Sharjah Lunar Impact Observatory (SLIO)

Abstract

We present a detailed description of Sharjah Lunar Impact Observatory (SLIO), the only source of lunar impact observations in the Middle East and North Africa region. The Observatory was established on February 29th, 2020. It is located inside the campus of the Sharjah Academy of Astronomy, Space Sciences and Technology (SAASST), which is part of the University of Sharjah (UoS), Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The coordinates of the Observatory are 25°17'02.1"N 55°27'48.4"E, with an altitude of 80 m above the sea level. It is equipped with a 14" LX 200 ACF Schmidt-Cassegrain Meade telescope with a focal ratio of 10 (f/10). The camera is a high-sensitivity Watec video camera of the model 902H Ultimate utilizing a 0.5" monochrome CCD Sony ICX439ALL sensor. It can record 25 fps with a resolution of 720 × 576 pixels. One of SLIO's results is recording a lunar impact detection on March 1st, 2020, at 16:54:22.969 UT, which was confirmed by the NELIOTA project in Greece. The flash magnitude of the impact was found to be 7.94 ± 0.36. The analysis estimated the mass of the impactor as 1.919 kg with a cometary origin, with a radius of 17.36 cm, and create a crater with a diameter around 2.84 m.