Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Are There Images of the Lunar Landers from Orbit?

Posted by Cliff on from the a-scavenger-hunt-on-the-net dept.

banditski asks: "We have pictures of Mars rovers from taken from orbit, like this photo of Opportunity, but I could not find any of the lunar landers from 60's and 70's? If they do exist, where are they?" More interesting photos from the MRO can be found in an October entry of the Bad Astronomer weblog, and interestingly enough this sentiment was repeated by a couple of posters, there. It won't be until 2008 until we get a fresh pair of 'eyes' on the Moon, but that doesn't mean that there aren't earlier, and just as interesting images buried somewhere on the net. Where can you find interesting orbital photos of the Moon, particularly ones that contain the LEMs, or other photogenic aspects of Tranquility Base?

5 of 88 comments (clear)

  1. here you go by jcgam69 · · Score: 5, Informative

    A discussion of the difficulty of imaging the landers and a picture: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/11jul_lroc .htm

  2. You can look by doroshjt · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://www.apolloarchive.com/apollo_gallery.html

  3. exactly what you asked for by jcgam69 · · Score: 5, Informative

    These are the best photos available: http://www.tass-survey.org/richmond/answers/lunar_ lander.html#apollo

  4. LRO is the first since 1972 by apsmith · · Score: 3, Informative

    The truth is, we've sent far more and better spacecraft to Mars in the last few decades than to the Moon. The only things the US has sent to the Moon since 1972 have been Clementine, a DoD low-cost project that didn't have anywhere near a good enough camera, and Lunar Prospector, another low-budget item that had no camera at all. Galileo swung by briefly, but not enough to take close-range pictures. Europe has sent SMART-1, again decidedly low-budget: it took over a year to get there and was mainly for testing other things besides photography.

    But that's the Moon for you - the inner city of the solar system that everybody says they care about but nobody does anything.

    --

    Energy: time to change the picture.

  5. Not possible - - yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Telescopes are not an option: http://calgary.rasc.ca/moonscope.htm

    No lunar recon probes have had the camera resolution to do it as far as I know. The closest was SMART-1 which was plowed into the moon.

    http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/SMART-1/SEM1O6BUQPE_0. html