Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Apollo 12 at 43 Years

A resampled, scale-corrected "Closet Look" at the "Pinpoint Landing" zone of Apollo 12 and Surveyor 3, originally posted here March 7, 2012. LROC Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) observation M175428601R, LRO orbit 10987, November 8, 2011. Resolution 39 cm per pixel, from only 23 kilometers overhead. The field of view is slightly less than a quarter kilometer across [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].
A pixel, and part of another (marked by the arrow) just barely discloses the Apollo 12 lunar module descent stage, on the "shoulder" of "The Snowman" crater group, this time from 106.48 kilometers above the lunar surface, from the much higher, mission conserving orbit LRO has occupied since January. Resolution was more than 3.5 meters per pixel, May 31, 2012. LROC NAC frame M193067752R. It's possible the long shadow of the mast of Surveyor 3 is visible as a bump on the shadow line in Surveyor Crater [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].
The full-resolution from from LROC NAC frame M193067752R (white rectangle) in the context of the 20 km-wide field of view captured from the east, with camera and spacecraft slewed 60° off nadir.
Pinpoint Landing on the Moon (Apollo 12) March 7, 2012
New Views of Apollo 12 September 8, 2011

Other LROC Images of the Apollo 12 Landing Site:
First Look: Apollo 12 and Surveyor 3
Apollo 12 Second Look: Midday on the Ocean of Storms
First Low Altitude Apollo 12 NAC Image

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