![]() He tried to visually spot the 150-foot-long shadow of one of the Apollo landing stages still resting on the Moon. To show the limitations of Earthly telescopes in observing ultra-small detail on the Moon, well-known astronomer Yuri Beletsky at the European Southern Observatory in Chile conducted an experiment using an eight-meter adaptive optics telescope. A target that small at the quarter million-mile lunar distance is beyond the reach of any Earthbound telescope, even the most sophisticated professional observatories equipped with state-of-the-art optics. The largest of the American flags on the Moon is the one left by Apollo 17. First, “Can we directly see the flags on the Moon with an Earthbound telescope?” and second, “Can we see the flags on the Moon with a space telescope?” Let’s tackle them one at a time.Ĭan we directly see the flags on the Moon with an Earthbound telescope? In short, this is exploration at its finest.Guests at public star parties often ask us, “Can we see the flags on the Moon erected by the Apollo astronauts over 50 years ago?” This question contains two questions within it. Finally, it's a testament to the skill of investigators to glean data from places where it is difficult to obtain and to the value of international partners with NASA working alongside scientists and engineers in South Korea. The ShadowCam images will be particularly useful for planning future missions as scientists seek to ground-truth this data with lunar rovers and identify areas for the Artemis human missions to explore. ![]() Scientists hope to use orbiter data like this-as well as from NASA's Lunar Trailblazer, which is likely to launch in 2024-to better understand where water ice and other lunar resources exist. This image, and future data gathered by ShadowCam and other instruments on the Korean orbiter, will significantly improve our understanding of the polar environment. However, scientists did not expect to find ice in this part of Shackleton Crater, as the temperature of this location rises above the water ice stability point during the "summer" months on the Moon. This image does not show direct evidence of water ice or other elements of interest to scientists and explorers. Note the narrow line running down the wall-the ShadowCam scientists say that's the path carved by a 5-meter boulder rolling down the crater wall and coming to rest on the floor. The top quarter of the image shows the base of a steep wall, and the remainder of the image shows the crater floor. The result is a stunningly clear image of Shackleton Crater. According to the imaging team, the camera's ability to capture clear images at high sensitivity is the equivalent of increasing from ISO 100 to greater than 12,800 without increasing grain. The ShadowCam instrument on board the Korean orbiter was designed to capture dim light reflected from nearby topography and to allow for high ISO settings without compromising clarity. That black area on the left of the photo? That's the region of Shackleton Crater imaged by ShadowCam. Here is a photograph taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2009, shortly after it reached the Moon. However, what you're actually looking at is an area of the Moon that lies in total darkness. At first glance, there's nothing remarkable about the photo. The camera was designed with maximum sensitivity to light, such that it could provide images of permanently shadowed regions of the poles-which is to say, capture images of things that are inherently very dark.Įarlier this week, the ShadowCam team released its first image, which reveals a wall and the floor of Shackleton Crater near the south pole of the Moon. One of the six instruments carried by the half-ton satellite was a hyper-sensitive camera built by NASA called ShadowCam. This was South Korea's first lunar probe, and among its chief objectives was surveying the polar regions of the Moon for resources such as water ice. NASA/KARI/Arizona State University reader comments 141 withĪfter launching on a Falcon 9 rocket in August 2022, the Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter slid into orbit around the Moon last month.
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