A frame from a 2MB MPG animation of the scheduled crash from the UT Austin Lunar Prospector Impact Page Undaunted by the slim prospects for a detection, hundreds of amateur astronomers plan to monitor the Moon for signs of impact early Saturday morning. Many amateurs are highly skilled and respected observers. With fast-improving CCD and video imaging technology at affordable prices, they have access to equipment which rivals that found in many professional observatories. If a unexpectedly bright plume arises, amateurs somewhere will almost certainly record it. The impact will not be visible to the naked eye.
Dry air observing sites are best.
If the air is humid it will scatter the moonlight, greatly increasing the brightness of the sky, and making a faint plume that much more difficult to see. The best potential viewing sites for the collision range eastward from the mid-Pacific to central North America. The table below shows the local time of impact and where the Moon will be in the sky for representative cities from Australia to New York. A suitable recording setup would consist of an 8 inch or larger telescope equipped with a CCD video camera. The audio track can be used to record time information.