ALPO
Lunar Meteoritic Impact Search
Brian Cudnik
Coordinator
Department
of Physics
Prairie
View A&M University
P.O. Box
519, MS 2230
Prairie
View, Texas 77446
mailto:bmcudnik@gmail.com
This program is designed to standardize and
coordinate amateur observations of meteoroid 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 (3/8/2023)?
MIRROR SITE: https://www.pvamu.edu/pvso/cosmic-corner/lunar-meteor-watch/
Quarterly
Briefings and Upcoming Opportunities
News and Developments, Archives (2011-2020)
Jovian Meteors and
Observers’ Resources
Links to Lunar Impact
Information
Quarterly Briefings and Upcoming
Opportunities
IMPORTANT
NOTE: We now have another e-mail list or group, lunar-impacts@groups.io and we
encourage all those who are interested to sign up.
VENUS FIREBALL CAMPAIGN:
I came across an article in the March 2023 issue of Sky and Telescope
(pp. 52-53). The article is “Hunting for Venusian Fireballs” by Tom Dobbins. We
plan to conduct a Venusian fireball hunt from June 16 to July 7, when the
planet is favorably placed and physically close to the Earth to maximize the
chances of observing fireballs. More details will be posted here in April.
MONTHLY OBSERVING CAMPAIGN:
For the ongoing monthly routine observations, the defined start is set
at three days after New Moon until two days after First Quarter for the first
half. The second half resumes two days before Last Quarter and continues until
three days before New Moon. The actual duration of each observing interval will
vary due to ecliptic angle, lunar elongation, and observer latitude. I am
posting these plans on a quarterly basis, which provides, at a glance, the
observing schedule along with any meteor showers active during the observing
windows. In general the observations fall into three groups: evening, from
three days after New Moon (NM) to two days after First Quarter (FQ); morning,
from two days prior to Last Quarter (LQ) to three days prior to New Moon (NM);
and significant shower, when the moon is favorably placed (usually during these
two intervals) during annual showers (whose names will appear in bold type)
with ground-based ZHR’s of 20 or more.
We are between
the morning and evening phases of the current monthly campaign (New Moon is
January 21).
· Interval: 24 – 30 January (NM = 21 Jan; FQ
= 28 Jan), evening. The antihelion source is the
only source during this time.
· Interval: 11 – 17 February (LQ = 13 Feb; NM
= 20 Feb), morning. The antihelion source is the only
source during this time.
· Interval: 23 February – 1
March (NM = 20 Feb; FQ = 27 Feb), evening. The antihelion source is the only source during this time.
· Interval: 13
– 18 March (LQ = 15 Mar; NM = 21 Mar),
morning. The antihelion source and the minor gamma Normid shower are the only sources during this period.
· Interval: 24 – 31 March (NM = 21 Mar; FQ = 29 Mar), evening. The
antihelion source is the only source during this time.
· Interval: 11 – 17 April (LQ = 13 Apr; NM
= 20 Apr), morning. The antihelion source, along with some Lyrids, are the
only sources during this time.
· Interval:
23 – 29 Apr (NM = 20 Apr; FQ
= 27 Apr), evening. these. The Antihelion
Source along with the Lyrids (which peak on 23 April, ZHR of 18) provide
meteoroids during this period.
As
always, check back often for any updates on activity related to these two major
showers as well as any other developments. The full observing plan for lunar
meteors for 2023 can be obtained here.
The Latest Lunar Meteor Candidate
Observations
I received a report about a possible lunar meteoroid impact during the
November 19, 2021, near-total lunar eclipse. Russ Stolling,
of Fresno, California, reported seeing “a very short (quick!) white flash/spark
at the upper right of the dark edge of the moon.” It only flashed once and was
observed visually with a 40mm f/5 telescope and 15 mm eyepiece. The flash
occurred between 8:52 and 8:53 UT on 19 November, near the NNE (Celestial) limb
of the moon, likely between Harpalus Crater and the
limb. Check your images/videos around this time to try to verify this impact
event, which may have been a Geminid. Unfortunately there was a gap in my
images between 8:47 UT and 9:02 UT so I did not record this.
I am not aware of any other reports of lunar meteor impact flash
candidates occurring during this eclipse.
Yet another Jupiter meteor was seen from Japan at 13:24 UT on 15
October 2021. This makes the 11th such event observed and confirmed
(assuming confirmation takes place, but the video looks really convincing).
Read more about it at this website https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/jupiter-whacked-again-japanese-astronomers-record-possible-impact/
A Jupiter meteor was observed and confirmed in September, bringing the
total of such events to six. Visit the Sky and Telescope magazine news website article about this event for more information. The
meteor was observed by amateur astronomer José Luis Pereira of Brazil at around
22:39:30UT, 13 September 2021.
News and Developments Archive, 2011-2020
Impact Candidate Reports in
2020
I received a report from Shavarsh
Khachatryan, from Nor Kharberd, Armenia (Latitude:
40° 5' 48.43"; Longitude: 44° 28' 33.08"). He reports the transit of
a dark object across the Moon's disk, taking 3 seconds to cross (possibly a
satellite or other object) at 18:55 UT on October 28, 2020. Then at 19:05 UT
(this was the time recorded in the report), Shavarsh
witnessed visually "a distinct but minuscule (very small) flash...around
crater Carlini in Mare Imbrium. The phenomenon was
exceptionally brief less than a second in any case. The color of the flash was
yellow white more towards yellow." Shavarsh used
an Omegon ED triplet, focal length 952mm,
aperture 127 mm (5 inch), at 106 x magnification. The eyepiece was a 9 mm with
an FOV of 0.52 degrees. The Moon was a very fat Gibbous phase so I anticipate
few would be observing for lunar meteor impacts. Nonetheless, if anyone in
Europe or Africa was observing the Moon at this time, check your observations
for any of the phenonema just discussed.
Impact Candidate Reports,
2019
I've received reports of three lunar Perseid candidates by Lawrence
Garrett. Each of the three candidates were recorded on 5 August 2019. He
observed these with a Celestron 8-inch, focal reduced
to F/6.3, under clear skies with good seeing. His observing location was
at Latitude 44 39.6619 degrees N, Longitude 72 59.3715 degrees West,
elevation 126.5 m. Images of these three impacts at their peak can be found on
the mirror to this site.
Event: 5
August 2019, 00:56:04.4021 UT, in crater South W 46.6 N 55.5, appears on 3 frames.
Event: 5
August 2019, 01:18:11:1010 UT C_left , Near Mons La Hire
W24 N26.0, possible double impact, visible in 5 frames.
Event: 5
August 2019, 01:18:11:0676 UT C_right, Near Archimedes
W1.5 N30, possible double impact, visible in 4 frames.
I have earlier received two reports of possible impacts from two
individual sites. The information about each is provided below. Interestingly,
they took place almost exactly one month apart from each other. Confirming
observations are sought.
Event: 8 June 2019, 22:00:37 by ROCG ELT group in Brazil (Carlos Henrrique Barreto & Tiago Augusto Torres Moreira).
Event is seen in two frames near the WNW (Selenographic
coordinates “eyeballed” to approximately 72.0W, 38.5N)
Event: 8 July 2019, 1:35 UT by Roger A. Jiménez A. in Venezuela. He wrote:
“[4.0] Magnitude calibrated based on the brightness of a fourth magnitude star
which was 2.5 degrees from the Moon, in the direction of its illuminated side.
For this estimation, the same equipment (B10x50) was used, moments after the
event.” The event, lasting less than 0.1 second, was observed in the region of
Pickering Crater.
Super Wolf Blood Moon Total
Lunar Eclipse Meteor Impact (January 2019)
There was a
meteoroid impact that occurred just as totality was getting underway during the
recent total lunar eclipse of January 21,
2019. This occurred at 4:41:43 UT and was first seen on live streams from
several locations such as Griffith Observatory. The website “HDR
astrophotography by Nicolas Lefaudeux has a nice
image of the impact along with a link of the best estimate of location of the
resultant crater. Access this at https://hdr-astrophotography.com/the-moon/.
An eyewitness to
the event as it happened, Kenneth Schroeder from Washington State, submitted
this report:
"I observed
this lunar meteoroid impact visually, in real time, using a pair of hand held
Canon 10x42 image stabilized binoculars. I was observing from Auburn, WA, USA
from a covered balcony. Partial light clouds were present during the early
eclipse but skies had cleared by the time of impact at 8:41pm PST on 1/20/2019.
The moon was at an approximate altitude of 38° with no obstructions.
"Visually,
the flash was extremely brief, maybe 2/10 second and a pinpoint of white light.
The flash was bright enough in binoculars to immediately catch my
attention. There was no hesitation or
waffling as to what the flash was and I thought "meteor” instantly. The
Canon binoculars have a field of 6.5° so the full lunar disc was visible. My
view at impact was on the center of the moon so the flash appeared almost
directly down (vertical) in my field of view very close the lunar edge which
was in full shadow. The impact was not in my visual blind spot which might have
prevented the sighting. I continued to look for more flashes with the binoculars
for about one minute but none were evident.
"During the
five minutes before impact I had a Swarovski 20x-60x ATS 65mm spotting scope
coupled to my Samsung Galaxy S8 phone. The phone camera was taking time-lapse
images every 5 seconds. About one minute after the impact I removed the camera
to scan the location with the scope at the location of the impact flash…but saw
nothing unusual.
"I then
up-loaded the frames from the camera to my desktop computer but, unfortunately,
the time-lapse frames did not show the impact flash.
"It was on
Tuesday 1/22/2019 that I saw the first online recorded videos that showed the
impact flash. Using those images of the lunar disc I confirmed that the flash
location matched the location that I observed in real time. What a surprise to see my visual sighting
verified by a video! I have watched several of the recorded videos and still
photos and believe that my visual sighting appeared to be even brighter
relative to the shadowed disc than the images show. In fact, I have not ruled
out the possibility that I might have seen the impact flash as a naked eye
observation. I still plan to try to estimate the visual magnitude to see if a
naked eye observation might have been possible."
Dr. Schroeder
has over 50 years’ experience in amateur astronomy and has better than 20/10
visual acuity. He is 100% certain of what he observed.
It was
interesting to compare his observation with my own Lunar Leonid observation in
November 1999. My event was bright enough for me to be absolutely certain that
something happened, but I was using a 14-inch (36-cm) Cassegrain telescope,
while Dr. Schroeder was using a pair of binoculars. While I was watching this
eclipse visually with an 8-inch Cassegrain, and imaging it with a camera zoomed
in 20x, I was not able to see or capture this event. Both of us "will
always remember [our events]"!
Constantino Sigismondi brings out an interesting coincidence: Dr. Sigismondi observed an impact with a small 7x21 telescope
on the eclipsed moon of 21 January 2000. This is exactly 19 years, or one whole
Metonic cycle, from the recent eclipse. Dr. Sigismondi,
along with Giovanni Imponente wrote about this event
in 2000 in two papers in the WGN, the Journal of the International Meteor
Organization. Others have reported imaging and visually observing this impact
event.
Coincidentally,
another event took place in the same region of the moon during the January 21,
2000 total lunar eclipse. Dr. Sigismondi observed an
impact with a small 7x21 telescope on the eclipsed moon and was also
observed/videotaped and confirmed by Roger Venable (IOTA/US). The interesting
aspects of both meteor impact events include the similarity in date of
occurrence and location on the moon. Perhaps this is indicative of an unknown
meteor shower? The next Metonic eclipse of this series, in 2038, is penumbral
so observations of recurrences of this nature will be impossible that day.
However on or around January 21 in future years, when the moon is favorably
placed for such observations. We at ALPO-LMIS will keep a special lookout for
such opportunities in the future and announce when they occur so as to motivate
observers to participate in this new effort.
Finally, this
year’s TLE impact event has renewed interest in observing total lunar eclipses
for meteor impacts. People are encouraged to check images and videos of recent
total lunar eclipses for the appearance of meteoroid impacts.. Cloudy night
activities that would help in this effort is if people find and watch videos
via YouTube of past streaming events of lunar eclipses to look for these
events. If anyone finds such event, please report these to me, the Coordinator.
Here is a list
of recent and future Total Lunar Eclipses (eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov). Visit the
NASA eclipse website for more information on duration of totality and location
of visibility.
2011 June 15
2011 Dec. 10
2014 Apr. 15
2014 Oct. 8
2015 Apr. 4
2015 Sep. 28
2018 Jan. 31
2018 July 27
2019 Jan. 21
2019 Jul. 16
2021 May 26
2022 May 16
2022 Nov. 8
2025 Mar. 14
2025 Sep. 7
2026 Mar. 3
Lunar Meteor Impact Flash
Candidates from Geminids, December 2018
I have received
reports of three lunar Geminid candidates that occurred when the shower was
active in December
2018. The observations were made from ROCG in Brazil by Tiago Augusto,
Torres Moreira and Carlos Henrique Barreto. These were recorded to have
occurred at:
23:40:22 on 12 December 2018
00:13:36 on 15 December 2018
00:22:27 on 15 December 2018
00:59:30 on 15 December 2018
01:05:06 on 15 December 2018
You can access a
“slide show” showing each of these impacts in detail at this link. You may also
visit the mirror site which has the images on display on site. We
are looking for confirming observations for these events. The team did a
preliminary analysis with LunarScan and by
photometric analysis and was able to rule out spurious signals. These may or
may not be cosmic ray events but these represent the best impact candidates the
team was able to produce.
Lunar Meteor Impact Flash
Candidates from May and July 2018
The Earth
narrowly missed having a global meteor storm! Would not have done any good for
the observations of lunar meteors (the moon was even closer to the dense ribbon
of comet debris, also…) since the Moon was New at the time. For more details,
go to: https://spaceweatherarchive.com/2018/10/14/earth-dodges-a-meteor-storm/.
Last July was an
active month for lunar meteor impact events. This post was made public then...
“Watch Two Meteorites Hit the Moon!”
The ROCG group in Brazil reports recording another lunar meteor impact
candidate, which was recorded to occur at 21:31:14 UTC on 14 August 2018. Please visit
the mirror site, to view the images. Confirming observations
are sought after, and if you’ve recorded an impact candidate please report it
as soon as possible.
In addition to this, I received a report a few weeks ago from Tiago
Augusto in Brazil on some likely lunar meteor impacts, two of which happened
about the same time. An impact flash was observed at 23:01:36 UT on July 17. This event was
recorded as part of a lunar program that has been in operation for two years,
made at one observatory operated by ROCG (Remote Observatory of Campos dos Goytazes) and the Exoss Lunar
Team. Other observers on this team include Carlos Henrrique
Barreto (who recorded what may be the same flash on 7/17/2018 at 23:01:26UT; we
are as of yet unsure why this one has exactly 10 seconds difference in time
from the other), and Torres Moreira.
Jose Madiedo reports that their team recorded
two additional impact flashes on July 19 at 21:53:35UT
and 22:29:07 UT, from Spain with the MIDAS system. It is likely that these four
meteoroids (July 17 and 19) are associated with the alpha Capricornid
meteoroid stream (although a probability of such a correlation has not been
determined yet)
In addition to the July 17 and 19 impacts, the Brazil team reports a
flurry of impact flashes in May. They “witnessed lots of suspicious flashes
between 05/22/1018 & 05/23/2018.” We are awaiting verification of an
outburst of meteoroids on the moon during this time frame. The eta Aquariids is
past peak and only minor showers are active at this time. The web site of the Exoss Lunar Program along with images and data on impact
flashes can be found here:
A news report about the July 17 impacts posted on the networking
website LinkedIN (and also posted on space.com)
stated that the meteor impacts that hit the moon on July 17 were estimated to
be about the size of walnuts and determined to be members of a minor meteor
stream alpha Capricornids. This minor stream is
derived from the comet 169P/NEAT. Confirming observations for the above flashes
are requested; also if anyone has observed a flash that needs verification,
please let us know.
We have at least a fair shot at capturing lunar Perseids this month.
The moon is New just before the maximum but the waning crescent Moon leading up
to New, as well as, and especially the waxing crescent Moon after the 13th are
favorably placed for observation of lunar Perseids. The section will continue the ongoing work of
coordinating observations for this and other meteor showers throughout the
remainder of 2018 and beyond. Check the ALPO website and/or join the Lunarimpacts listserve for more
information.
Two Lunar Quadrantid
Candidates Videotaped (January 2017)
During the annual Quadrantid meteor shower the moon was favorably
placed for observation of lunar meteors. The Swiss-Italian team of astronomers
caught two events, highlighted below. If anyone in Europe happened to be
videotaping at the time please check your videos at the indicated times below
for signs of impact flashes. I plan to post the images at the mirror site above
on 19 January.
2017
January 1 at 17:47:15 UT, lasted 2 integration fields (40 ms), imaged
with one telescope.
2017
January 3 at 19:18:41 UT, lasted 4 integration fields (80 ms), imaged
with two telescopes.
Runs were performed from Rome (Italy), Gordola
and Locarno (Switzerland).
Reports of Lunar Meteors -
2015
The Swiss-Italian lunar meteor monitoring group, consisting of
observers Rafaello Lena, Stefano Sposetti
and Marco Iten, reports the observations of several
impact flashes, each of which was confirmed by Dr. J.M. Madiedo’s
team. These events are summarized in the below table and were observed in
Europe when the Moon was below the horizon for North America. However anyone
monitoring the moon from North America with video and at least an 8-inch
telescope had a good chance of observing impacts from the Northern Taurid
meteor stream. The North Taurids are noted as being the very likely source of
the impact that was the first of over 300 events to be observed by the
Meteoroid Environment team at NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center ten years ago.
·
The four flash detected by Stefano have
following selenographic coordinates from Dr. Lena’s
preliminary computation using LTVT software package (Mosher and Bondo).
o
7 November 2015 03:31:26 UT
§ longitude 50.9° E +/- 0.4 °
latitude 24.0° N +/- 0.4 °=> north edge of Mare Crisium
about 104 km west of Eimmart crater
o
7 November 2015 04:14:07 UT
§ longitude 48.8° E +/- 0.4 °
latitude 0.70° S +/- 0.3 ° => Mare Fecunditatis
about 54 km north east of Messier crater
o
7 November 2015 05:06:45 UT
§ longitude 62.4° E +/- 0.4°
latitude 4.90° S +/- 0.3 ° => Mare Fecunditatis
about 130 km north of Langrenus crater
o
8 November 2015 05:14:09 UT
§ longitude 28.4° E +/- 0.4° latitude 7.3° S +/- 0.3 ° .=> about 83 km
south of Torricelli crater
·
One additional flash event observed 15 November 2015 18:13:57UT has
also been confirmed by J.M. Madiedo
Many thanks to the Swiss-Italian team for their excellent work and for
reporting these results.
Impact Observation with Plume
made by Marco Iten and reported by Stefano Sposetti, Marco Iten and Rafaello Lena:
Marco Iten detected an interesting luminous
event most probably generated by a meteoroidal impact on the Moon occurred
the 26 February 2015. The
position of the flash was along the terminator. The brightness of the
flash 0.16 s after the initial detection was +8.0 magV.
After the main lightdrop a successive residual
diffuse light lasted for several seconds.
Under the assumption of a meteoroidal impact, we argue that this
post luminous event and its ever growing dimensions was likely caused by
the
sunlight reflection on ejected materials released by the impact. Marco Iten detected it visually using no dedicated searching
software.
We placed our preliminary report here: http://digilander.libero.it/glrgroup/
or directly to the pdf file: http://www.lunar-captures.com//Selenology_Today/ST_preliminary%20report_2015.pdf
Marco Iten
Raffaello Lena
Stefano Sposetti
This
video was shown to impact expert H. Jay Melosh of
Purdue University (USA) and he agrees that this appears to be a genuine impact
event, with the ejection of dust that is made visible as it rises into
sunlight. He suggested making measurements to find the height of the dust
cloud. This animated gif image (aka, the “video”) is accessible from the mirror
site linked above.
Older Reports Related to
Lunar Meteors
LADEE Mission
Post-Wrap-Up
If you happened to have made observations of the
moon during the LADEE mission (November 2013 through April 2014) in search of
lunar meteors, but have not yet submitted your observations please do so as
soon as possible. Even if you have not looked over/analyzed your media for
events, send it to me and I can get it looked at. Although the LADEE mission is
now history (it crash-landed on the far side of the moon over a year ago, on
April 17, 2014), observations of lunar meteors are still needed. The complete
observing plan for lunar meteors in general for 2015 can be obtained here. The mirror site that complements
this site is online and will display images obtained by observers as soon as
they are received, to give near-real time updates of observers’ results. Also
included will be any information provided by the observer such as date, time,
location, etc. The mirror is part of the “Cosmic Corner” website at http://www.pvamu.edu/physics/cosmic-corner/.
Brian Day of NASA-Ames Research Center wrote:
“The Lunar Meteoroid Impacts and the LADEE mission online workshop was held on
Dec 5, 2013. Presenters included RickElphic (LADEE Project Scientist), Brian Cudnik (Coordinator of the ALPO Lunar
Meteoritic Impact Search, Author of “Lunar Meteoroid Impacts and How to Observe
Them), Rob Suggs (NASA Meteoroid Environment Office), George Varros (pioneering observer of lunar
meteoroid impacts and author of “Nudger” lunar
auto-guider software), and PeterGural (author of LunarScan impact detection software). Because of
our international audience, the workshop was recorded and archived for
convenient viewing. You can view the workshop at http://connect.arc.nasa.gov/p4zpsnm6weh/.”
I highly recommend visiting this site and
watching the entire conference. Even though the mission has ended, there are
plenty of resources to help one get oriented to the observations of lunar
meteors. More information about the LADEE mission itself can be obtained from http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LADEE/main/.
One of the main objectives for ground-based
observations was to correlate the occurrence of impact events with changes in
the dust concentration as measured by LADEE. This, combined with careful
measurements of the maximum intensity of the flash, its light curve, and
knowing the impact velocity of the meteoroid, should enable us to get an
estimate of the luminous efficiency (how much impact energy goes into making
the optical flash) of the impact as well as a rough estimate of the mass of the
meteoroid.
CANDIDATE IMPACT EVENT FROM FEBRUARY 2014
Bill Porter reported a
recording of a possible impact candidate from about 12:30 UTC on Feb 23.
Location was in the eastern half of Lacus Somniorum, in the general area of Hall Y1 dome and Hall K
crater. George Varros reports: “Using the Virtual
Moon Atlas, the coordinates are close to LONG 36.724 LAT 34.105 - in the
vicinity of the Hall crater.” (An image will be posted to the CosmicCorner mirror site sometime this week, or before
March 6th). The impact appeared quite faint according to Mr. Porter,
who observed this from California, USA. A comparison star was videotaped a few
minutes later ( HIP 82951A, mag 6.55). The “jury is out” on this one since it
shows a gradual rise in brightness, a peak, then a gradual fall, which is not
consistent with a typical impact event.
CANDIDATE
IMPACT EVENT FROM DECEMBER 2013 and JANUARY 2014
Two candidates from Jan 5:
I don’t know what to make of them. They are both single video field events and
are dim but don’t look like cosmic rays because of their nice shape and
brightness centroids. They have a similar look, are dim and very short, just
like the one from Jan 4. (I’m rescanning
everything using Lunarscan 1.5 after experiencing
anomalies or unexpected results.)
Jan 5, 2014 00:12:26 Lat 15.321S
Lon 25.489E inside crater Cyrillus F
Jan 5, 2014 00:31:35 Lat 15.5N
Lon 20.6E
001226_candidate
003135_candidate
[Images courtesy of George
Varros]
——————————————————————–
This is a detection by
Marco Iten and Stefano Sposetti
of a probable impact event on the moon. These are members of the Swiss-Italian
team of lunar observers.
———-
Date:
2014 Jan 7
UT Time:
18:19:31.0
Airmass:
1.39
Lunar
coordinates: 15.5° West, 19.5° North (Mare Imbrium)
Duration:
20 ms
Brightness:
-
Presence
of artificial satellites along the line-of-view: none in a 3deg diameter
Iten’s instrument:
125mm refractor with WAT902H2 Ultimate
Sposetti’s instrument: 280mm reflector with WAT902H2 Ultimate
Images
courtesy of (left) M. Iten and (right) S. Sposetti.
2014_01_07_181931_iten
2014_01_07_181931_sposetti
——————————————————————–
Lunar meteor observer
George Varros reports the following impact candidate:
I found a single video
field event that may or may not be an impact. It occurred on Jan 4, 2014, at
23:49:37 UT, just south of Gambart B at Lat 0.979 Long -11.56 I uploaded and posted an image and a map, in
a new folder labeled “01/04/2014 candidate”.
Although it’s only one
video field, the event does not have the visual appearance of a cosmic ray in
that it has a brighter center and is in a matrix of 3×3 pixels – it looks
somewhat stellar.
It was not detected by Lunarscan probably because the event is only seen in the
even video field – the odd field was blank along with the odd field of the next
frame. The picture is dark because I probably have my gain set too low.
I
received the following reports (December 7th and 8th)
from the Swiss-Italian Lunar Observation group. Within a day (or two or less)
of the date of this notice, images related to this report will be made
available on the mirror site. Stefano SposettiI
reported the following:
“Saturday,
Dec 7, Marco Iten, Raffello Lena, Andrea Manna
and I, made some video recordings of the crescent Moon. We got good, but also
poor sky conditions. 2 of us, Marco Iten and I,
detected independently and simultaneously a small flash on the Moon. The image
of Marco Iten shows a very nice bright point of
light, lasting about 4 fields (ie. 80 ms). My image is a lot blurred because of wind and strong
turbulence, the flash is washed out but clearly visible at the same instant and
in the same lunar region. The airmass at the moment of the detection was 3.9.
No artificial satellites were along the line-of sight inside a 3deg diameter
centered on the Moon coordinates. We performed no photometry of the flash. To
note that Marco Iten noticed the flash visually in
real time, while looking at the laptop screen.
In
summary:
----------
Date:
2013 Dec 7
UT Time:
19:31:06.6
Airmass:
3.9
Lunar
coordinates: 11° West, 14° South (Mare Nubium)
Duration:
80 ms
Luminosity:
-
Iten's
instrument: 125mm refractor with WAT902H2 Ultimate
Sposetti's instrument: 150mm refractor with WAT902H2 Ultimate
----------
Marco Iten,
Raffello Lena, Andrea Manna and I made some video
recordings of the crescent Moon in the first half of December 2013.
“December 8th, 2 of us,
Marco Iten and Stefano Sposetti,
detected independently and simultaneously a small flash on the Moon. The image
of Marco Iten shows a somewhat bright point of light,
lasting about 2 fields (ie. 40 ms).
The flash of light in the Sposetti's image is less
evident.
“The airmass at the moment
of the detection was 2.19.
“The geostationary
satellite INTELSAT 907 was at 66arcmin from the Moon centre
at the moment of the detection, ie. outside the field
of view. No other satellites were in a 3degree diameter circle centered on the
Moon coordinates.
“We performed no
photometry of the flash.
In
summary:
----------
Date:
2013 Dec 8
UT Time:
19:15:58.6
Airmass:
2.19
Lunar
coordinates: 18° West, 50° South (Longomontanus
crater border)
Duration:
40 ms
Luminosity:
-
Iten's
instrument: 125mm refractor with WAT902H2 Ultimate
Sposetti's instrument: 150mm refractor with WAT902H2 Ultimate”
In
addition to these reports, the NASA-MSFC Meteoroid Environment Office reported,
during the “Workshop Without Walls” web-based meeting last week of a faint
impact candidate on the western (Celestial west) limb of the moon, imaged at 11:07:24.3 on 29
November 2013. Someone
else in e-mail communication mentioned this as being one of three candidates
observed that morning. I do not have an image to go with this report but one
can see it on the online workshop.
Brightest Lunar Meteor Yet
Observed, 2013
Dr. Madiedo
of the University of Huelva in Spain reported a bright meteor flash caused by a
space rock impacting the Moon’s surface at an estimated 37,900 mph (61,000
km/h), blasting out a new crater roughly 131 feet (40 meters) wide. This impact
was observed by a pair of telescopes that are part of the MIDAS (Moon Impacts
Detection and Analysis System) observatory, at 8:07UT on September 11, 2013.
The event occurred in Mare Nubium. The meteoroid
weighed in at an estimated 880 lbs. (400 kg) and measured between 2.0 and 4.5 feet
(0.6 and 1.4 meters) in diameter. More information about this event can be
found at
http://www.space.com/24789-moon-meteorite-impact-brightest-lunar-explosion.html.
Small Meteoroid Impact
Observed in Europe on 1 August 2013
I received the following
report from Raffaello Lena of GLR-Italy. He writes:
“On August 1, 2013 at 02:21:55.7 UT, a small meteoroid has likely impacted the
Moon' s surface. The kinetic energy transformed by the impact into thermal
energy also caused a short a flash of light that was detected by telescopes of
R. Lena, A. Manna and S. Sposetti. The simultaneity
of the flash and the same position on the lunar surface indicates it is an
impact. The event described above has been observed by Raffaello
Lena (GLR group, Rome Italy) with a refractor 130 mm and with a video camera Mintron. The flash was also detected by Andrea Manna from Cugnasco (Switzerlnd) with a
Schmidt Cassegrain 200 mm and a camera watec 120N+.
Stefano Sposetti (Gnosca,
Switzerland) detected the flash using two telescopes: Refractor 150 mm and SC
C11” equipped with watec 902H2 cameras.
Two observatories in
Switzerland are at a distance of 10.0 km. The observatory in Italy (Rome) is at
a very long distance of 558 km from Gnosca
(Switzerland). Time synchronicity of the various files is assured by using a
GPS time inserters (KIWI-OSD) and an Atomic Clock Synchronization protocol. The
meteoroidal lunar impact detected on August, 1, 2013 at 02:21:55.7 UT was
simultaneously recorded by four independent video recordings. The duration of
the flash correspond to 0.08s and reached a peak brightness of 8.3 ± 0.7 mag.
The selenographic coordinates of the lunar impact
flash are determined to 73° ± 4° E and 27° ± 3° N, near the crater Seneca C.
The examined impact flash probably corresponds to a α-Capricornids
shower exhibiting favourable impact geometry on the
impact date. Enclosed an image of the detected lunar impact. A report of the
observing session (written by Sposetti, Manna and I)
is published in Selenology Today 33, which can be accessed with the following
link:
http://www.lunar-captures.com//Selenology_Today/selenologytoday33.pdf.
Largest Meteoroid Impact Yet
Observed on the Moon, March 17, 2013 (before the September 11, 2013 event)
NASA
has observed the largest impact yet detected on the moon. At 3:50:55UT on
March 17, 2013, a flash peaking near magnitude 4.0 was observed at lunar
latitude 20.6N, longitude 23.8W. The explosion produced was the equivalent of
that produced by 5 tons of TNT. The crater generated by this explosion is
estimated to be approximately 20 feet (6 meters) in diameter and was produced
by a beach-ball sized meteoroid (about 35-cm diameter) impacting at 57,000
mph (26 km/sec), that possibly is part of a little known meteor shower called
the eta Virginids. More information about this
extraordinary event can be obtained at http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/16may_lunarimpact/.
|
A Likely Impact from a
Sporadic Meteoroid (2011)
The GLR (Geologic-Lunar
Research) group in Italy reported a very likely lunar meteoroid impact
candidate on 11 February 2011 at 20:36:58.355UT. The obsevers
were Stefano Sposetti and March Iten.
Stefano Sposetti reports, “Marco Iten
and me detected a probable impact flash on the Moon, simultaneously, from our
two observatories, located 16km apart. It lasted about 4 fields (i.e. 0.08s) in
one video file; a bit less in the other video file. No artificial satellites
were in a 2-deg field of view at the moment of the detection and the two
flashes in the two video files are located at the same lunar feature.” Since
impact was observed with two telescopes separated by 16km (below the arbitrary
30km threshold that we use to determine uniqueness) and it has been verified that
no artificial satellites were in the vicinity of the moon at the time of the
impact, this can be considered a confirmed event. More information, including
analysis, can be found at this website http://digidownload.libero.it/glrgroup/st22web.htm.
Jovian Meteors and Observing Resources
Fireballs Videotaped in
Jupiter’s Atmosphere
One of the ancillary activities of this section is to observe meteors
on other planets. Jupiter has historically provided the richest field for such
observations as seen from Earth’s surface. We encourage video patrols of
Jupiter on a regular basis to monitor the planet for meteors. It would be
useful scientifically to obtain a census of such objects and their frequency of
impact on Jupiter. The monitoring of meteors on Jupiter (and all other solar
system objects) will fall under the domain of the LMIS and I will share more on
this new venture by early 2018. One thing is certain…once we get our
observatory established at Prairie View A&M University in Texas, one of the
first projects I have in mind for the Meade 16-inch is regular monitoring of
Jupiter for meteor impacts and I will certainly need help from interested and
well-equipped observers from this Section.
On May 26th 2017 between 19:24.6 and 19:26.2 UT Sauveur Pedranghelu videotaped an
impact flash in Jupiter’s north polar region. The flash lasted about 0.7
seconds and displayed two peaks in brightness. The impact occurred at latitude
51 N and central meridian longitudes: System I = 74 deg.; System II = 159 deg.;
and System III = 292 deg. More information about this observation along with an
image can be viewed at this website: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/new-impact-flash-seen-at-jupiter/
General Astronomy Free e-Book
Available for Download
My
general interest visual astronomy book (revised and corrected) entitled “The Art and Science of Visual
Astronomy”, is available for free
download. This is where I share my fascination with the aesthetic, visual side
of astronomy and include information on some of the best objects that amateur
astronomers look at on a regular basis. This is meant to instill interest in
visual astronomy as well as keep beginning astronomers hooked and interested in
observing. I cover a wide range, from the natural beauty of the Earth and
daytime sky, to the uniqueness of deep sky objects such as galaxies. A unique
feature of this free e-book are the tables of “equivalent distances” to objects
of various types (both within the local solar system and beyond), that is how
close one would be to a given object of interest to get a naked eye view that
matches what one sees through the eyepiece. Suggestions are always welcome for
improvement. The e-book can be downloaded from here. Please be aware that, because of all the pretty pictures,
it may take a few minutes to download completely. Once it is downloaded, you
can save a copy to your local machine.
Jovian
Meteor #3
On
September 10, 2012, a Jovian meteor was observed by a visual observer in
Minnesota and confirmed by video in Texas. It was a two-second long, sixth
magnitude meteor that happened in Jupiter’s atmosphere. It is likely that the
object mostly burnt up in the atmosphere, as observations of the site on
subsequent rotations have yielded no markings. This event serves as a reminder
that Jupiter provides a potential wealth of information in the area of meteoritics
and the interactions between colliding planetary bodies. The story can be read
at http://www.spaceweather.com/ (Select
September 12 2012 under “Archives” if you do not see a link to the story
anymore). A real-time video of the impact event can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/19299984@N08/7976507568. And check out the article published just one day before
that declares “Fireballs Light Up Jupiter” at http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/09sep_jovianfireballs/.
Jovian Meteor #1, and #2
Another
Jovian meteor was videotaped as it happened at 18:22UT on 20 August 2010. The
event was recorded independently by two observers in Japan: Masayuki Tachikawa
of Kumamoto city was first to report the event, and Tokyo amateur astronomer
Aoki Kazuo made the confirming recording some 800 km away. More information on
this event, including pictures and video, can be seen on the August 23, 2010
page of www.spaceweather.com. Sky & Telescope also has a story on this which can be
read at http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/101264994.html.
This makes
the second confirmed meteor observation on Jupiter in 2-1/2 months, with the
first being on June 3rd. The June 3 and 4 (2010) page of www.spaceweather.com has more information, including an image and a video of this
extraterrestrial meteor, which occurred at 20:31 UT on June 3rd. You
can also go to the news section of Astronomy Magazine’s website (http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=ss&id=26, scroll to the archives near the bottom of the page, select June
2010 and look for the link…) to get the news story. Amateur astronomers
Christopher Go (the Philippines) and Anthony Wesley (Australia) simultaneously
observed this event, making it the first ground-based confirmed observation of
an actual impact event on another world beside the moon (to my knowledge). The
impactor must have been a rather large object to have produced such a bright flash
of light as seen from a half billion miles away.
The first
meteor did not produce any dark markings, and it is unlikely that this one will
do so as well. Both appear to be atmospheric fireballs that disintegrated
before reaching the clouds.
This reinforces
my suggestion (which is now being considered by others) to begin a serious
project of continuously monitoring of Jupiter for impact events. This would
need to be done at high powers, enough for 1 arc-second (or better) resolution.
A setup similar to what is used in lunar meteor or asteroid occultation work,
but with larger telescopes (at least 10-inch) and less sensitive cameras (since
Jupiter is bright) would do the trick, and could reveal the true rate of such
impacts with implications for Earth and the impact probability here.
Observer Resource: Lunar
Meteoroid Impacts and How to Observe Them
The book is
now available for purchase at bookstores as well as online. One can go to
Springer’s website and find more information about the book, at http://www.springer.com/astronomy/book/978-1-4419-0323-5. One can also go to Amazon.com and get it for as little as $17.56
(used) off the publisher price; the website is (it looks truncated so if this
link does not work, simply go to www. amazon.com and type in the title of the
book in the search field, and it will come up)…
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_10?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=lunar+meteoroid+impacts+and+how+to+observe+them&sprefix=Lunar+Mete
LunarScan
1.5 by Peter Gural Available!
The latest version of the automated detection
software is ready for download. Go to http://www.lunarimpacts.com/lunarscan15.zip to download a copy.
This version is usable for formats up to 720x576 (PAL). 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.
A “Quick Start” guide to LunarScan
can be obtained by clicking here or here.
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.
More
Lunar Impact Information - Links
About the
Lunar Meteoritic Impact Search Program, Observing Resources, Information, and
Guidelines
Mission Statement,
General Purpose, and Goals (soon to be posted)
How to Make Lunar Meteor
Observations and Related Resources
A Guide
to Observing Lunar Meteors I: General (soon to be posted)
A Guide to Observing Lunar Meteors II: Video (soon to be posted)
Resource links
The ALPO
Meteor Section
George
Varros Lunar Meteor Home Page
NASA Lunar Meteor Impacts Monitoring
Robert
Spellman Lunar Meteor Home Page
Worthy of Resurrection: Two past ALPO Lunar Projects
History of Lunar Impacts
Robert McNaught's predictions of the Moon's Encounters with
Dust Trails (1997-2006)
Lunar Leonids 2000
Click here to learn how people were watching for meteor
hits during the 2000 Leonid event
Lunar Leonids 1999
Leonid
flashers...on the Moon (before the Storm)
Observing Leonids on the Moon (before
the Storm)
A Leonid on the Moon? (First News of Possible
Impact Sightings)
Nov.18th Lunar-Leonid Impacts