UMSF's very own Phil Stooke hits the headlines. I'm going to suggest he's either too modest to post this himself, or I simply missed it elsewhere on the forum.
Congrats!
Link
EDIT - Found it in a different thread - congrats all the same.
Link
Full Version: Lunokhod 2 found! .... and guess who found it?
We read it here first. 
Congrats to Phil!
The Register's article is occasionally amusing and surprisingly thorough; I really liked this line:
"NASA released a fresh batch of LRO imagery this week, and Ontario based moon-map boffin Phil Stooke was on it like a rat up a drainpipe looking for the lost Lunokhod."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/17/lunokhod_2_located/
"NASA released a fresh batch of LRO imagery this week, and Ontario based moon-map boffin Phil Stooke was on it like a rat up a drainpipe looking for the lost Lunokhod."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/17/lunokhod_2_located/
I got a good laugh out of that one.
Rat up a drainpipe - good one! Very Barry McKenzie!
OK people, much though it pains me to say this, I have to set the record straight. I have just had an email from Sasha Basilevsky... his colleague Sergei Gerasimov has a correction to this story. I attach an image annotated by Sasha but based on Sergei's work.
The dark spot I noted is adjacent to the little crater where the soil-on-the-radiator accident happened. It must be a 'donut' caused by a turn in place after escaping from the crater. I was trying to figure out why those tracks south of the rover looked double - Sergei's image shows that Lunokhod 2 drove south again over its old tracks, then turned east and north - I missed those fainter tracks. And at the top of them is a very bright spot which is in fact Lunokhod 2.
So I was wrong. As so often in the past! Sorry about that.
Phil
Click to view attachment
OK people, much though it pains me to say this, I have to set the record straight. I have just had an email from Sasha Basilevsky... his colleague Sergei Gerasimov has a correction to this story. I attach an image annotated by Sasha but based on Sergei's work.
The dark spot I noted is adjacent to the little crater where the soil-on-the-radiator accident happened. It must be a 'donut' caused by a turn in place after escaping from the crater. I was trying to figure out why those tracks south of the rover looked double - Sergei's image shows that Lunokhod 2 drove south again over its old tracks, then turned east and north - I missed those fainter tracks. And at the top of them is a very bright spot which is in fact Lunokhod 2.
So I was wrong. As so often in the past! Sorry about that.
Phil
Click to view attachment
One more slip-up like that Phil and you'll have to turn in your "boffin" credentials.
Phil, you've even made the headlines on FARK! 
http://www.fark.com/cgi/comments.pl?IDLink=5117400
http://www.fark.com/cgi/comments.pl?IDLink=5117400
"Hello, this is Phil. We found your lost vehicle. You had crashed it in a different place than you thought. But it's still on the Moon..."
QUOTE (ElkGroveDan @ Mar 17 2010, 11:17 AM) 
One more slip-up like that Phil and you'll have to turn in your "boffin" credentials.
Wrong or not you made cbc.ca too
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/03...er-picture.html
Well the Hollywood types claim that the worst publicity is NO publicity. So L2 is north and east and the blotchy pixels are the "dirt in the cover" crater?
I call it two mysteries solved, Phil, and bravo to you for digging in there and bravo to Sasha Basilevsky and Sergei Gerasimenko for putting the matter to rest.
Rob
I call it two mysteries solved, Phil, and bravo to you for digging in there and bravo to Sasha Basilevsky and Sergei Gerasimenko for putting the matter to rest.
Rob
Hey Phil,
Alot of LRO images were released this week and I think I can show you where to find the Russian landers and a rover...!
...oh wait...
...never mind....
<congrats!, Selene continues to smile on you! >
pdp8e
Alot of LRO images were released this week and I think I can show you where to find the Russian landers and a rover...!
...oh wait...
...never mind....
<congrats!, Selene continues to smile on you! >
pdp8e
Phil...you fluffy canadian astronomer...come here and let me hug you!
Phil, details aside, you rock; incredible work!!!
(And yes, I do say that to all the cartographers I know!)
(And yes, I do say that to all the cartographers I know!)
i just read this over at /.
and was about to post
well good for you and congrats.
and was about to post
QUOTE
A professor of geography, Phil Stooke, solved the 37-year-old space mystery of the disappearance of the Lunokhod 2 using images released by NASA.
well good for you and congrats.
Congrats Phil! Awesome find!
LRO measurements now suggest Lunokhod 2 actually travelled 26 miles (42 kilometers), rather than the 23 miles (37 kilometers). This revision is due to understanding better the occasional back-track which the rover did.
Lunokhod 2 drive distance revision
Lunokhod 2 drive distance revision
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