2006 favorable observing windows for lunar meteor impacts

For North American op's.

Previously I had posted asking for referrals or methods to plan for
favorable lunar meteor impact windows with the idea of trying to
photograph one of these impacts. After searching the web further, it
appears that the ALPO Lunar Section - Meteor Impacts Search Group -
plots favorable observing windows for lunar meteor impacts:

ALPO Lunar Section - Meteor Impacts Search Group
http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/%7Erhill/...Lunar%20Impact

Peter Gural Lunar Impact Plots 2006
http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/%7Erhill/...MPACTS2006.pdf

The ALPO plots show two favorable windows visible for North American
observers for the remainder of 2006 on 9/1/2006 6:05 UTC and 12/14/2006
10:34 UTC.

Details on these two events, excerpted from the ALPO Plots and the
corresponding entry in the International Meter Organization annual
calendar follow.

Also of interest:

ALPO Observing Guide Tips on making videos of lunar meteor impacts:
http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/%7Erhill/...tuff/observing

Alan Kimble's tips on video taping lunar impacts in the near infra-red:

http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/%7Erhill/...97leonids.html

A word of warning about the ALPO Lunar Section - Meteor Impacts Search
Group homepage. The homepage appears to be generated by a web page
creation tool and displays with multiple HTML coding errors. Because
of the HTML coding errors, it's a page that you have to be patient
with, but it contains information not available elsewhere.

Event I) 9/1/2006 6:05 UTC 9/1/2006 12:05AM

Meteor Shower - IMO Description
alf-Aurigids (AUR)
Active: August 25 -September 8; Maximum: September 1, 6h30m UT
(lambda = 158°6); ZHR = 7;
Radiant: alf = 84°, dec = +42°; Radiant drift: see Table 6 (page
23);
v = 66 km/s; r = 2.6;

This essentially northern hemisphere shower appears to be part of a
series of poorly observed sources with radiants.
http://www.imo.net/calendar/2006/summer

ALPO Lunar meteor impact window 9/1/2006 6:05

ALPO notes: 36% of impacts on unlight near side.

My notes: Moon is at first quarter phase. For mountain time observers
Moon is only at 20 degrees alt at 11:00 pm MDT. Best for Pacific Time
Zone or Hawaii.

This window is one day before the SMART-1 impact on the Moon.

Event II) 12/14/2006 10:34UT 12/14/2006 10:34AM

IMO shower description
Geminids (GEM)
Active: December 7 -17; Maximum: December 14, 10h45m UT (lambda =
262°2) ± 2.3h;
ZHR = 120;
Radiant: alf = 112°, dec = +33°; Radiant drift: see Table 6 (page
23);
v = 35 km/s; r = 2.6;
http://www.imo.net/calendar/2006/fall

One of the finest annual showers presently observable. This year, the
waning crescent Moon rises within half an hour of 1h local time across
the globe on December 14, but will be a fairly minor nuisance even so.
There will be some useful dark-sky observing opportunities, especially
from the northern hemisphere, as while the Geminid radiant culminates
around 2h local time, well north of the equator it rises around sunset,
and is at a usable elevation from the local evening hours onwards.

ALPO Meteor Impact window: 9/14/2006

ALPO notes: 42% of impacts on unlit near side.

My notes: ALPO observing window is listed as 5:34 UTC. But the IMO
lists the ZHR max for 10:45 UTC. For the Intermountain West, the Moon
rising at 20 deg alt at 4 AM (9UTC) with a two hour window to sunrise.
Moon is a day past 3rd quarter.

Other Events III) Daytime North American event not detailed here.

Eurpoean observers may want to investigate these dates further.

11/17/2006 17:47 UTC
12/22/2006 18:42 UTC

- Canopus56