This August 2011 image of the Moon made available by NASA shows paths left by walking astronauts, single lines, and lunar buggy tracks, parallel lines, from the 1972 U.S. Apollo 17 moon mission. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter made this and other photographs of lunar landing sites from 13 to 15 miles above the moon’s surface.
A spacecraft circling the moon has snapped the sharpest photos ever of the tracks and trash left behind by Apollo astronauts in their visits from 1969 to 1972. The pictures were taken two weeks ago and show the landing sites for Apollo 12, 14 and 17. The closest images are of the 1972 Apollo 17 site, the last moon mission.
Images taken by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter from 13 to 15 miles up show the astronauts’ paths when they walked on the moon, as well as ruts left by a moon buggy. Experts could even identify the backpacks astronauts pitched out of their lunar landers before they returned to Earth.
“What we’re seeing is a trail,” said Arizona State University geology experts. “It’s totally awesome. However, the photos were not close enough to see individual bootprints”.
Apollo 17 Commander Eugene Cernan wrote that the photo gives him a chance to revisit those days, “this time with a little nostalgia and disappointment. Nostalgia because those special days are fondly etched in my memory and disappointment because it looks like now we will not be going back within the days I have left on this planet.”
Two years ago, images from the same spacecraft from 30 and 60 miles out showed fuzzier images. But this year the orbiter dipped down to take about 300,000 more close-ups. The trails left by the astronauts are clear, but the places where backpacks were discarded, Apollo 17′s moon buggy, and the bottom parts of the three lunar landers are blurry.
“You have to really look at it for a long time to figure out what you’re looking at,” experts said. “For example, when it comes to the moon buggy, if you squint really hard you can resolve the wheels and that the wheels are slightly turned to the left.”
At first, scientists thought they had a bit of a mystery: They saw more stuff than they expected. It turned out to be packing material and an insulation blanket. After 40 years there does not seem to be much moon dust covering the manmade trails. It probably will take about 10 million to 100 million years for dust to cover them.
The photos of tacks by walking astronauts on the Moon were released a few days after the debut of the new fictional movie “Apollo 18” and before planned launch of NASA’s twin robotic spaceships to explore the moon’s gravity.
Much appreciated for the information and share!
Very nice, i suggest admin can set up a forum, so that we can talk and communicate.
Nancy
Way awesome, some legitimate details! I value you producing this informative article obtainable, the remainder of the website can be substantial top quality. Possess a entertaining.
Very educational cheers, I do think your trusty followers would certainly want way more well written articles similar to this keep up the good effort.