Astronomy Picture of the Day

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                                2019 January 25
                                      [2]
                                 Moon Struck
                Image Credit & Copyright [3] : Petr Horalek [4]

Explanation: Craters [5]  produced by ancient impacts on the airless Moon have
long been a familiar sight. But only since the 1990s have observers began to
regularly record and study optical flashes on the lunar surface [6] , likely
explosions resulting from impacting meteoroids. Of course [7] , the flashes
are difficult to see against a bright, sunlit lunar surface. But during the
January 21 total eclipse many imagers [8] serendipitously [9]  captured a
meteoroid impact flash [10]  against the dim red Moon. Found while examining
[11]  images taken shortly before the total eclipse phase began, the flash is
indicated in the inset above, near the Moon's darkened western limb [12] .
Estimates based on the flash duration [13] recorded by the Moon Impact
Detection and Analysis System ( MIDAS [14] ) telescopes in southern Spain
indicate the impactor's mass was about 10 kilograms and created a crater
between seven and ten meters in diameter.

                      Tomorrow's picture: shadow-weekend

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    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [26] (MTU [27] ) & Jerry Bonnell [28]
                                  (UMCP [29] )
          NASA Official:  Phillip Newman Specific rights apply [30] .
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              A service of: ASD [32]  at NASA [33]  / GSFC [34]
                           & Michigan Tech. U. [35]
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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1901/2019_01_21_ZM_Single_crop.jpg
  [3] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [4] http://www.astronom.cz/horalek/?page_id=20
  [5] ap011208.html
  [6] https://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-new...
new-high-end-search-for-lunar-impacts/
  [7] http://spaceweather.com/ archive.php?view=1&day=23&month=01&year=2019
  [8] http://spaceweathergallery.com/eclipse_galler...
  [9] https://twitter.com/willgater/status/ 1087478475919900672
  [10] https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science...
2013/16may_lunarimpact/
  [11] http://www.astronom.cz/horalek/?p=4458
  [12] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/
in-a-first-earthlings-spot-a-meteor-strike-the-eclipse-darkened-moon/
  [13] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnf5rHypPSo
  [14] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNvfBCu-jjI
  [15] ap190124.html
  [16] archivepix.html
  [17] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [18] lib/aptree.html
  [19] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apo...
  [20] calendar/allyears.html
  [21] /apod.rss
  [22] lib/edlinks.html
  [23] lib/about_apod.html
  [24] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?dat...
  [25] ap190126.html
  [26] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [27] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [28] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnel...
  [29] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [30] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [31] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Priv...
  [32] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [33] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [34] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [35] http://www.mtu.edu/

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