LRO

Deep Impact Images Spectacular incoming Comet ISON – Curiosity & NASA Armada Will Try

February 6, 2013

Want to stay on top of all the space news? Follow @universetoday on Twitter Image Caption: This image of comet ISON (C/2012 S1) ) from NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft clearly shows the coma and nucleus on Jan. 17/18, 2013 beyond the orbit of Jupiter. See the dramatic new movie sequence below. It combines all 146 [...]

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Fly Over a Pristine Lunar Crater

February 6, 2013

Linné crater on the Moon is one of the youngest, most well-preserved lunar impact craters. This cone-shaped crater thought to be less than 10 million years old – a mere whippersnapper when it comes to impact craters. Scientists have been studying this crater for years, using it to investigate how cratering occurs in mare basalt. [...]

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NASA’s Lunar Orbiter Gets an Art Lesson with Lasers

January 17, 2013

In the ultimate example of science imitating art, engineers working with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter recently beamed an image of the Mona Lisa to the LRO and back via laser beam in order to measure the rate of transmission between the spacecraft and Earth. This allowed them to then calibrate their software to correct for [...]

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What Craters on the Moon Teach Us About Earth

January 10, 2013

When the Moon was receiving its highest number of impacts, so was Earth. Credit: Dan Durda Some questions about our own planet are best answered by looking someplace else entirely… in the case of impact craters and when, how and how often they were formed, that someplace can be found shining down on us nearly [...]

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The South Rim of Aristarchus

December 30, 2012

LROC view looking obliquely of the south rim of Aristarchus from the west (NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University) Flying over at an altitude of 135 km, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this lovely oblique view of the crater Aristarchus, looking down at the 40-km (25-mile) -wide crater’s southern rim from the west. The broad flank of Aristarchus’ [...]

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