Global Volunteers Continue Lunar Impact Monitoring Following Artemis II Mission
Data from the NASA-funded Impact Flash project complements astronaut observations to determine the nature of meteoroid impactors
Following the conclusion of the Artemis II mission in early April, a global network of volunteers has continued to scan the Moon for flashes caused by meteoroid impacts. While the astronauts who flew around the lunar surface have returned to Earth, the Impact Flash project, funded by NASA, remains active with amateur astronomers submitting video observations from their own telescopes.
The project lead, Ben Fernando, a planetary scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, expressed gratitude for the videos submitted by participants. Fernando noted that data gathered from different locations and instruments helps constrain the nature and origin of the impactors, as well as the craters they form. This collaborative approach allows scientists to build a more complete picture of the lunar surface activity.
To maintain this vital data stream, the team is seeking continued public assistance from individuals equipped with specific hardware. The project requires observations from amateur astronomers using telescopes with a diameter of four inches or greater that possess video capabilities. Instructions for making and uploading these observations are available on the Impact Flash website.
Beyond tracking impact rates, the collected data serves a deeper scientific purpose: understanding the Moon's interior structure. The project aims to utilise impact flash observations to study tremors on the Moon, known as moonquakes. These tremors provide clues about what lies beneath the lunar surface, aiding in the interpretation of data from future seismometers that NASA plans to send to the Moon.
The initiative does not operate in isolation but rather as part of a broader effort involving several other groups of amateur astronomers. Collaborators include the Kilo-nova Catchers, Exoplanet Watch, UNITE, Night Sky Network, and the Lunar Impact Flashes project based at the National Research Council of Italy. This cooperation ensures a diverse range of observational data is available for analysis.
Technical support and data curation for the project are provided by a consortium of international institutions. These include IMATI-CNR in Italy, Aberystwyth University in the UK, and the Technical University of Munich in Germany. IMATI-CNR receives funding from the Italian Space Agency, which corresponds to the European Space Agency's Lunar Meteoroid Impacts Observer mission.
