The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter turned for a quick look at Earth and one of our closest planetary neighbors—Mars. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University,
Wow, this doesn’t happen very often: Earth and Mars together in one photo. To make the image even more unique, it was taken from lunar orbit by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. This two-for-one photo was was acquired in a single shot on May 24, 2014, by the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) on LRO as the spacecraft was turned to face the Earth, instead of its usual view of looking down at the Moon.
The LRO imaging team said seeing the planets together in one image makes the two worlds seem not so far apart, and that the Moon still might have a role to play in future exploration.
“The juxtaposition of Earth and Mars seen from the Moon is a poignant reminder that the Moon would make a convenient waypoint for explorers bound for the fourth planet and beyond!” said the LRO team on their website. “In the near-future, the Moon could serve as a test-bed for construction and resource utilization technologies. Longer-range plans may include the Moon as a resource depot or base of operations for interplanetary activities.”
Watch a video created from this image where it appears you are flying from the Earth to Mars:
The LROC team said this imaging sequence required a significant amount of planning, and that prior to the “conjunction” event, they took practice images of Mars to refine the timing and camera settings.
When the spacecraft captured this image, Earth was about 376,687 kilometers (234,062 miles) away from LRO and Mars was 112.5 million kilometers away. So, Mars was about 300 times farther from the Moon than the Earth.
The NAC is actually two cameras, and each NAC image is built from rows of pixels acquired one after another, and then the left and right images are stitched together to make a complete NAC pair. “If the spacecraft was not moving, the rows of pixels would image the same area over and over; it is the spacecraft motion, combined with fine-tuning of the camera exposure time, that enables the final image, such as this Earth-Mars view,” the LRO team explained.
Check out more about this image on the LRO website, which includes a zoomable, interactive version of the photo.
If you could stand on the Moon and look back at the Earth, what would you see? How would it compare from our familiar vantage point?
We know what the Moon looks like from Earth, but what would the Earth look like from the Moon?
Pretty strange, actually.
The Moon is tidally locked to us, and it presents only one face to the Earth.
If you were on the near side of the Moon, the Earth would always be in the sky. And if you were on the far side, you’d never see it.
Also, it’s weird there. So you’d probably want to move.
If you were standing on the Moon, looking up, you’d see the Earth, hanging in the sky forever, or for however long your robot body holds out.
It would go through phases, like the Moon, moving from total darkness, though quarter illumination, Full Earth, and back again. But the features on the Earth would be changing. The face of the Earth would be illuminated, and you’d see the entire planet turning throughout the day and you could use it to cheat on Geography tests.
It wouldn’t be totally dark on the night side because “humans”. You’d see those beautiful blobs of stringy light on the shadowed parts of the Earth.
Our Moon follows an elliptical path around the Earth, getting as close as 363,000 km and as far as 405,000 km.
This means the Earth would get bigger and smaller in the sky. As Earth is much larger than the Moon, it would take up 13 times as much area.
The Earth wouldn’t actually hang motionless in the sky. We see lunar libration from our perspective, which lets us peek around the corner of the Moon. But from the Moon, we’d see the Earth move back and forth in the sky over 27 days.
Earthrise (credit—Apollo 8/NASA)
Remember this famous Earthrise photo captured by Apollo 8? It’s on every single sales brochure for lunar real estate.
Don’t be fooled, if you were on the Moon, you’d never see an Earthrise like that.
In fact, the only way to get a view like that is be on a spacecraft orbiting the Moon.
If I lived on the Moon, I’d want property Earthside.
Would you like to see the Earth from the Moon? What other views of the Solar System would you like to get?
And if you like what you see, come check out our Patreon page and find out how you can get these videos early while helping us bring you more great content!
On Wednesday morning October 8, Earth's shadow will nibble away at the moon for this year's second total lunar eclipse. Credit: Bob King
Ready for Wednesday’s morning lunar eclipse? Some people – and I envy them at times – treat an eclipse more casually. They enjoy the show with no desire to set up a telescope or take a photo. For those of us can’t part with our cameras, here’s a little guide to help you get better pictures.
From Philadelphia and other eastern U.S. cities the partial phases of the eclipse will take place with the moon well up in the western sky. By the start of totality, the moon will have dropped to within about 6º of the horizon as shown here. Source: Stellarium
If you’re also into photography and would like to grab a few shots, here are a few tips on what equipment you’ll need and camera settings. This eclipse offers unique opportunities especially for the eastern half of the country because the eclipsed moon will be low in the western sky near the start of and during morning twilight.
In the Midwest at the start of the hour-long totality, the red moon will be about 20º (two fists) above the western horizon. From the East Coast the moon slips into total eclipse only a half hour before sunrise 6-7º high. So if you live in the eastern half of the country, find a site with a good view to the west.
Seen from Denver, total eclipse begins with the moon 30º high (three fists). All of totality and all partial phases of the eclipse will be visible from western Midwest west to Hawaii and Alaska. Source: Stellarium
A low moon means easier framing with a pleasing foreground like a grove of fall trees, a church or distant line of mountain peaks. And the lower it drops, the longer the telephoto lens you can use to enlarge the moon relative to the foreground. When the moon is high in the sky it’s more difficult to find a suitable foreground.
Sometimes it’s nice to have a foreground object to add character to your eclipse photos. Last April’s totally eclipsed moon joins the old Central High School clock tower in downtown Duluth, Minn. Mars at upper right. Details: 80mm lens, f/5, 1.6-second exposure at ISO 400 on a tripod. Credit: Bob King
As the scene brightens during twilight, balancing the light of the dim moon, your photos will get even more interesting. Textures and details in foreground objects will stand out instead of appearing as silhouettes.
Use the table below to plan when to watch depending on your time zone. The blanks mean the moon will have set by the time of the event.
Eclipse Events EDT CDT MDT PDT
Penumbra first visible
4:45 a.m.
3:45 a.m.
2:45 a.m.
1:45 a.m.
Partial eclipse begins
5:15 a.m.
4:15 a.m.
3:15 a.m.
2:15 a.m.
Total eclipse begins
6:25 a.m.
5:25 a.m.
4:25 a.m.
3:25 a.m.
Mid-eclipse
6:55 a.m.
5:55 a.m.
4:55 a.m.
3:55 a.m.
Total eclipse ends
7:24 a.m.
6:24 a.m.
5:24 a.m.
4:24 a.m.
Partial eclipse ends
———
7:34 a.m.
6:34 a.m.
5:34 a.m.
Penumbra last visible
———
———
7:05 a.m.
6:05 a.m.
Exposures and lens settings
Partial phase during the April 14-15 eclipse this year. Details: Telescope (=1300mm telephoto lens) at f/11, 1/250 second at ISO 400. Credit: Bob King
The full moon and even the partially eclipsed moon (up to about half) are so bright you can shoot a handheld photo without resorting to a tripod. Exposures at ISO 400 are in the neighborhood of f/8 at 1/250-1/500 second. Only thing is, all you’ll get is the moon surrounded by blackness. These exposures are so brief almost nothing will show in your foreground except for possibly moonlit clouds. That’s usually fine for the early partial phases.
Once the moon is more than half smothered by shadow, open up your lens to a wider setting – f/2.8 to f/4 – or increase the exposure. Let the back of the camera be your guide. If the images look too bright, dial back. If too dim, increase exposure or open the lens to a wider aperture.
To capture the encroaching shadow during partial phases you’ll need to overexpose the sunlit part of the moon. Details: f/11, 2-second exposure at ISO 400. Credit: Bob King
While you can continue to shoot the partially eclipsed moon at f/8 from 1/30-1/125 second, you’ll miss the best part – the portion filling up with Earth’s red shadow. To capture that, break out the tripod, open the lens all the way up – f/2.8-f/4 – and expose at ISO 400 between 1/4 and 1 second.
You can also shoot at ISO 800 and cut those times in half, important if you’re using a longish telephoto lens. Remember, Earth’s rotation means the moon’s on the move and will show trailing if you expose longer than a few seconds. On the other hand, this won’t be a problem if you’re shooting with a wide angle lens though they have their limits, too.
The moon completely immersed in Earth’s umbra during totality. Details: f/11, 6-second exposure, ISO 400. To prevent trailing I used a motorized mount to track the moon. Credit : Bob King
During totality, expose anywhere from 1/2 to 5 seconds at f/2.8-4.5 at ISO 400. Let’s say you want to include both scenic foreground and stars in the picture using a wide angle or standard lens. Dial up the ISO to 800, open your lens wide and expose between 6-10 seconds. On the 6-second end you’ll catch only the brightest stars, but the moon won’t show trailing; on the longer end you’ll get lots more stars with some overexposure of the eclipsed moon.
Of course, you can go to even higher ISOs and shorten exposure times considerably. But in all but the newest, high-end cameras that comes at the price of increased graininess and less color saturation.
Wide scene from April’s total eclipse with Spica below the moon and Mars to the right. Details: 24mm lens at f/2.8, 8-second exposure at ISO 800. The moon was deliberately overexposed to show it in a field of stars. You can vary the exposure to your taste but the shorter it is, the fewer stars. Longer exposures will show trailing. Credit: Bob King
Where parts of the eclipse happen in twilight, even mobile phones may suffice. There should be enough light to capture a pretty scene with the moon just emerging from total eclipse and during the ensuing partial phases.
The partial lunar eclipse of June 4, 2012, pre-dawn at moonset, from home in southern Alberta. This is a single exposure with the Canon 60Da and 18-200mm Sigma lens at 115mm and at f/5.6 for 0.4 sec at ISO 160. Copyright: Alan Dyer
If you’re clouded out or on the wrong side of the planet for the eclipse, you can catch live webcasts from the following sites:
Color variations observed a day after the supermoon are indicative of compositional differences over the Lunar surface (image credit: Noel Carboni).
A software engineer from Florida recently captured an image of the day-old supermoon in September that clearly conveys color variations across its surface. Such variations are often imperceptible, but the brightness and color differences were digitally enhanced to make them easier to discern. The color variations are indicative of compositional differences across the Lunar surface (e.g., iron content and impact ejecta).
A supermoon is a full Moon that is observed during the satellite’s closest approach to Earth. The Moon’s orbit is described by a marginally elongated ellipse rather than a circle, and hence the Moon’s distance from Earth is not constant. The Moon will achieve its largest apparent diameter in the Sky during that closest approach, which in part gives rise to the supermoon designation.
Noel Carboni, who imaged the supermoon a day after the full phase, told Universe Today that he, “created the image using 17 frames shot with a Canon EOS-40D, which was mounted to a 10-inch Meade telescope.” He added that, “each exposure was 1/40th of a second, and a workstation was used to stitch the image which is more than 17,000 pixels square.”
Carboni noted that, “Ever since the 1980s, I have harbored a growing interest in digital imaging. It is exciting that nowadays affordable and high quality image capture equipment are available to consumers, and that formidable digital image processing tools are available to just plain folks!”
His astrophotography may be well known to readers of Universe Today, as his work has been featured on NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) and elsewhere. A gallery of Carboni’s astrophotography can be viewed at his webpage.
Readers desiring to learn more about the Moon and its surface can join the Moon Zoo Citizen Science Project, and glance at images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The Moon Zoo project aims to inspect millions of images captured by that instrument, which will invariably help scientists advance our understanding of the Moon.
A busy hermit spider spinning its web at dusk, pictured here in front of the not-quite-full Moon on September 7, 2014. This is a composite of two images, one focused on the spider and the other on the Moon. Credit and copyright: Brian who is called Brian on Flickr.
Up in the sky — it’s a bird, it’s a plane… no, it’s a spider and a SuperMoon! Well, not quite. This composite image by Brian who is called Brian on Flickr was actually taken last night, on September 7, 2014, but it’s an awesome lead-in for our usual request for astrophotos of the Harvest Full — and super — Moon tonight.
So, post your images on our Flickr page, tag your photo with #supermoonphoto to get our attention on social media. We’ll include many in our article here, retweet them, and generally promote them anywhere and everywhere we can think of.
Of course, the future has already happened in Australia, and you can see the full Moon setting in Australia, below, as well as Moonrise images just coming in from Europe:
The big Harvest Moon sinks into the West, as seen from New South Wales, Australia on September 9, 2014. Credit and copyright: Wes Schulstad/Alien Shores.
And just how big is the Moon? Astrophotographer Göran Strand (@Astrofotografen) posted this on Twitter:
A single shot image of the 3rd and last ‘super’ Moon of the year taken from Lahore, Pakistan on September 8, 2014 just 20 minutes after sunset. Credit and copyright: Roshaan Bukhari. Taken with a Meade 70mm refractor and HTC one x phone.A lovely pale pink moonrise of the Harvest Moon on September 8, 2014. Credit and copyright: DawnSunrise. Moonset on the morning of September 8, 2014, as the Moon is just dropping below the Horizon. Credit and copyright: Sculptor Lil on Flickr.
UPDATE: More new images:
The full Harvest Moon as seen from rural Georgia, northwest of Atlanta. Taken with a telescope and a smart phone. Credit and copyright: Connor Lewis.Super Harvest Moon, September 8, 2014. Photo HDR and magnification of the Moon for a “Super Moon” effect. Credit and copyright: VegaStarCarpentier Photography.Supermoon through the clouds on September 9, 2014. Credit and copyright: scul-001 on Flickr.Super Luna on September 8,, 2014. Credit and copyright: Héctor Barrios.Full Harvest Moon on September 8, 2014. Credit and copyright: Harbor City Media/Steve Fitzmaurice.Full Moon setting on September 9, 2014 in the UK. Credit and copyright: Sculptor Lil.
The crescent moon, Saturn and Mars will form a compact triangle in the southwestern sky in this evening August 31st. 3.5º separate the moon and Saturn; Mars and Saturn will be 5º apart. Stellarium
Check it out. Look southwest at dusk tonight and you’ll see three of the solar system’s coolest personalities gathering for a late dinner. Saturn, Mars and the waxing crescent moon will sup in Libra ahead of the fiery red star Antares in Scorpius. All together, a wonderful display of out-of-this-world worlds.
Four dark lunar seas, also called ‘maria’ (MAH-ree-uh), pop out in binoculars. Four featured craters are also highlighted – the triplet of Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina and Maurolycus, named after Francesco Maurolico, a 16th century Italian scientist. Credit: Virtual Moon Atlas / Christian LeGrande, Patrick Chevalley
If you have binoculars, take a closer look at the thick lunar crescent. Several prominent lunar seas, visible to the naked eye as dark patches, show up more clearly and have distinctly different outlines even at minimal magnification. Each is a plain of once-molten lava that oozed from cracks in the moon’s crust after major asteroid strikes 3-3.5 billion years ago.
Larger craters also come into view at 10x including the remarkable trio of Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina, each of which spans about 60 miles (96 km) across. Even in 3-inch telescope, you’ll see that Theophilus partly overlaps Cyrillus, a clear indicator that the impact that excavated the crater happened after Cyrillus formed.
Close-up of our featured trio of craters. Sharpness indicates freshness. Comparing the three, the Theophilus impact clearly happened after the others. Craters gradually become eroded over time from micrometeorite impacts, solar wind bombardment, moonquakes and extreme day-to-night temperature changes. Credit: Damian Peach
Notice that the rim Theophilus crater is still relatively crisp and fresh compared to the older, more battered outlines of its neighbors. Yet another sign of its relative youth.
Astronomers count craters on moons and planets to arrive at relative ages of their surfaces. Few craters indicate a youthful landscape, while many overlapping ones point to an ancient terrain little changed since the days when asteroids bombarded all the newly forming planets and moons. Once samples of the moon were returned from the Apollo missions and age-dated, scientists could then assign absolute ages to particular landforms. When it comes to planets like Mars, crater counts are combined with estimates of a landscape’s age along with information about the rate of impact cratering over the history of the solar system. Although we have a number of Martian meteorites with well-determined ages, we don’t know from where on Mars they originated.
At least three different impact sequences are illustrated in this photo. Maurolycus appears to lie atop an older crater, while younger, sharp-rimmed craters pock its center and southern rim. Even a 3-inch telescope will show signs of all three ages. Credit: Damian Peach
Another crater visible in 10x binoculars tonight is Maurolycus (more-oh-LYE-kus), a great depression 71 miles (114 km) across located in the moon’s southern hemisphere in a region rich with overlapping craters. Low-angled sunlight highlighting the crater’s rim will make it pop near the moon’s terminator, the dividing line between lunar day and night.
Like Theophilus, Maurolycus overlaps a more ancient, unnamed crater best seen in a small telescope. Notice that Maurolycus is no spring chicken either; its floor bears the scares of more recent impacts.
Putting it all into context, despite their varying relative ages, most of the moon’s craters are ancient, punched out by asteroid and comet bombardment more than 3.8 billion years ago. To look at the moon is to see a fossil record of a time when the solar system was a terrifyingly untidy place. Asteroids beat down incessantly on the young planets and moons.
Despite the occasional asteroid scare and meteorite fall, we live in relative peace now. Think what early life had to endure to survive to the present. Deep inside, our DNA still connects us to the terror of that time.
Anyone who lives close to ocean is familiar with the tides. And you probably know they have something to do with the Moon. But how do the tides work? Do other planets experience tides?
Just what the heck are tides? Some kind of orbit jiggle jello effect from the magic Etruscan space-whale song? Is it an unending slap-back of gravitometric Malthusian resonance originating from the core of the Sun’s crystalline liver-light organelles? Is it all the plankton agreeing to paddle in the same direction at their monthly oceanic conferences?
As certain as I am that you enjoy my word terminology salads, with apologies to Papa Bear, we both know tides are caused by the gravitational interaction with the Moon. You would think we’d have only one high tide and one low tide, with the Moon pulling the Earth’s water towards it. Moon goes one side, water rushes over to that side, moon goes to other side, water chases around to follow it. But the tides make the water levels appear to rise twice a day, and lower twice a day in 6 hour increments. So, it’s clearly more complicated than that.
The gravity from the Moon does pull the water towards it. That’s what gives you the highest tide of the day. It’s a bulge of water that follows the Moon around and around as the Earth rotates. This makes sense to us. But then Earth itself is pulled with a little less gravity than the water towards the Moon and, the water on the opposite side of the Earth is pulled with even less gravity, and so you wind up with another bulge on the opposite side of the Earth.
So from our perspective, you end up with a bulge of water towards the Moon, and a bulge away from it. The part of the Earth with the water getting pulled towards the Moon experiences a high tide, and same with the part on the opposite side of the Earth with the other bulge. Correspondingly, the parts of the Earth at right angles are experiencing low tides.
It would be hard enough to predict with a simple spherical Earth covered entirely by water, but we’ve got continents and coastlines, and that makes things even more complicated. The levels that the tides rise and fall depend quite a bit on how easily the water can move around in a region. That’s why you can get such big tides in places like the Bay of Fundy in Canada.
The Moon over Gulf Islands National Seashore near Navarre Beach, Florida. Credit: Mindi Meeks.
Our Sun also contributes to the tides. Surprisingly, it accounts for about 30% of the them. So when the Sun and the Moon are lined up in the sky, you get the highest high tides and the lowest low tides – these are Spring Tides. And then when the Sun and Moon are at right angles, you get the lowest high tides and the highest low tides. These are Neap Tides.
Tidal forces can be very powerful. They can tear galaxies apart and cause moons to get shredded into pieces. Perhaps the most dramatic example is how Jupiter’s enormous gravity pulls on Io so strongly that its surface rises and falls by 100 meters. This is 5 times greater than the Earth’s biggest water tides. This constant rise and fall heats up the moon, giving it non-stop volcanism.
What do you think? Share your favorite tidal science fact in the comments below. And if you like what you see, come check out our Patreon page and find out how you can get these videos early while helping us bring you more great content!
The supermoon of August 10, 2014 rising behind Mt. Rundle and Banff, Alberta, Canada as shot from the Mt. Norquay viewpoint looking south over the valley. Credit and copyright: Alan Dyer.
Wow! The astrophotographers out there are getting artsy! Take a look at some of the most artistic images of the full Moon we’ve seen yet.
The August 10 full Moon was a so-called “super” Moon — and it was the “super-est” of a trio of full Moons being at perigee, or its closest approach to the Earth in its orbit. It was just 356,896 kilometers distant at 17:44 UTC, less than an hour from Full. You can see a comparison shot of the perigee and apogee Moons this year immediately below. Find all the technical details here, but enjoy a gallery of great images from around the world
A comparison the between two ‘extreme’ full Moons of 2014: the perigee Full Moon of August 10th, and the apogee full Moon of January 16. As seen from Central Italy. Credit and copyright: Giuseppe Petricca.The August 10, 2014 ‘super’ Moon. Credit and copyright: Robbie Ambrose.Supermoon timelapse composite on August 10 near the ship mast at Barnegat Light on Long Beach Island, New Jersey. Credit and copyright: FrankM301 on Flickr.
A cloudy look at the perigee Moon of August 10, 2014 along side the Desde el Obelisco, Malecón de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Credit and copyright: Goku Abreu. ‘Super’ Moon, August 10, 2014, taken with Nikon D80 from Ottawa, Canada. Credit and copyright: Andrew Symes.
Super Moon (and a companion) rising over Brixton, South London. 10/08/2014. Credit and copyright: Owen Llewellyn. Camaro and Full Moon – Aug 9, 2014.Taken from the Cairns Wharf in Australia at dusk using an iPhone 5. Three frames; two exposures each. Credit and copyright: Joseph Brimacombe.
It was prom night in Cairns… so the fancy cars were out. See Joseph’s other “prom supermoon” image here.
People watch the nearly ‘super’ Moon rise on August 9, 2014 near a lighthouse. Credit and copyright: Will Nourse.Perigee Full Moon mosaic from August 10, 2014 (a first attempt at a mosaic!) Credit and copyright: Mary Spicer.Perigee Moon rise over London on August 10, 2014. Credit and copyright: Sculptor Lil.The perigee Moon from Toronto, Canada at 8:35 pm EDT. Credit and copyright: Rick Ellis.A full Moon flyby, as seen from Paris, France. Credit and copyright: Sebastien Lebrigand.
Even NASA got into the “super Moon” astrophoto craze. NASA photographer Bill Ingalls took this beautiful image at The Peace Monument on the grounds of the United States Capitol, in Washington D.C. :
A perigree full moon or supermoon is seen over the The Peace Monument on the grounds of the United States Capitol, Sunday, August 10, 2014, in Washington. A supermoon occurs when the moon’s orbit is closest (perigee) to Earth at the same time it is full. Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.
Ranger 7 took this image, the first picture of the Moon by a U.S. spacecraft, on 31 July 1964 at 13:09 UT (9:09 AM EDT) about 17 minutes before impacting the lunar surface. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
As we remember the 45th anniversary of Earth’s historic 1st manned lunar landing last week by America’s Apollo 11 crew of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on July 20, 1969, it’s likewise well worth recalling NASA’s pioneering and historic unmanned robotic mission Ranger 7 – that led the way to the Moon almost exactly 5 years earlier and that paved the path for the eventual 1st human footsteps on another celestial body.
Indeed the first critical robotic step to the manned landings was successfully taken when NASA’s unmanned Ranger 7 probe captured the first image of the Moon by a U.S. spacecraft 50 Years ago on July 31, 1964.
Ranger 7 took the milestone maiden picture of the Moon by an American spacecraft, on 31 July 1964, shown above, at 13:09 GMT (9:09 AM EDT) about 17 minutes before impacting the lunar surface on a suicide dive.
The history making image was taken at an altitude of 2110 kilometers and is centered at 13 S, 10 W and covers about 360 kilometers from top to bottom. The large Alphonsus crater is at center right and 108 km in diameter. Ptolemaeus crater is above and Arzachel is below.
Ranger 7 impacted out of view of the lead image, off to the left of the upper left corner.
“It looks as though this particular shot has been indeed a textbook operation,” William H. Pickering, the director of JPL during the mission, said at the time.
Guericke Crater as seen by Ranger 7
Ranger 7 B-camera image of Guericke crater (11.5 S, 14.1 W, diameter 63 km) taken from a distance of 1335 km. The dark flat floor of Mare Nubium dominates most of the image, which was taken 8.5 minutes before Ranger 7 impacted the Moon on 31 July 1964. The frame is about 230 km across and north is at 12:30. The impact site is off the frame to the left. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The purpose of NASA’s robotic Ranger program was to take high-quality pictures of the Moon and transmit them back to Earth in real time before being decimated on impact.
NASA Ranger 7 spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The priceless pictures would be used for science investigations as well as to search for suitable landing sites for NASA’s then planned Apollo manned Moon landers.
It’s hard to conceive now, but 5 decades ago at the dawn of the Space Age no one knew what the surface of the Moon was really like. There were vigorous debates back then on whether it was even hard or soft. Was it firm? Would a landed spacecraft or human astronaut sink?
Last Ranger 7 images taken before impact on the Moon. They were taken by the number 1 and 3 P-channel cameras at 0.39 and 0.19 s before impact from an altitude of 1070 and 519 meters, respectively. The pictures are cut off because the spacecraft impacted the surface before completing the transmission. The top image was taken by the P3 camera and the bottom image by P1. The P3 image is about 25 m across. North is at 12:30 for both images. The impact occurred on 31 July 1964 at 13:25:48.82 UT. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Altogether the probe took 4,308 excellent quality pictures during its final 17 minutes before crashing into the Moon at 13:26 GMT (9:26 p.m. EDT) in an area between Mare Nubium and Oceanus Procellarum at a spot subsequently named Mare Cognitum at 10.63 S latitude, 20.60 W longitude.
The final image from Ranger 7 shown herein had a resolution of 0.5 meter/pixel.
Ranger 7 was launched atop an Atlas Agena B rocket on 28 July 1964 from what was then known as Cape Kennedy and smashed into our nearest neighbor after 68.6 hours of flight at a velocity of 2.62 km/s (1.62 miles per second).
The 365.7 kilogram (806 lb) vehicle was 4.5 m wide and stood 3.6 m (11 ft) tall and was the Block 3 version of the Ranger spacecraft. It was powered by a pair of 1.5 m long solar panels and was equipped with a science payload of six television vidicon cameras transmitting data via the pointable high gain antennae mounted at the base.
Ranger 7 was the first successful mission in the Ranger series. The flight was entirely successful and was followed by Ranger’s 8 and 9. They were built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
Here’s a short 1964 documentary chronicling Ranger 7 titled “Lunar Bridgehead” that truly harkens back to the 1950s and 1960s and sci fi movies of the time. No wonder since that’s when it was produced.
Video Caption. This 1964 documentary titled “Lunar Bridgehead produced by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, chronicles the moments leading up to and following the Ranger 7 mission’s lunar impact 50 years ago. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
During the 1960’s NASA implemented an ambitions three pronged strategy of robotic missions – including Ranger, Lunar Orbiter and Surveyor – that imaged the Moon and studied it’s physical and chemical properties and supported and enabled the Apollo program and led directly to Neil Armstrong stepping onto the alien lunar landscape.
Three members of the Ranger 7 television experiment team stand near a scale model and lunar globe at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). From left: Ewen Whitaker, Dr. Gerard Kuiper, and Ray Heacock. Kuiper was the director of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL) at the University of Arizona. Whitaker was a research associate at LPL. Heacock was the Lunar and Planetary Instruments section chief at JPL. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Read more about pathfinding space missions in my earlier space history story about Mariner 10 – the first space probe to ever carry out a planetary gravity assist maneuver used to alter its speed and trajectory – in order to reach another celestial body – here.
Liftoff of Ranger 7 on July 28, 1964 from Cape Kennedy at Launch Complex 12. Credit: NASANeil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin plant the US flag on the Lunar Surface during 1st human moonwalk in history 45 years ago on July 20, 1969 during Apollo 11 mission. Credit: NASA
“Neil Armstrong – A Life of Flight” is a thoroughly enjoyable new biography about the first human to set foot on the Moon on NASA’s Apollo 11 mission written with gusto by Emmy winning NBC News space correspondent Jay Barbree.
Jay Barbee is a veteran NBC News reporter who has covered America’s manned space program from the start. And he has the distinction of being the only reporter to cover every single American manned space launch – all 166 from Alan Shepard in 1961 to STS-135 in 2011 – from his home base at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida allowing him to draw on a wealth of eyewitness experiences and inside contacts.
The book’s publication coincides with the 45th anniversary of the Flight of Apollo 11 on America’s first manned moon landing mission in July 1969 by the three man crew comprising Commander Neil Armstrong, fellow moonwalker and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin and Command Module pilot Michael Collins.
It’s a meticulously researched book over five decades in the making and based on personal interviews, notes, meetings, remembrances, behind the scenes visits, launches and more between Neil Armstrong and his trusted friend Jay Barbree as well as hordes more officials and astronauts key to achieving NASA’s spaceflight goals.
He won that trust because the astronauts and others trusted that he would get the story right and never betray confidences, Jay told me in an interview about the book.
“This is really Neil’s book. And it’s as accurate as possible. I will never reveal something Neil told me in confidence. But there is far more in this book about Neil than he would have liked.”
Jay Barbree and Neil Armstrong enjoy dinner with America’s first in orbit, John Glenn, who is performing standup comedy out of the picture. Courtesy: Jay Barbree. See p. XIX
There is a six page list of acknowledgments and the forward is written by no less than John Glenn – the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962.
Barbree is a master story teller who amply illustrates why NASA felt Armstrong was the best candidate to be 1st Man on the Moon based on his extraordinary intellect, piloting skills, and collected coolness and clear thinking under extraordinary pressure.
Armstrong also always shied away from publicity and bringing attention to himself, Barbree told me.
“Neil did not think he was any more important than anyone else. Neil wanted to do a book about a life of flight. But he wanted everyone else included.” And that’s exactly the format for the book – including Armstrong’s colleagues in words and pictures.
On July 21, NASA officially renamed a historic human spaceflight facility at the Kennedy Space Center in honor of Mission Commander Neil Armstrong – read my story here.
At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 21, 2014, NASA officials and Apollo astronauts have a group portrait taken in front of the refurbished Operations and Checkout Building, newly named for Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first person to set foot on the moon. From left are NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, Apollo astronauts Mike Collins, Buzz Aldrin and Jim Lovell, and Center Director Robert Cabana. The visit of the former astronauts was part of NASA’s 45th anniversary celebration of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The building’s high bay is being used to support the agency’s new Orion spacecraft, which will lift off atop the Space Launch System rocket. Photo credit: NASA/Kevin O’Connell
Barbree details Armstrong’s lifetime of flight experiences that led to the ultimate Moon landing moment; starting with his early experiences as a Korean war combat pilot and bailing out of a crippled Panther F9F fighter plane, flying the X-15 to an altitude of 39 miles and the edge of space as a NASA test pilot, his selection as a member of the second group of astronauts on September 17, 1962, his maiden space mission on Gemini 8 which suddenly went out of control and threatened the crews lives, and finally the landing on the Sea of Tranquility with only 30 seconds of fuel remaining.
“Neil Armstrong – A Life of Flight” is a book for anyone interested in learning the nitty gritty inside details starting from the founding of America’s space effort, the trials, tribulations and triumphs of the earlier Mercury and Gemini manned programs, the terrible tragedy of the Apollo 1 fire and death of three brave Americans – Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee – and how all this swirl lead up to America’s determined and miraculous effort recounting how we got to the Moon. Go elsewhere for gossip.
This hefty 350 page volume is absolutely chock full of details including copious quotes on virtually every page. So much so that Barbree brings the along reader for what seems like a firsthand account. It’s as though he were a fly in the room listening in on history being made and transcribing it second by second or as an actual crew member riding along himself and reporting ultimately from aboard Apollo 11 and the Moon’s desolate surface.
On the Lunar Surface – Apollo 11 astronauts trained on Earth to take individual photographs in succession in order to create a series of frames that could be assembled into panoramic images. This frame from fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin’s panorama of the Apollo 11 landing site is the only good picture of mission commander Neil Armstrong on the lunar surface. Credit: NASA
Barbree does this by putting into context the full meaning and breadth of what’s happening on a moment by moment basis. Giving you the reader a complete understanding of what, why and how these history making events transpired as they did.
I found his background information endlessly illuminating and informative ! – precisely because it’s not merely a transcription of dialogue.
Concerning the mild controversy regarding Armstrong’s actual first words spoken from the lunar surface, here’s excerpts from how Jay tells the story on p. 263:
“He had thought about one statement he judged had meaning and fit the historic occasion …. Neil had not made up his mind … he was undecided until he was faced with the moment.
Armstrong then lifted his left boot .. and set it down in moon dust.
“That’s one small step for man,” Neil said with a momentary pause. “One giant leap for mankind.”
What most didn’t know was that Neil had meant to say, “That’s one small step for a man,” and that set off an argument for years to come. Had a beep in transmission wiped it from our ears or had Neil nervously skipped the word?
Knowing Neil’s struggles with public speaking, I believe the latter, and with all the excitement … I’ve never been convinced Neil knew himself for sure,” Barbree wrote.
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin plant the US flag on the Lunar Surface during 1st human moonwalk in history 45 years ago on July 20, 1969 during Apollo 1l mission. Credit: NASA
Towards the books conclusion, he writes of Armstrong; “No greater man walked among us. No better man left us informed answers. Neil taught us how to take care of our Earth-Moon system.”
I also enjoyed towards the end of the book where Jay includes Neil’s disappointment that we haven’t ventured beyond Earth orbit in over 4 decades and includes Neil’s personal testimony to Congress so we learn the detail of Armstrong thoughts – in his own words.
“I am persuaded that a return to the moon would be the most productive path to expanding the human presence in the solar system.”
Jay also pinpoints why we haven’t returned to the Moon; “lack of vision for the future” by Congress and Presidents “have kept astronauts locked in Earth orbit.”
It’s been my privilege to get to know Jay during my own space reporting from the press site at the Kennedy Space Center and interview him about his magnificent new book.
Read Jay Barbree’s new 8 part series of 45th anniversary Apollo 11 stories at NBC News here:
Armstrong passed away unexpectedly at age 82 on August 25, 2012 due to complications from heart bypass surgery. Read my prior tribute articles: here and here
Despite Armstrong’s premature passing, Barbree told me he had completed all the interviews.
“There isn’t anything that comes to mind about Neil Armstrong that I didn’t get to ask him,” Barbree told me.
Read my story about the deep sea recovery of the Apollo 11 first stage F-1 engines in 2013 – here.
Jay Barbree is on a book signing tour and you might be lucky to catch him at an event like a colleague of mine did at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum recently. See photo below.
Stay tuned here for Ken’s Earth & Planetary science and human spaceflight news.
