LROCs take a look at the Apollo 11 Landing Site. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University.
Just recently, the LRO team used some high-powered calculations and precise timing to utilize its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) to scan the area of the sky where Jupiter was going to be, about 600 million km away. While its not Hubble Space Telescope quality, the fact this image was taken from a spacecraft orbiting 100 km above the lunar surface is a real accomplishment in engineering.
” We took a pic of Jupiter from the Moon last month,” said LRO staff member Brett Denevi on Twitter. “It might not be the greatest resolution ever, but its ours.”
Denevi discussed on the LRO site that the exercise to take a photo of Jupiter was a labor of love. The team does these complicated maneuvers due to the fact that they like checking out the planets and taking pictures.
” It is enjoyable to take a look around our Solar System every as soon as in a while from our perch in lunar orbit,” Denevi stated.
Complicating matters is that because the spacecraft is over 12 years old, a few things dont work like they used to. LROs group now has to use the spacecrafts star tracker cams to obtain a quote of its place and rotation.
LROs view of Jupiter, with an alternate crop and a higher contrast stretch so that Ganymede and Callisto show up. Io and Europa can be seen appearing to protrude from the side of Jupiter; in truth, they are both just off Jupiters limb however they have all merged together here due to the stretch applied to the scene. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University.
This “adds issues to imaging anywhere but straight down at the lunar surface area,” Denevi wrote, “( we do not desire the star trackers pointed at the Moon instead of the stars!). The spacecraft is also gracefully aging so the photovoltaic panels must be turned away from the Sun for as little time as possible. And after that including other thermal and timing restrictions, the operations group had to strive to find simply the ideal time to turn the spacecraft toward the external Solar System and scan throughout Jupiter to get this image.”
Remarkably, this isnt the very first time LROC has taken an image of Jupiter– they did another shot in 2020. And every when in a while, LRO turns its view outward to take a peek at other places in the Solar System, like Mars and even Earth.
“But just like a lot of people all over the world who like turning their telescopes toward the sky and seeing the stars and planets firsthand, the LROC team might not withstand doing the same,” Denevi stated.
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Recently, the LRO team utilized some high-powered computations and accurate timing to utilize its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) to scan the area of the sky where Jupiter was going to be, about 600 million km away. Io and Europa can be seen appearing to extend from the side of Jupiter; in truth, they are both simply off Jupiters limb but they have actually all merged together here due to the stretch used to the scene.
You know the sensation … seeing Jupiter through your own telescope. If it gives you the chills– like it provides for me– then youll understand how the group for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter felt when they turned their spacecraft around– yes, the orbiter thats been consistently looking and circling around down at the Moon since 2008– and saw the giant world Jupiter with their cam. If you zoom in on the picture, you can even see Jupiters Galilean moons.
You understand the sensation … seeing Jupiter through your own telescope. If it provides you the chills– like it does for me– then youll understand how the group for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter felt when they turned their spacecraft around– yes, the orbiter thats been consistently looking and circling around down at the Moon since 2008– and saw the huge planet Jupiter with their camera. If you zoom in on the picture, you can even see Jupiters Galilean moons.
