Waspie_Dwarf Posted May 29, 2017 #1 Share Posted May 29, 2017 Camera on NASA’s Lunar Orbiter Survived 2014 Meteoroid Hit Quote On Oct.13, 2014 something very strange happened to the camera aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC), which normally produces beautifully clear images of the lunar surface, produced an image that was wild and jittery. From the sudden and jagged pattern apparent in the image, the LROC team determined that the camera must have been hit by a tiny meteoroid, a small natural object in space. Read More: NASA 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PersonFromPorlock Posted May 30, 2017 #2 Share Posted May 30, 2017 Quote How rare is it that the effects of an event like this were captured on camera? Very rare, according to Robinson. LROC typically only captures images during daylight and then only about 10 percent of the day, so for the camera to be hit by a meteor during the time that it was also capturing images is statistically unlikely. When you have only a single datum, the rule-of-thumb is to presume that it's the average condition; so the likelihood is now that the LROC has been hit nine more times since it started taking pictures, in the 90% of the time the camera was off. This is with a very low level of confidence, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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