A Chinese amateur astronomer. captured from the patio of his house the brightness created by meteorite impact on the moon. It’s not something impossible, as these collisions are quite frequent, but it’s difficult to achieve this with a relatively homemade team. For this reason, their images have been scattered all over the world, and there are already many experts behind them for further investigation. rock and impact crater that he must have remained on the lunar surface.
It should be noted that both the Earth and the Moon are surrounded by rocks, which over time can collide with them in the form of meteorites. But there is a big difference. The earth has atmosphere which usually grinds these stones so that they are either completely destroyed or come to the surface in the form very small fragments. On the contrary, the Moon has no atmosphere, and meteorites collide with its surface in all their splendor. There is more to see in the selenite terrain, completely covered in impact craters.
According to the project carried out by the company European Space Agency (ESA), they usually fall about 8 meteors per hour on the moon. It’s easy to spot with the agency’s instruments, but not as easy with a home telescope like the one he used. Daichi Fuji.
Meteor shine on the moon
Daichi Fuji works in astronomical area of Hiratsuka City Museum, China.
He doesn’t work for any major space agency, but he knows enough to look for meteorite impacts on the moon. You know that most of the objects that our satellite collides with are too small and dark to be seen with the naked eye. Thus, the brightness of the impact is determined. But it’s not easy. You must look at the moon at the right time. To not let everything take its course, February 23 Fuji set up equipment that continuously takes pictures within a certain period of time. This allowed him to capture the flash, which clearly corresponded to the fall of a meteorite on the moon.
In fact, he is not the first, but seems to be the most powerful. It lasted for a full second, which is a lot. The astronomer spoke in detail about what happened on his Twitter account, drawing attention professionals and amateurs.
Subsequent images must be taken
With cars like Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, from NASA, can take pictures of any point on the lunar surface. As the scientists plan to look for the meteorite impact crater captured by Fuji, this could be a good tool.
Only in this way, having seen the crater, it will be possible to obtain more information about the rock in question and compare it with the images left by collision. While this may have been the work of an amateur, interesting data can be extrapolated from it. For this reason, citizen science in astronomy is also very important. The universe is too big for a few pairs of eyes. The more people notice it, the better.
Source: Hiper Textual
