Difference between revisions of "April 26, 2004"

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(Created page with "__NOTOC__ =America Hits the Moon!= ---- ===COMMENTS?=== Click on this icon image:PostIcon.jpg at the upper right to post a comment.")
 
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=America Hits the Moon!=
 
=America Hits the Moon!=
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<table width="640"  border="0" align="center" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="2">
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      <td width="50%"><h2 align="left">America Hits the Moon!</h2></td>
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  <td width="50%"><h2 align="right">April  26, 2004</h2></td>
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      <td colspan="2"><div align="center">
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<IMG SRC="images/LPOD-2004-04-26.jpeg" NAME="main_image" width="319" height="424" border="0"></div>
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      <td><div align="center" span class="main_sm">Image Credit:  <a class="one" href="http://www.lpi.usra.edu/research/lunar_orbiter/bin/info.shtml?616">LO V-26-H3 Lunar &amp; Planetary Institute</a></div></td>
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<table class="story" border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="90%" cellpadding="10" align="center"><tr><td>
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  <p class="story" align="center"><b>America Hits the Moon! </b></p>
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  <p class="story" align="left">On Sept. 13, 1959 the Soviet Union crash landed the Luna 2 probe onto the Moon - the first thing from Earth to contact another planet. The US followed with a crash onto the lunar surface on April 26, 1962, 42 years ago today. Our Ranger 4 probe was supposed to crash land on the nearside of the Moon, taking images all the way to the surface. But an equipment failure
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  10 hours into the mission resulted in the spacecraft hitting the lunar farside at 229.3 degrees E, 15.5 degrees S at 9600 km/hr. The yellow arrow on the image above (from the Lunar & Planetary Institute online Lunar Orbiter Atlas of the Moon) shows where Ranger 4 is thought to have hit near the crater Ioffe. This Lunar Orbiter V image is the best view extant of this area, but the horizontal black line/defect
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  shows that there is still a great need for high quality imaging of the farside! Also, did you notice that the red arc marking the southern end of the Hertzsprung impact basin is in the wrong place? The basin's rim is about 0.5" (on my monitor) to the south of the red arc. </p>
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  <p><b>Technical Details:</b><br>
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  NSDC reported that the crash site was at 229 degrees east, but nowadays coordinates go only to 180 E and oppositely to 180 W. I assume that 229 E equals 130 W.</p>
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  <p class"story"><b>Related Links:</b><br>[http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1962-012A Ranger 4 at NSSDC]</p>
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  <p class"story"> <b>Tomorrow's LPOD:</b> A Penetrating View of Imbrium</p>
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  <p><img src="../../../MainPage/spacer.gif" width="640" height="1"></p>
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  </td></tr>
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  <!-- start bottom -->
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  <p align="center" class="main_titles"><b>Author & Editor:</b><br>
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      [mailto:chuck@observingthesky.org Charles A. Wood]</p>
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      <p align="center" class="main_titles"><b>Technical Consultant:</b><br>
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      [mailto:anthony@perseus.gr Anthony Ayiomamitis]</p>
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      <p align="center" class="main_titles"><b>[mailto:webmaster@entropysponge.com Contact Webmaster]</b></p>
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      <p align="center" class="main_titles"><b>A service of:</b><br>
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      <a class="one" href="http://www.observingthesky.org/">ObservingTheSky.Org</a></p>
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      <p align="center" class="main_titles"><b>Visit these other PODs:</b> <br>
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      <a class="one" href="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html">Astronomy</a> | <a class="one" href="http://www.msss.com/">Mars</a> | <a class="one" href="http://epod.usra.edu/">Earth</a></p>
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  <p>&nbsp;</p>
  
  

Revision as of 14:38, 4 January 2015

America Hits the Moon!

America Hits the Moon!

April 26, 2004

<IMG SRC="images/LPOD-2004-04-26.jpeg" NAME="main_image" width="319" height="424" border="0">
Image Credit: <a class="one" href="http://www.lpi.usra.edu/research/lunar_orbiter/bin/info.shtml?616">LO V-26-H3 Lunar & Planetary Institute</a>

America Hits the Moon!

On Sept. 13, 1959 the Soviet Union crash landed the Luna 2 probe onto the Moon - the first thing from Earth to contact another planet. The US followed with a crash onto the lunar surface on April 26, 1962, 42 years ago today. Our Ranger 4 probe was supposed to crash land on the nearside of the Moon, taking images all the way to the surface. But an equipment failure 10 hours into the mission resulted in the spacecraft hitting the lunar farside at 229.3 degrees E, 15.5 degrees S at 9600 km/hr. The yellow arrow on the image above (from the Lunar & Planetary Institute online Lunar Orbiter Atlas of the Moon) shows where Ranger 4 is thought to have hit near the crater Ioffe. This Lunar Orbiter V image is the best view extant of this area, but the horizontal black line/defect shows that there is still a great need for high quality imaging of the farside! Also, did you notice that the red arc marking the southern end of the Hertzsprung impact basin is in the wrong place? The basin's rim is about 0.5" (on my monitor) to the south of the red arc.

Technical Details:
NSDC reported that the crash site was at 229 degrees east, but nowadays coordinates go only to 180 E and oppositely to 180 W. I assume that 229 E equals 130 W.

Related Links:
Ranger 4 at NSSDC

Tomorrow's LPOD: A Penetrating View of Imbrium

<img src="../../../MainPage/spacer.gif" width="640" height="1">


Author & Editor:
Charles A. Wood

Technical Consultant:
Anthony Ayiomamitis

Contact Webmaster

A service of:
<a class="one" href="http://www.observingthesky.org/">ObservingTheSky.Org</a>

Visit these other PODs:
<a class="one" href="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html">Astronomy</a> | <a class="one" href="http://www.msss.com/">Mars</a> | <a class="one" href="http://epod.usra.edu/">Earth</a>

 



COMMENTS?

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