1999 November 18th (UT) Lunar Impacts

Recorded by David Dunham at Mount Airy, MD

Sequences of video fields showing 6 meteor impacts on the Moon.
Click for full field, which shows the arc of the faintly earthlit dark side of the moon.

Not visibleBrightest AfterglowNot visible


F: Impact at 3:05:44 UT. Also recorded by David Palmer in Greenbelt, MD.
Average of 10 fields. // Edge detection




D: Impact at 3:49:40 UT. Also recorded by David Palmer in Greenbelt, MD.
Average of 10 fields. // Edge detection




E: Impact at 4:08:04 UT. Also recorded by David Palmer in Greenbelt, MD.
Average of 10 fields. // Edge detection




A: Impact at 4:46:15 UT. Also seen by Brian Cudnik in Houston, Texas.
Average of 10 fields. // Edge detection




B: Impact at 5:14:13 UT. Also recorded by Pedro Valdes Sada, near Monterrey, Mexico.
Average of 10 fields. // Edge detection




C: Impact at 5:15:20 UT. Also recorded by Pedro Valdes Sada, near Monterrey, Mexico.
Average of 10 fields. // Edge detection

Note: New images of A, B, and C were added on 1999 Dec 10.

Press Release - 2000 May 1

Technical Summary - 2000 Oct. 23

Moon map showing impact positions - 2000 Nov. 1: Map in Word file
Moon map with grid used with edge-detection figures to determine the impact locations - 1999 Dec. 8

Locating the Impacts - 2000 May 1

Image of Flash D recorded by David Palmer - 2000 May 1

Lunar Impact Predictions by Peter Gural - 2000 Nov. 1

Lunar Leonids Predictions by Esko Lyytinen - 2000 Nov. 1

Lunar Leonids 2000 Prospects - 2000 Oct. 26

Pedro Sada's observations have been published in an article, "Optical detection of meteoroidal impacts on the Moon" by J. L. Ortiz, P. V. Sada, et al., in the June 22nd issue of Nature (Vol. 405, pp. 921-923). It also documents Ortiz's recording of a probable but unconfirmed lunar impact that occurred on 1999 July 16. - 2000 June 21

Sizes of the impacting meteors - 2000 May 4; Corrected, 2000 June 21

Ap.J. article about Leonid luminous efficiency - 2000 Oct. 23

Constantino Sigismondi and Giovanni Imponente have published an article, "The Observation of Lunar Impacts", in WGN, the Journal of the IMO. It includes derivations of observable impact rates on the Earthlit dark side of the Moon and during total lunar eclipses for sporatic meteors as well as during meteor showers. - 2000 June 21

Observing lunar impacts of eta Aquarids, 2000 May 6-10 - updated 2000 May 10

ALPO Lunar Impacts Observation Site

Report of Possible Perseid Impacts-2000 Sept.4

Report of possible lunar eclipse impact - updated 2000 June 21

Reports of possible Geminid impacts - 1999 Dec. 22

Let's try to record Geminids - 1999 Dec. 10

Telescopic videos from 1999 Nov. 16-18 wanted for meteor studies - 1999 Dec. 1

Let Us know if you observed the moon's dark side 1999 Nov. 17-18 - 1999 Dec. 1

International Astronomical Union Circular 7320 - 1999 Nov. 26

First Announcement of Confirmed Lunar Impact - 1999 Nov. 19

First Accounts of other confirmations - 1999 Nov. 24

Story in the Baltimore Sun, 1999 Dec 01 There is no direct link to the article, but from this online search, you can quickly find it by asked for "Dunham" and "David" in the date range that includes 1999 Dec. 1 in the Metro Section.

Image showing Psi 1 Aquarii and southern cusp.

A probable very large lunar meteor impact was photographed on 1953 Nov. 15, by Dr. Leon Stuart. A crater with a fresh ejecta blanket nearly a mile wide has been found in Clementine images at the location where Leon Stuart photographed the flash. Images and information about this probable new impact crater can be found in Leonard David's article here.

And in 1966 or 1967, Ralph Dame, then a teenager observing from Maine, probably saw three meteors striking the Moon; read his account here. - updated, 2002 Feb. 13

Possible observable lunar Leonid impacts were predicted before November. Also, there are many past observations of possible lunar impacts, but all unconfirmed. The Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers organized observations of the Moon in 1955-1962 to try to observe lunar meteors. Read about these interesing accounts here. - 2000 June 21

A NASA web page on Leonids on the Moon includes an animation of Impact A.

David Dunham, IOTA, 2000 Dec. 19; updated 2001 Feb. 13
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