It Really Did Happen!

I slept in a bit today. Not only that, but:

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.

2026 January 17

Apollo 14: A View from Antares
Image Credit: Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14NASAMosaic – Eric M. Jones

Explanation:ย Apollo 14’s Lunar Module Antaresย landed on the Moonย on February 5, 1971. Toward the end of the stay astronautย Ed Mitchellย snappedย a series of photosย of the lunar surface while looking out a window,ย assembledย into this detailed mosaic byย Apollo Lunar Surface Journalย editor Eric Jones. The view looks across theย Fra Mauro highlandsย to the northwest of the landing site after the Apollo 14 astronauts had completed their second and finalย 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,ย Alan Shepard, also used a makeshift six iron to hitย two golf balls. One of Shepard’s golf balls is just visible as a white spotย below Mitchell’s javelin.

Tomorrow’s picture:ย infrared Jupiter

2 thoughts on “It Really Did Happen!

    1. ๐Ÿคฃ๐Ÿคฃ๐Ÿคฃ I didn’t even catch that! Thank you, MDavis!! I bet they’d be hilarious about that…

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