Results of Observational Campaigns Carried Out During the Impact of Lunar Prospector into a Permanently Shadowed Crater near the South Pole of the Moon

Barker, E. S.; Allende Prieto, C.; Farnham, T. L.; Goldstein, D. B.; Nerem, R. S.; Austin, J. V.; Shim, J. Y.; Storrs, A. B.; Stern, S. A.; Binder, A. B.; Bida, T.; Morgan, T.; Larson, S. M.; Sprague, A. L.; Hunten, D. M.; Hill, R. E.; Kozlowski, R. W. H.; Ludwig, B.; Rubinson, S.; Baumgardner, J.; Mendillo, M.; Wilson, J.; Wroten, J.; Verani, S.; Benn, C. R.; Garcia Lopez, R. J.; Gates, E.; Talent, D. L.; Alday, A.; Pozar, A.; Witte, D.; Africano, B.; Villanneva, B.; Anderson, R.; Kervin, P.; Rossano, G. S.; Walker, R. W.; Hoss, S.; Anderson, C. M.; Offutt, W.; Lunar Prospector Team
Referencia bibliográfica

American Astronomical Society, DPS Meeting #31, late abstracts, #59.03; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 31, p. 1583

Fecha de publicación:
12
1999
Número de autores
41
Número de autores del IAC
0
Número de citas
2
Número de citas referidas
2
Descripción
On July 31, 1999 the Lunar Prospector (LP) spacecraft was commanded to deorbit and thus impact into the floor of a permanently shadowed crater at -88.7S, 42E (Goldstein, et al. 1999, GRL 26, pp1653-1656 and paper 38.06 at this conference). Coordinated observational program (spectroscopy and imaging) were carried out at HST, SWAS, Keck, McDonald, WIRO, Mt.Lemmon, Mt. Bigelow, McMath-Pierce, WIYN, Lick, IRTF, JCMT, AMOS, AEOS, WHT, OVRO, Palomar, WBO. The LP navigation team is confident the impact occurred as predicted, but observational teams did not detect any evidence of the impact. No debris or dust plumes were detected in the visible or IR. No water vapor, OH, C2 or HCN molecular emissions were detected. Scattered light from the bright lunar limb limited the accuracy and detectability of several investigations. Upper limits for the production of OH will be presented. Four different observing groups saw no change in the Na abundance. We are grateful to observatory directors for target of opportunity time, to observatory staffs for critical observing support, and for funding support from the Planetary Astronomy program (NASA HQ), NASA grant NAG5-8704, the Research Corp. and GO-08539.01-97A from STScI.