* Astronomy

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RE: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

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LROC instruments reveal interior of a fresh crater
The NAC instrument is currently targeting many such small, fresh craters, giving us a new perspective on these amazing features.

Impacts can cause both subtle and profound changes to the lunar surface. In this subarea of LROC NAC frame M110383422R, you see the trail of a small (3 metre diameter) boulder that after getting dislodged (probably by a small meteorite impact) bounced down the northeast rim of Moore F, a 25 km diameter crater located in the farside highlands. What is interesting about this scene is that as the boulder bounced down the rim, its contact with the lunar surface kicked up and sprayed fresh, high-albedo highlands material outwards, leaving a clear trail at least part of the way down the rim of Moore F.
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NASA moon crash did kick up debris plume as hoped
Images are released showing that the lunar mission may be more successful than it first appeared. Scientists are 'are blown away by the data returned.'

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NASA's Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) was a smashing success, returning tantalising data about the Centaur impact before the spacecraft itself impacted the surface of the moon.
Last week, plunging headlong into Cabeus crater, the nine LCROSS instruments successfully captured each phase of the impact sequence: the impact flash, the ejecta plume, and the creation of the Centaur crater.
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Orbiter beams images of lunar crashes
The orbiting sister spacecraft to two NASA probes that slammed into the moon last week has beamed home images and temperature maps of the two intentional crashes.
The Diviner instrument aboard NASA's powerful Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter took infrared observations of the impact, flying over the moon crash site of the agency's LCROSS probe and its Centaur rocket stage about 90 seconds after impact at a height of about 50 miles up.

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NASA: Impacto Lunar por LCROSS

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SLOOH's LCROSS Lunar Impact Video

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Early morning sky watchers at the Fremont Peak Observatory expected to see a huge, showy dust plume Friday from a planned crash of NASA spacecraft into a designated moon crater.
But the appointed crash time passed without so much as a blip on the live video feed from the observatory telescope.
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LCROSS moon impact unseen by many casual observers
With all the hoopla and celebration surrounding the astral observation of the LCROSS satellite crashing into the moon, the actual visual on the impact was less than stellar, according to previously excited astronomers.

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Moon Crash Delivers No Obvious Plume
The one-two punch of crashing a booster rocket and its mother craft near the moon's south pole didn't kick up dramatic and visible plumes as hoped, but scientists reported October 9 that the mission had gathered enough data to tell whether the crater contains frozen water.

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