Lunar Orbiter Can See Apollo Equipment on the Moon

One of the main questions, believe it or not, that we get asked whenever we have a star party is this, “Can you see the American flag on the moon with that telescope?” I know it sounds hilarious, but we get asked this all the time, and we generally only lug around an 8” telescope to our star parties.

The answer, of course, is—not a chance. Not even the Hubble can resolve something that ridiculously small. However, the new NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter can actually resolve these things. In fact, it has already captured images of several Apollo landing sites and you can even see the astronauts foot trails in the dust! It’s incredible. You really just need to click on this link and see the images for yourself!
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