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I have one question: Are there currently any landers on the near side of the Moon, the one side we can look at through the telescope here on Earth, or are all

I have one question: Are there currently any landers on the near side of the Moon, the one side we can look at through the telescope here on Earth, or are all of them heading only to the dark side?

avhon1 3y ago
Chandrayaan-3 is aiming to land later this week at a spot only 32° east, so technically visible through a telescope. https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=Chandrayaan-3&params=69.367621_S_32.348126_E_globe:moon https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=Chandraya... Also, every lander that's ever landed on the near side of the moon is still there. Nitpick: it's the far side of the moon, not the dark side. Unless you mean "dark" as in "mysterious", but that's just misleading.
- wheelerof4te 3y ago
  "Also, every lander that's ever landed on the near side of the moon is still there." Cool! Can we spot them with powerful telescopes?
  - avhon1 3y ago
    Not with any existing earth-bound or low-earth-orbit telescope. The largest landers were the Apollo landers, which are over 4 meters across. Photographs of the landing sites have been taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and the Very Large Telescope, but none of the photographs have the resolution necessary to see the landers. https://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/hubble_moon.html https://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/hubble_moon... On the other hand, some Lunar-orbit spacecraft have directly photographed prior landers. Here is an article with nice photographs from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter of the Apollo 17 landing site, in which the descent stage of the lander, and tracks leading to and from it, are clearly visible. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/news/apollo-sites.html https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/news/apollo-sites.htm... and here is a timestamp showing an image that India's Chandrayaan-2 orbiter took of the Apollo 11 landing site and descent stage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8oV-Kx26no&t=3613s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8oV-Kx26no&t=3613s

I have one question: Are there currently any landers on the near side of the Moon, the one side we can look at through the telescope here on Earth, or are all of them heading only to the dark side?

avhon1 3y ago

Chandrayaan-3 is aiming to land later this week at a spot only 32° east, so technically visible through a telescope. https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=Chandrayaan-3&params=69.367621_S_32.348126_E_globe:moon https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=Chandraya... Also, every lander that's ever landed on the near side of the moon is still there. Nitpick: it's the far side of the moon, not the dark side. Unless you mean "dark" as in "mysterious", but that's just misleading.

wheelerof4te 3y ago
"Also, every lander that's ever landed on the near side of the moon is still there." Cool! Can we spot them with powerful telescopes?
- avhon1 3y ago
  Not with any existing earth-bound or low-earth-orbit telescope. The largest landers were the Apollo landers, which are over 4 meters across. Photographs of the landing sites have been taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and the Very Large Telescope, but none of the photographs have the resolution necessary to see the landers. https://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/hubble_moon.html https://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/hubble_moon... On the other hand, some Lunar-orbit spacecraft have directly photographed prior landers. Here is an article with nice photographs from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter of the Apollo 17 landing site, in which the descent stage of the lander, and tracks leading to and from it, are clearly visible. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/news/apollo-sites.html https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/news/apollo-sites.htm... and here is a timestamp showing an image that India's Chandrayaan-2 orbiter took of the Apollo 11 landing site and descent stage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8oV-Kx26no&t=3613s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8oV-Kx26no&t=3613s