Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb the Moon

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In a little less than 18 hours, NASA will bomb the Moon.

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Well, technically, they’ll crash two spaceships into the Moon. Ostensibly, the purpose of this exercise is to create a “plume” of debris, then analyze the debris from afar to see if it contains water. If that doesn’t work, though, I’m pretty sure Dick Cheney will torture the debris to find out what it’s hiding, at which point we’ll learn that there are Weapons of Mass Destruction on the Moon, after which, at long last, Frank J.‘s dream of “nuking the moon” will become a reality.

nukethemoon

But I digress. The opening salvo of our War on the Moon will supposedly be visible from Earth tonight — shock and awe, baby! — to anyone with a “mid-sized backyard telescope” with a “diameter of 10-12 inches or larger.” If you don’t have one of those, you can attend a public viewing near you. Or you can just sit in front of your computer and watch live on NASA TV. The broadcast will start at 10:15 UT/6:15am EDT/4:15am MDT/3:15am PDT.

The actual impacts will occur at 11:31:19 UT (5:31am MDT) and 11:35:45 UT (5:35am MDT), with the expected “plumes” appearing in the minutes that follow. That means the attack show will occur during darkness west of the Mississippi. Here’s a page with detailed tips on amateur observing of the bombing experiment, including where on the Moon’s surface to look:

southpole2

Here’s more:

When the plumes emerge from [the creater] Cabeus, they will be illuminated by sunshine streaming over the polar terrain. The crater itself will be in the dark, however, permanently shadowed by its own walls. “That’s good,” says Day. “The crater’s shadows will provide a dark backdrop for viewing the sunlit plumes.” …

The LCROSS team hopes many people—amateurs and professionals alike—will observe and photograph the plumes. “The more eyes the better,” says Day. “Remember, we’ve never done this before. We’re not 100% sure what will happen, and big surprises are possible.”

And here’s the LCROSS mission homepage.

It’s gonna be two small explosions for man… two giant BOOMS!!! for mankind.