Monitoring of Transient Lunar Phenomena

Transient Lunar Phenomena (TLP's) are described as short-lived changes in the brightness of areas on the face of the Moon. TLP research is characterized by the inability to substantiate, reproduce, and verify findings; however, we seek to resolve that issue. Our current research includes the analysis of lunar images taken with two Santa Barbara Instrument Group (SBIG) ST8-E CCD cameras mounted on two 0.36m Celestron telescopes. On one telescope, we are using a sodium filter, and on the other an H-alpha filter, imaging approximately one-third of the lunar surface. We are focusing on two regions: Hyginus and Ina. Ina is of particular interest because it shows evidence of recent activity (Schultz, P., Staid, M., Pieters, C. Nature, Volume 444, Issue 7116, pp. 184-186, 2006). A total of over 63,600 images have been obtained over 46 nights and visually analyzed to search for changes. To date, no evidence of TLPs has been found. Future research will include Matlab software image analysis to detect TLPs that might not be apparent by visual inspection alone.