Mystery solved!
7 Jun 2012, 19:03 UTC
Major thanks to Francis Reddy–science writer on contract with the Astrophysics Science Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md–for solving the mystery of the Lunar Orbiter poster I purchased from the University of Maryland Observatory yard sale! (The complete backstory of this poster is provided in the earlier post “We interrupt this poetry blog to bring you a mystery.”)
Here’s the information from Francis and a copy of the poster which he so kindly labelled:
“Here’s the solution to your Lunar Orbiter challenge. This is a Lunar Orbiter II medium-resolution image taken 44 km above Sinus Medii. The centerpoint of the image is not far from the Surveyor 4 & 6 landing sites (the region of both sites is included in the shot, which may explain why it was significant enough to someone to survive). I’ve attached a version with a few labels for features I could securely identify. More info:
Mission: Lunar Orbiter 2
Spacecraft Position:
Altitude: 44.19 km
Latitude: 4.15°
Longitude: -0.31°
Principal Point (seems to correspond to the center of the horizon for this oblique view):
Latitude: 0.21°
I’m including a Digital Lunar Orbiter Photographic Atlas of the Moon photo (Photo Number IV-097-M) for ...




