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.

                                2019 July 20

                         Apollo 11 Landing Panorama
                Image Credit: Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11, NASA

   Explanation: Have you seen a panorama from another world lately?
   Assembled from high-resolution scans of the original film frames, this
   one sweeps across the magnificent desolation of the Apollo 11 landing
   site on the Moon's Sea of Tranquility. The images were taken by Neil
   Armstrong looking out his window of the Eagle Lunar Module fifty years
   ago, shortly after the July 20, 1969 landing. The frame at the far left
   (AS11-37-5449) is the first picture taken by a person on another world.
   Toward the south, thruster nozzles can be seen in the foreground on the
   left, while at the right, the shadow of the Eagle is visible to the
   west. For scale, the large, shallow crater on the right has a diameter
   of about 12 meters. Frames taken from the Lunar Module windows about an
   hour and a half after landing, before walking on the lunar surface,
   were intended to initially document the landing site in case an early
   departure was necessary.

                       Tomorrow's picture: moonquakes
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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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