Stargazers are invited to a special breakfast on Friday, Oct. 9 that will toast the morning with a special view of the NASA LCROSS spacecraft exploration venture to the moon.
The “LCROSS for Breakfast” event is hosted by Western’s Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration (CPSX) and the Canadian Lunar Research Network (CLRN) at The University of Western Ontario.
Beginning at 5:30 a.m., astronomy enthusiasts can catch a rare glimpse of the stars through the telescope housed at the Cronyn Observatory.
But the real show begins with NASA TV’s live coverage of the impact of the spacecraft crashing into the lunar surface in search of water ice in a permanently shadowed crater near the moon’s South Pole.
“The LCROSS crash will kick up some water dust on the moon and will allow the concentration of water ice to be measured in a permanently shadowed lunar soil,” says Cassandra Marion, Administrator/Co-ordinator for CPSX.
“The impact will also allow us to monitor lunar impact processes such as crater formation, ejecta and plume dispersion. This information is very helpful because impact events are very difficult to reproduce in a laboratory.”
The quantity and distribution of water ice on the moon is very intriguing, she adds, noting the information collected may serve future missions to the moon.
By hosting the public event to celebrate the lunar crash, CPSX and CLRN hope to get people excited about planetary science. CPSX and CLRN are also interested in watching because “it’s a significant planetary science event and that’s what we do,” she says.
The schedule is as follows:
5:30 – 6:30 a.m.: Stargazing using Cronyn telescope
6:30 – 7:30 a.m.: NASA TV/Mission overview
7:30 a.m.: Watch the impact live via NASA TV
Breakfast will be provided during the NASA TV viewing.
Contact Marianne Mader at mmader2@uwo.ca for more information. More details about LCROSS can be found at https://lcross.arc.nasa.gov/impact.htm.