Posted on Jul 02, 2009 03:30:47 PM | _ NASA's New Moon Missions | 0 Comments   

On June 29, 2009, as part of the LCROSS Observation Campaign, Paul Mortfield, an avid amateur astronomer and frequent contributer to NASA missions, took a series of images of the LCROSS Shepherding Spacecraft and Centaur as they passed through the night sky. LCROSS is currently orbiting the Earth-moon system on its 5,592,000 mile (9,000,000 km) journey to the moon. Capturing these images is no easy feat. The spacecraft is only 47 feet (14.5 m) long with a diameter of 10 feet (3 m). At the time of the images were taken, the spacecraft was approximately 288,100 miles (463,700 km) from Earth, traveling at a speed of 0.58 miles/sec (0.94 km/s). The images were taken with an Apogee U16M 4Kx4K CCD Camera attached to a Ritchey-Chretian 16"f/8.9 telescope and a focal length of 3,530 mm. The image scale is 1.04 arcsec/pixel and the frames were binned 2x2. Each exposure was 60 sec in length to show enough trailing of the spacecraft. For more information about Paul Mortfield, visit: http://www.backyardastronomer.com To participate in the LCROSS Observation Campaign for amateur astronomers, visit: http://lcross.arc.nasa.gov/observation.htm

Tags : David Dunlap Observatory, LCROSS, LCROSS Observation Campaign, LCROSS Shepherding Spacecraft and Centaur, Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, Paul Mortfield