LCROSS Launch June 18, 2009 LCROSS June 29,2009 - 460,000km from Earth

	Title	LCROSS - NASA's return to the moon
	Photo Credit:	Paul Mortfield
	Object:	LCROSS spacecraft
	Date:	June 2009
	Location:	Cape Canaveral, Florida and Sierra Remote Observatories California
	Telescope:	RCOS 16" f/8.9
	Camera:	Apogee U16M with AstroDon Gen2 Filters
	Wavelengths:	Luminence filter
	Exposure Time:	8 minutes (8x60sec frames to build the movie)
	Notes:	I was fortunate to watch the LRO/LCROSS launch from Cape Canveral with many of the mission team from the VIP launch area. It was an exciting launch, especially knowing it was headed for the moon. Tracking down the spacecraft during its cruise orbit 11 days later as a faint trail 460,000km from earth using my remote controlled telescope was a first. The data collected from these observations are being used to refine the spacecraft's actual trajectory. Its seen here cruising by galaxy IC3808 in the same field of view. The galaxy is many millions of light years away, versus LCROSS at a distance just farther than the moon.