For you star gazers out there

[Jersey mike]

If you haven't heard already, according to this article an old SpaceX rocket is on a collision course with the moon.

This article is posted today, Friday 7/31 and is saying the impact will be on Wednesday, no specific time though.

If you dial in your telescopes I hope it's perfect weather conditions for viewing.

Good luck.


" Discarded SpaceX Rocket Is on a High-Speed Collision Course With the Moon"


A drifting SpaceX rocket is on a collision course with the moon after launching a pair of lunar landers more than a year ago.

The rocket's upper stage will unintentionally slam into the moon on Wednesday, carving out a crater and sending up a plume of dust and rubble that scientists — and skygazers — are eager to observe.

Space tracking expert Bill Gray predicts an impact of 5,400 mph (8,700 kph) — seven times the speed of sound — near Einstein Crater on the moon's sunlit western limb. With the action unfolding in the wee hours, the eastern portions of the U.S. and Canada, and much of South America should have the best views.

Lucky for astronomers, the upcoming smashup will occur on the moon's near side, packing the equivalent energy of three tons of TNT.

The impact flash, lasting less than a second, will probably be too dim to see, according to experts. But the stream of ejected material could stretch for several miles (kilometers) into space and remain visible to telescopes for tens of minutes.

"The gravity on the moon is low and there is no wind to blow the dust away," said Los Alamos National Laboratory's Benjamin Fernando, who's encouraging observations by professionals and amateurs alike.

Fernando anticipates an impact crater nearly 90 feet across and 16 feet deep (27 meters across and 5 meters deep), too small to see from Earth but visible to spacecraft.

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and South Korea's Danuri lunar orbiter will gather before-and-after shots of the crash scene. Danuri will stray within a mile or two (a few kilometers) of the SpaceX rocket just two minutes before impact, according to Fernando and his team.

The abandoned rocket segment — measuring some 40 feet (12 meters) and weighing around 10,000 pounds (4,500 kilograms) — hoisted two private lunar landers on Jan. 15, 2025.

https://www.newsmax.com/us/spacex-rocket-moon/2026/07/31/id/1264659/

[carolinarider09]

It's been a while since I had to figure this stuff out but, if my "Skychart" is correct, the Moon will rise (for me in SC) around midnight on Thursday, August 6, 2026 (Or more precisely 0001 24 hours time).

And my "chart" program shows the moon to be about 1/2 full.  Full moon (again according to my star chart) will be on July 29, at 10:37AM.  So on August 6, 2026 the moon will be moving toward 3/4 full moon.

It would be interesting to see what the impact will result in.  Will there be any kind of a "flash".  There is no atmosphere on the moon so, it would seem a flash might be only provided by the "stuff" on the rocket. 

There might be some "shadows" from whatever will be released or "created" due to the crash.  But, seeing it might be difficult if it happens in the un lite area.  But then again, a chemical reaction might cause a visual flash on the dark part of the moon. 

We will have to keep tuned to see if we get a real "time" for the event.

[carolinarider09]

Just an update:  From the link below:


Part of a SpaceX rocket has collided with the moon at more than seven times the speed of sound.

The discarded upper stage of the aerospace company's Falcon 9 rocket is thought to have made contact with the moon on Wednesday, Aug. 5.

The rocket is believed to have crashed close to the Einstein Crater on the north side of the moon, according to the BBC and the New Scientist. It was on course to collide at around 2:35 a.m. ET at a speed of 5,400 mph, per CBS News.

In the days before the space event, experts thought the rocket part would likely create a new crater near the Einstein Crater, possibly even producing enough dust that scientists would be able to detect it all the way from Earth, according to USA Today and Space.com.

And because the moon doesn't have an atmosphere, there wasn't any chance of it burning up before impact.

NASA confirmed the collision would not pose any danger to Earth.

Libby Jackson, head of the Science Museum in London, told Sky News that satellite images of the impact are likely to be release "in a few days" and "there's no reason" to think the collision didn't occur. A telescope operator in Chile also told the BBC he detected changes in light around the expected impact time.

https://people.com/spacex-rocket-slams-into-moon-12033255

[Jersey mike]

Throughout the day I was looking for updates and hopefully maybe a video or a bunch of still framed photos put together an *animation* but there weren't any but when looking on YouTube I did find some rather funny ai generated videos.

One thing this event did was to remind me just how much crap is floating around in space and it's surprising how our satellites and the ISS can safely float around up there.

[carolinarider09]

One thing this event did was to remind me just how much crap is floating around in space and it's surprising how our satellites and the ISS can safely float around up there.

The above statement is factual and should be of interest to us for various reasons.  One, it shows how "empty" space is.  How large is the void of "space". 

And second, we should remember that these things are there and try and find a way to minimize their impact on Earth. 

Just think what it would have been like for that "item" to crash on earth (and yes, it may not have made it because we have an atmosphere). 

The same thing would apply to Mars.

[Jersey mike]

I found a couple articles discussing it. The one article described the event as the rocket roughly the size of a school bus moving like a bullet.

This article has a simulated impact video which Elon posted to X;

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/global-trends/spacex-rocket-crashes-into-moon-plume-erupts-leaving-a-hole-on-lunar-surface-elon-musk-shares-impact-video-watch/articleshow/132981129.cms#google_vignette



This one shows 2 photos, a before and after from South Korea Space Agency;

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/south-korea-space-agency-shares-moon-images-after-spacex-rocket-debris-crash/ar-AA29xFDB

[carolinarider09]

Very interesting.  It states that a lunar orbiter Danubri, from South Korea, took the pictures.  I wonder how many other "Lunar Orbiters" we (the Earth as a whole) have up there. 

I was not aware that there were any "permanent" orbiters.   

[Jersey mike]

Very interesting.  It states that a lunar orbiter Danubri, from South Korea, took the pictures.  I wonder how many other "Lunar Orbiters" we (the Earth as a whole) have up there. 

I was not aware that there were any "permanent" orbiters.   

I think there's A LOT up there we don't know about.

[Hook#3287]

Very interesting.  It states that a lunar orbiter Danubri, from South Korea, took the pictures.  I wonder how many other "Lunar Orbiters" we (the Earth as a whole) have up there. 

I was not aware that there were any "permanent" orbiters. 

I think there's A LOT up there we don't know about.

My take is, a least it's from SOUTH Korea 😀

[Jersey mike]

Just another something I found.

In the article is a very short video of impact, basically some dust flying, from the Spanish space agency IAA-CSIC; (" Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía is a research institute funded by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas of the Spanish government, and is located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. IAA activities are related to research in the field of astrophysics, and instrument development both for ground-based telescopes and for space missions.")

And also a 2 minute video from NASA.


https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/08/after-drifting-through-space-18-months-spacex-rocket/