LRO and the Lunar Eclipse of April 15, 2014: Telescopic View
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- Visualizations by:
- Ernie Wright
- View full credits
Dial-A-Moon
| Time (UTC) | 2023-01-01T00:00 |
|---|---|
| Phase | 00.0% (0d 0h 0m) |
| Diameter | 0000.0 arcseconds |
| Distance | 00.0 km (0.00 Earth diameter(s)) |
| J2000 Right Ascension, Declination | 0h 0m 0s, 0° 0' 0" |
| Sub-Solar Longitude, Latitude | 0.000°, 0.000° |
| Sub-Earth Longitude, Latitude | 0.000°, 0.000° |
| Position Angle | 0.000° |
Typically, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft flies over the night side of the Moon every two hours, spending about 45 minutes in darkness. Because LRO is powered by sunlight, it uses a rechargeable battery to operate while on the night side of the Moon and then charges the battery when it comes back around into daylight.
During the total lunar eclipse of April 15, 2014, however, LRO emerges from the night side of the Moon only to find the Sun blocked by the Earth. LRO needs to travel an entire orbit before seeing the Sun again, relying continuously on its battery for almost three hours, longer than it ever has before.
LRO won’t be in any real danger as long as its power consumption is handled carefully. Its scientific instruments will be turned off temporarily, while vital subsystems like the heater will remain on. LRO will be closely monitored throughout the eclipse.
This animation shows the Moon as it might look through a telescope on Earth, with LRO’s orbit, its view of the Sun, and a fuel gauge showing received sunlight and the battery’s charge.
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Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
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Animator
- Ernie Wright (USRA) [Lead]
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Scientists
- John Keller (NASA/GSFC)
- Michelle Thaller (NASA/GSFC)
- Noah Petro (NASA/GSFC)
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Producers
- Dan Gallagher (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
- David Ladd (Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc.)
- Michelle Handleman (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
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Project support
- Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
- Laurence Schuler (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
Missions
This visualization is related to the following missions:Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Datasets used in this visualization
LRO DEM (A.K.A. Digital Elevation Map) (Collected with the LOLA sensor)
DE421 (A.K.A. JPL DE421)
Planetary ephemerides
Dataset can be found at: http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?ephemerides#planets
See more visualizations using this data setLRO WAC 643nm High Sun Global Mosaic (Collected with the LROC sensor)
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.
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