A Closer Closer Look

This Day in History: July 31, 1964

A Harvest Moon

When the moon is in view, particularly during its full moon phase, one can 'see' the craters on its surface. Imagination soars as the 'man in the moon' image appears...none more spectacular than the harvest moon. Uneven surfaces reveal shadowy displays of eyes, nose and a mouth. What we are envisioning is being transmitted an average distance from Moon to Earth of 384,403 km (238,857 mi).

What about a closer look?

Ranger 7

A closer look indeed can be taken through a telescope. But what about a closer closer look, 1,000 times as clear as anything ever seen through earth-bound telescopes? On July 31, 1964, the first US space probe, Ranger 7, successfully transmits close images of the lunar surface back to Earth.

"Ranger 7 reached the Moon on 31 July. The F-channel began its one minute warm up 18 minutes before impact. The first image was taken at 13:08:45 UT at an altitude of 2110 km. Transmission of 4,308 photographs of excellent quality occurred over the final 17 minutes of flight. The final image taken before impact has a resolution of 0.5 meters." Source: en.wikipedia.org

 First image of the Moon taken by a US spacecraft.
The large crater at center right is Alphonsus.

 

  Last picture by Ranger 7, taken about 488 m above the Moon,
reveals features as small as 38 cm across.
The noise pattern at right results from
spacecraft impact while transmitting.

Now, where IS that 'man in the moon'?