Watch moon collision program, or see it live

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Pictured are the massive Centaur upper stage (closest to the moon, headed for impact) and the LCROSS spacecraft that will monitor the impact, searching for signs of water ice in a six-mile high dust plume.

Space fans can get a preview in Ashland tonight of a collision due to take place on the moon early Friday. And early risers can attempt to see the collision itself as part of a Southern Oregon Skywatchers event.

ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum will give tonight's presentation on NASA's planned collision Friday between its Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite and the moon's south pole. The 8,000-mph collison is scheduled to take place at 4:30 a.m. Friday and is expected to send a plume of dust 6 miles above the surface of the moon.

Tonight's presentation is at 7 at ScienceWorks, 1500 E. Main St., and organizers are asking a $5 donation. It will include a slide show to explain the mission and a NASA video to provide a view of the mission from space.

Then at 4 a.m. Friday, the Southern Oregon Skywatchers will host a star party at the Agate Flying Fields in White City. Skywatchers President Colin White said an 8- to 10-inch scope will be necessary to view the impact, which is expected to last only a couple minutes.

NASA is attempting to determine whether water exists on the moon and plans to run the satellite into a permanently shadowed crater on the moon's south pole.

NASA is encouraging amateur astronomers to observe and report what they see at lcross.arc.nasa.gov.

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