Moon Hill Impact by two Satellites collapse on Dt.18 November 2012 Time: 17h: 28 P.M

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Volume 2012, Issue No.12, Dt.18 November 2012 Time: 14h: 25 P.M

by

Professor Dr Kotcherlakota Lakshmi Narayana

{Retd. Prof. of Phys, SU, Kolhapur}, 17-11-10, Narasimha Ashram, Official Colony, Maharanipeta. P. O.

 Visakhapatnam - 530002.     Mobile No: +919491902867

Moon Hill Impact by two Satellites collapse on

Dt.18 November 2012 Time: 17h: 28 P.M

A REPORT BY THE PRESENT AUTHOR AND SOME VIEWS ON MOON

    INTRODUCTION

          The Hindu December 19, 2012: Impact site of Ebb and Flow were on the southern face of an approximately 2.5km tall mountain near a crater named Goldschmidt. The NASA’s first planetary mission to carry fully dedicated equipment for education and public outreach. Each spacecraft carried with it MoonKam taking about 115000 total images. Fifty minutes, before prior to impact engines fired until propellant depleted.

           Two NASA Moon probes would slam into a Mountain at 17h28m P.M.They expected to hit a crater rim at latitude at 75.62D North and longitude of 26.63D East. Ebb and Flow satellites moved around the Moon in tandem, detecting the tiny changes in the distance between them caused by lunar mountains, craters and subsurface mass concentrations that affected gravity. The new map revealed that the lunar crust almost completely pulverized, suggesting the Moon battered by long-ago impacts far more violently than previously thought. Gravity Maps obtained by these satellites of the Moon are with NASA.

            BBC News: The US space agency's (NASA) Ebb and Flow gravity mapping satellites have ended their mission to the Moon. The duo commanded to slam into a 2km-High Mountain in the lunar north. NASA’s deep-space radio-tracking system confirmed the loss of signal from the satellites just before 22:30 GMT. Maps of the subtle variations in gravity across the Moon's surface expected to transform many areas of planetary science. The peak - located at 75 degrees North latitude close to a crater named Goldschmidt - was in darkness at the time. Ebb required a 4 minute 3 second burn, while Flow took longer at 5 minutes 7 seconds.

           RTT News:  12/18/2012 3:02 AM ET, The twin spacecraft of NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission has slammed into a two kilometer-high mountain near the moon's North Pole, marking the end of its successful endeavor to map the moon's gravity.  The two washing-machine-sized spacecraft, named Ebb and Flow, hit the flank of the mountain about 30 seconds apart as planned at 5:28:51 p.m. EST and 5:29:21 p.m. EST on Monday at a speed of 3,760 mph, the U.S. space agency said in a press release. The mission team deduced that much of the material aboard each spacecraft was broken up in the energy released during the impacts. Most of what remained probably buried in shallow craters. 

                   The twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) probes known as Ebb and Flow down because they have run out of fuel.

 Guardian news UK

                 The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or Grail, spacecraft had been flying around the Moon, enabling scientists to make detailed gravity maps. The probes sped up slightly as they encountered stronger gravity from denser regions and slowed down as they flew over less-dense areas. On 6 December, the probes, nicknamed Ebb and Flow, flew down to about seven miles (11km) to make one last detailed map of the moon's youngest crater.

PICTURES OBTAINED BY ME AND DETAILS

Camera Digital Used is a Canon IXUS 130  Zoom Lens 4x15 

and 5.0-20.0mm 1:2.8-5.9 of 14.1 Mega Pixels

Fig.1 Moon on 18 December 2012

 Fig.2 Moon pictures on 18 Dec 2012

Fig.3 Moon pictures on 18 Dec 2012

Fig.4 Moon on 18 December 2012

Fig.5 Moon on 18 December 2012

AN OBSERVATION

             The day light in the evening shades out gradually and the filter set used is quite responsive for this gradual change. Fig.2 to 4 clearly implies this observation. The Fig.5 around 17h52m shows the yellow spots of the Sun glare on the Moon. Carfeul study needs to understand the various topographical features of the fine dust Moon and appearence of these dispersed yellow spots of the Sunlight falling on the Moon surface.

CONCLUSION
          The educational and outsourcing features of the Moon satellites Ebb and Flow
have given splendid data. The impact so small that many India news papers have not able to give the details.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

                   I am deeply indebted to Late Prof K R Rao D.Sc.(Madras). D.Sc.( London) for his guidance and inspiration to record the events and make a Physics analysis.

REFERENCES

               Many web site information helpful to understand the impact of the Twin Satellites of the Moon on to its crater surface are used for the write up.