Ola a tod@s,
Como moit@s xa saberedes, o pasado 6 de outubro a sonda LADEE (Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer) entrou en órbita en torno á Lúa. Trata de explorar o contido e a dinámica da tenue atmosfera e da capa de pó en suspensión que ten o noso satélite. Crese que a maior parte deste material está relacionado con impactos de meteoroides na superficie lunar, e por iso a NASA xunto coa ALPO están lanzando unha campaña para observar posibeis impactos durante o tempo da misión.
O día 5 de decembro van facer un workshop online para iniciar neste tema ás persoas interesadas. Cópiovos un fragmento dun email de B. Day sobre o tema:
"Because meteoroid impacts are thought to be among the major sources for the lunar exosphere and lofted dust, the LADEE mission is working with NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office and the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers to put together a lunar meteoroid impact observation campaign supporting the science of the mission. During the LADEE Mission, NASA would like to work with a network of observers watching for and recording lunar meteoroid impacts in order to correlate these events with any changes LADEE’s instruments might detect in the structure and composition of the lunar atmosphere and the nature of any lofted dust. This could help us gain a better understanding of the role of meteoroid impacts as a source for the lunar atmosphere and lofted dust. We would like to have a broad geographic distribution of observers around the world to maximize coverage of impact events. Telescopes with apertures as small as eight inches can be ideal for this type of work.
To facilitate these studies, NASA’ Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (formerly the NASA Lunar Science Institute) is hosting an online, web-based, virtual workshop. This half-day workshop will allow experts in lunar meteoroid impact observation to share information on technology and techniques, and interact with mission science team members to better integrate mission science and the observation campaign. It will also allow an audience of observers with little or no experience in impact observations to learn from experienced observers and gain an understanding of the equipment and techniques needed to participate in this exciting research. Scheduled presenters include Rick Elphic (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 Peter Gural (author of LunarScan impact detection software)."
No PDF adxunto tedes o correo íntegro coa url para poder seguir ese obradoiro. Creo que pode ser unha boa oportunidade para colaborar nunha interesante misión científica.
Apertas!
s.
PS/ web da misión: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ladee/main/#.Um-1hRDUdu5
