SAN FRANCISCO, iNews.id – The Moon spacecraft can observe sky observations. The plane can even capture the environment around the Moon.
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has been circling the moon since 2009. But new images NASA shared Monday (November 22) from the spacecraft show a very different destination: Saturn, complete with stunning planetary rings.
The LRO took the image on October 13 using the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC). At the time, the spacecraft was about 56 miles (90 kilometers) above the lunar feature dubbed Lacus Veris, or Spring Lake, according to a NASA statement.
The image shows the north side of Saturn’s characteristic rings and more of the planet’s northern hemisphere than the southern. Northern Hemisphere summer ends and autumn begins in March. The ring world year lasts about 29 Earth years, making each season more than seven Earth years.
The LROC camera is designed to study the Moon. So NASA had to manipulate the spacecraft carefully to capture such stunning images of Saturn.
Although a similar image of Jupiter can see some of the largest giant Moons, the LRO cannot do the same on Saturn. That’s because Saturn is dimmer than Jupiter, according to NASA – and both are much dimmer than the moon designed to be studied by LROC.
Editor: Dini Listiyani
Share
Share
–
–
–
– .
