications above.

Lunar Impact Plots

Included are the plots made for meteor showers with ZHR's greater than 10 that occur when the Moon is favorably placed for the observation of impact flashes from Earth.  In addition to the plots for 2005 and 2006, plots for 1999 to 2004 are also included for archival purposes.  Click on the following link for impact plots showing when the Moon will be favorably placed to observe possible lunar meteor impacts on its surface from annual meteor showers.  Only when at least some of the dark side of the Moon is presented to the Earth, and the terrestrial ZHR of the shower exceeds 15, is the plot for that particular shower (terrestrial) maximum provided.  Many thanks to Peter Gural of Science Applications International Corporation for providing these impact plots.

Lunar Impact Plots--Archives

1999-2002

2003

2004

Lunar Impact Plots--Current Observable Events

 2005

 2006

2005-2061 for 7 major annual showers

Infrared Lunar Meteor Observations & More

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.

Featured Equipment

This section is under construction and will soon highlight equipment that is useful for lunar meteor recording. People who have used various types of equipment for this project and have had success are encouraged to report about this equipment and the success to the coordinator, and the report will be featured here. Another useful source of information is the Yahoogroups list server, where useful discussions about equipment and methods take place on a regular basis. One can pose a question that one has regarding equipment and that question is answered in a timely manner. Check back at this location in the coming months for updated equipment highlights, including a three-camera (tri-splitter) design that will help to eliminate cosmic ray candidates for single observers.

Lunar Impact Information

About the Lunar Meteoritic Impact Search Program, Observing Resources, Information, and Guidelines

Mission Statement, General Purpose, and Goals

A Guide to Observing Lunar Meteors I:  General

A Guide to Observing Lunar Meteors II: Video

Lunar Impact Plots for Upcoming Meteor Showers

Archived Lunar Meteor Alerts

Lunar Meteor Observation Report Forms

·         A.L.P.O. Lunar Meteoritic Impacts Search Report Form (LMIS-RF) #1

·         A.L.P.O. LMIS-RF #2

·         A.L.P.O._LMIS-RF #3

·         Instructions and Tips on How to Fill out the Report Forms  

Lunar Impact Links

·         General Information and Historical Observations

o        Worthy of Resurrection: Two past ALPO Lunar Projects

o        History of Lunar Impacts

Return to ALPO Homepage