Can the Hubble Space Telescope [
http://hubblesite.o…] take a picture that shows the Apollo lunar modules [
http://users.specda…] on the Moon? With its 2.4 meter diameter mirror [
http://hubblesite.o…], the smallest object that the Hubble can resolve [
http://astrosun.tn.…purpose.htm ] at the Moon's distance [
http://www.nineplan…] of around 400,000 kilometers is about 80 meters across. So, from low Earth orbit even Hubble's sharp vision can not image the Apollo lunar module descent stages, at most a few meters across, left behind [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] at the lunar landing sites [
http://nssdc.gsfc.n…apolloland.html ]. A space telescope over ten times the size of Hubble could ... or a much smaller telescope in close lunar orbit. In fact, this picture does just resolve Apollo 17's Lunar Module, Challenger [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…], and its shadow on the cratered floor [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] of the Taurus-Littrow valley in the Moon's Mare [
http://www.fourmila…maria.html ] Serenitatis. It was taken in 1972 from the Apollo 17 Command Module, America [
http://nssdc.gsfc.n…1972-096A.html ], orbiting about 100 kilometers above the Moon's surface and covers an area about 1.1 kilometers wide. Using a web site [
http://www.boulder.…landing_sites.html ] created by Dan Durda of Southwest Research Institute, armchair astronauts can explore orbital views of this and the 5 other Apollo [
http://www.hq.nasa.…] lunar landing sites.
Explanation
Can the Hubble Space Telescope [
http://hubblesite.o…] take a picture that shows the Apollo lunar modules [
http://users.specda…] on the Moon? With its 2.4 meter diameter mirror [
http://hubblesite.o…], the smallest object that the Hubble can resolve [
http://astrosun.tn.…purpose.htm ] at the Moon's distance [
http://www.nineplan…] of around 400,000 kilometers is about 80 meters across. So, from low Earth orbit even Hubble's sharp vision can not image the Apollo lunar module descent stages, at most a few meters across, left behind [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] at the lunar landing sites [
http://nssdc.gsfc.n…apolloland.html ]. A space telescope over ten times the size of Hubble could ... or a much smaller telescope in close lunar orbit. In fact, this picture does just resolve Apollo 17's Lunar Module, Challenger [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…], and its shadow on the cratered floor [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] of the Taurus-Littrow valley in the Moon's Mare [
http://www.fourmila…maria.html ] Serenitatis. It was taken in 1972 from the Apollo 17 Command Module, America [
http://nssdc.gsfc.n…1972-096A.html ], orbiting about 100 kilometers above the Moon's surface and covers an area about 1.1 kilometers wide. Using a web site [
http://www.boulder.…landing_sites.html ] created by Dan Durda of Southwest Research Institute, armchair astronauts can explore orbital views of this and the 5 other Apollo [
http://www.hq.nasa.…] lunar landing sites.
Explanation
