Nasa bombs Moon creating new dimple

STRONOMERS and space enthusiasts around the world watched as Nasa sent a rocket and a probe into the lunar surface this afternoon. The ambitious project was set up to look for frozen water at the polar caps of the Moon.
The 2.2tonne rocket that launched the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) collided with the Moon at 12.31pm, creating ‘a dimple’ a third the size of a football pitch.

The LCROSS probe followed four minutes later. It detected the heat signature from the first crash but no ‘flash’ or plume was immediately evident. Scientists had expected 350 tonnes of material to be propelled six miles high into the sunlight. The probe searched for ice and water, sending the data back to Earth, before colliding with the surface itself. Scientists reported all the instruments on board LCROSS were operating nominally (as expected), after powering up the payload at 11.45am (BST).
The probe and rocket had separated on schedule in the early hours of this morning. LCROSS then tweeted on its Twitter page: ‘Good bye Centaur. Thanks for an interesting ride. Now go do good work & kick up some dirt!’
The probe then applied its ‘brakes’ by burning fuel for just over four minutes. They both headed to a crater in the Cabeus region near the Moon’s South Pole. Sunlight never reaches the deep craters in this region. The event was watched by amateur astronomers across the United States, where it is still dark. They needed a minimum of a 10in telescope to view an expected six-mile high plume thrown up from the initial impact.
‘The initial explosions will probably be hidden behind crater walls, but the plumes will rise high enough above the crater’s rim to be seen from Earth,’ said Brian Day, the Outreach Officer on LCROSS.
‘This is a wonderful opportunity for citizen scientists to join Nasa in the process of discovery.’ ‘If there’s water there, or anything else interesting, we’ll find it,’ says Tony Colaprete, the mission’s principal investigator.

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