21 August 2019

SPOTTING THE LANDING SITE OF CHANDRAYAAN 2



As the landing date for the Chandrayaan 2 approaches which is on 7th September  it is curious on where it is going to land. Amateur Astronomers who keep observing the celestial objects are more curious and would love to know the position of landing so that they can spot the landing area on the moon with their telescopes. Most of the craters are visible with small telescopes and there are lot of maps that are available online to spot the craters.

About the craters Manzinus C and Simpelius N


ISRO sources say that the landing site will be between craters Manzinus C and Simpelius N on the high lands between them. As amateurs will know the letters next to the crater names says that these are smaller craters around the big crater. Here Manzinus is a big crater with a diameter close to 100 km diameter and smaller craters near its vicinity are given capital letters for example Manzinus crater has Manzinus C, Manzinus D, Manzinus G, Manzinus E etc,. This is same with all craters, so Simpelius N is a small crater close to Simpelius crater which is close to 70km in diameter.



Locating the Landing site of Chandrayaan 2


To find the crater its good to start with the best known bright crater on the south side of the moon, the Tycho crater. After finding Tycho, the next hop is to near by crater Magnius, this is also easy to find because of the size of the crater, the Magnius crater is close to 160km in diameter. Next hop is to Crater Zach which is also easy to find due its appearance. Continuing in the same line to almost limb of the moon the landing sites of Chandarayaan 2 can be found, the craters Manzinus C and Simpelius N. Crater Manzinus C is easy to find because of the diameter it has, close to 20km, but the Simpelius N is little challenging at 8km diameter.



Location of Chandrayaan 2 Landing Site


Best time to Spot the Landing site of Chandrayaan 2


To attempt to spot the craters Sun has to light it up, as I am writing this article on 21st of August the craters are in the dark, the next chance will come on 6th September, when moon is half lit and the craters will be easy to spot until 17th of September. For future reference the craters are best seen from half moon after new moon to 3 days after full moon. Happy Spotting.