NOTAM: Oct 27th Possible Red Spot behind the Moons 1st Quarter Terminator

[gaunty]

I hope Danny will indulge me on this.

An experiment using a gazillion personal laser pointers from everywhere to try and paint a red spot on moon.

Go here for details
http://www.paintthemoon.org/index.html

James Downey,a writer,is trying a little experiment which he hopes will unite us all a for a moment in these troubled times and get our focus outside the world for a moment.

Any of you operating that night will have a grandstand view and may be able to see it more clearly than those on the ground.
It may also be a good time NOT to be looking down. ;)
I haven't done the UTC math from US time but the details are on the site.

I am sure Jim would appreciate any reports from on high.

I think it's a fantastic idea. :cool:

[Konkordski]

Nice idea. But the impracticality of holding a laser pointer steady (a wobble of 1mm at arm's length will move the spot nearly 600km at moon-distance) combined with the natural divergence of the beam (even a laser isn't dead-straight) means that it ain't gonna work.

[Basil]

Hmmm, hate to be cynical but I wonder if laser pointer sales have been down lately ;)