Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2021 February 4

                       Apollo 14: A View from Antares
    Image Credit: Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14, NASA; Mosaic - Eric M. Jones

   Explanation: Fifty years ago this Friday, Apollo 14's Lunar Module
   Antares landed on the Moon. Toward the end of the stay astronaut Ed
   Mitchell snapped a series of photos of the lunar surface while looking
   out a window, assembled into this detailed mosaic by Apollo Lunar
   Surface Journal editor Eric Jones. The view looks across the Fra Mauro
   highlands to the northwest of the landing site after the Apollo 14
   astronauts had completed their second and final walk on the Moon.
   Prominent in the foreground is their Modular Equipment Transporter, a
   two-wheeled, rickshaw-like device used to carry tools and samples. Near
   the horizon at top center is a 1.5 meter wide boulder dubbed Turtle
   rock. In the shallow crater below Turtle rock is the long white handle
   of a sampling instrument, thrown there javelin-style by Mitchell.
   Mitchell's fellow moonwalker and first American in space, Alan Shepard,
   also used a makeshift six iron to hit two golf balls. One of Shepard's
   golf balls is just visible as a white spot below Mitchell's javelin.

                     Tomorrow's picture: and back again
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.
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