It’s an iconic sight when astronauts plant an American flagpole on the surface of the moon, but decades after these flags were first planted, many are wondering: have they stood the test of time?
Keeping an eye on the moon flag is easier said than done. It would be great if even older people could pick up a telescope and peer through it, but unfortunately that’s not possible.
As astrophotographer Robert Reeves explains, video“The moon is about a quarter of a million miles away. The smallest objects on the surface of the moon that can be seen by telescopes on Earth, the largest research telescopes, are just under a mile in diameter.”
“The flags left by the Apollo astronauts on the Moon were only about four feet tall. [1.2 meters] “It’s wide, but unfortunately it’s a thousand times smaller than what we can see from Earth,” he continues. “Even the powerful Hubble Space Telescope can’t see it.”
Thankfully, NASA has a handy solution to this problem. Lunar probe As its name suggests, the spacecraft orbits the Moon, monitoring it and spotting the shadow of a flag left on its surface.
according to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)Photos taken by LRO in recent years reveal that flags left behind from the Apollo 12, 16, and 17 missions appear to still be standing. Admittedly, you have to squint a bit to see them (there’s a handy arrow), but it’s a good landmark.
Images taken by LRO in 2012 show the flag left behind by Apollo 12 still standing.
Image courtesy of NASA
This isn’t good news for the original flag left behind by Apollo 11. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin said he saw the flag fall during launch, and LRO seems to confirm that, but the flag was never seen at LRO.
What’s the current report on what’s left of Apollo 14 and 15? Inconclusive. LRO can’t examine it in enough detail, but the 14 one seems to have taken a “pretty big hit” from the Lunar Module exhaust during launch, so it wouldn’t be surprising if it had toppled over.
But there’s a lot on the moon whose fate remains unknown until humans return to the moon, which may take a little longer than initially expected. Recent Updates Because it’s too small to be seen.
For example, I don’t know what happened 96 bags of human waste It was left on the surface of the moon, but if it were discovered and brought back to Earth, analysiswe imagine that this will certainly be one of the strangest experiments ever conducted by these lucky scientists.
But scientists can make some inferences about other objects. Family photo This was left on the moon by Apollo 16 astronaut Charles Duke, likely bleached from 52 years of exposure to the sun.
In the first place, should these memorials, flags, and poop have been left behind, or should they continue to be left behind? A completely different issue.
