On the question lunar glare and the LCROSS impact, it appears that Dr. Schaefer did an article on the faintest star visible before occultation on the bright limb in S&T.  His articlle was also turned into one of the S&T BASIC programs available via the internet. Schaefer, B. E. A star's visibility just before occultation. Sky Telesc., Vol. 85, No. 1, p. 89 - 91 (S&T Homepage) Bib. Code 1993S&T....85...89S url: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1993S%26T....85...89S S&T DOS Program from 1993 http://media.skyandtelescope.com/binary/occvis.bas in http://www.skyandtelescope.com/resources/software/3304911.html How to run a DOS QBasic program on a Windows XP Computer http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/hobbyqanda/3399826.html The 1993 S&T DOS program by Bradley Schaefer can be used to predict the faintest star visible just above the lunar limb,  I adapted the Schaefer lunar occulation program with parameters for the LCROSS Oct. 9 impact as viewed from Salt Lake City, Utah using a 10 inch Newtonian scope.  Schaefer's occultation limiting magnitude program predicted that the faintest visible star just before occultation was 5.3 mags for my scope.  This corresponds to a sky brightness of 19.7 MPSAS.  Since the LCROSS team predicts the maximum brightness of the LCROSS impact cloud at 3.0 MPSAS, there is a good contrast index (6.6) between the moonlight glare sky-brightness just above the limb and the ejecta cloud.  This modeling suggests that the LCROSS ejecta cloud should be visible in 10 inches of aperture notwithstanding the lunar glare problem. A web document explains who to set the parameters in the Schaefer lunar occultation limiting magnitude program to emulate the LCROSS impact cloud and observing conditions for your observing point. http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/observed/LCROSS/SchaeferOcc... http://tinyurl.com/mrasdn I have also made a modified the S&T DOS program to set the parameters for Salt Lake City observing circumstances.  This can be used as a template for your local circumstances. http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/observed/LCROSS/occvis_slcu... http://tinyurl.com/l38vj9 This note reports the result is a model prediction and and not an actual measurement.  The next date that the Moon will be illuminated at 71% and in a manner similar to the LCROSS impact is on Sept. 9 at 11UT (Sept. 9 at 5am MDT, 77%)) and  Sept. 10 11UT (Sept. 10, 5am, 68%): Source: LTVT ephemeris data, topocentric W111.8 N41.8 Date-TimeUT     libr_lat lib_long colong illumfrac 20090907 1130   -6.2     -5.5     128    92        20090908 1130   -6.2     -5.5     140.2  85.5 20090909 1130   -6.1     -5.4     152.3  77.3 20091009 1130   -3.5     2.8      158.2  70.9 Impact day 20090910 1130   -5.4     -5.1     164.4  67.7 20090911 1130   -4.4     -4.3     176.5  57.1 20090912 1130   -3.2     -3.3     188.7  45.8 Date-TimeUT     Lunar age (days) 20090907 1130   18.1 20090908 1130   19.1 20090909 1130   20.1 20091009 1130   20.6 Impact day 20090910 1130   21.1 20090911 1130   22.1 20090912 1130   23.1 For Sept. 9 and 10 at 11UT times (Sept. 9 at 5am MDT, Sept. 10 at 5am MDT) in Salt Lake City, the Moon will be an altitude much closer the circumstances of impact - around 70 degrees.  On Sept. 9 at 11:21UT there is graze of the north pole by ZC387 (SAO75476, HD16302 in Aries between Hamal and Botein), but at magnitude 6.9, it is too faint to be observed visually according to the Schaefer predicted model as it passes along the bright limb side.  But as the star passes the pole and crosses a degree or two into the dark limb, it should become visible. I may run a test to see if SAO75476 can be observed or imaged.  I will also be looking to see if the grazing star's visibiliy is consistent with Schaefer's model - it should not be visible until it just crosses to the dark limb.   Occult 4 data for this graze is: Grazing Occultations near SaltLakeCity UT E. Longitude -111 53 24.0,  Latitude  40 45 24.0,  Alt. 1337m;  Telescope dia 15cm;  dMag 0.0        day  Time   P   Star  Sp  Mag  Mag    % Elon Sun Moon      Cusp angle   Distance       Azimuth    Path formula  y   m  d  h  m  s      No  D     v    r V  ill     Alt Alt               o          km 09 Sep  9 11 21 38 Gr    387cG5  6.9  6.4S  77- 123     69 ** GRAZE: CA  2.7N; Dist. 19km in az. 339deg. [Lat =40.94+0.29(E.Long+111.89)] (For Utah locals: The graze coordinates across I-15 from the Farmington Bay Water Fowl Management Area, near either the Centerville Recreation Complex or Smoot Park). On August 28, the Moon was illuminated at 71% but reversed as to what will occur on impact on Oct. 9.  Salt Lake was overcast and I was unable to take any images from which to make differential photometry measurements. The take away point is that based on this modelling of the lunar glare brightness above the south lunar pole on Oct. 9, even if LCROSS ejecta cloud has a brightness of 6 mpsas, the ejecta cloud should still have sufficient contrast against the lunar glare at the south pole should not prevent observing the cloud. This is an amateur note.  Corrections and criticisms to the above are welcomed. Clear Skies - Kurt