                        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.

                                2024 March 1

                            Odysseus and The Dish
        Image Credit & Copyright: John Sarkissian (ATNF Parkes Radio
                                Observatory)

   Explanation: Murriyang, the CSIRO’s Parkes radio telescope points
   toward a nearly Full Moon in this image from New South Wales,
   Australia, planet Earth. Bathed in moonlight, the 64 meter dish is
   receiving weak radio signals from Odysseus, following the robotic
   lander's February 22 touch down some 300 kilometers north of the Moon's
   south pole. The landing of Odysseus represents the first U.S. landing
   on the Moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. Odysseus' tilted
   orientation on the lunar surface prevents its high-gain antenna from
   pointing toward Earth. But the sensitivity of the large, steerable
   Parkes dish significantly improved the reception of data from the
   experiments delivered to the lunar surface by the robotic moon lander.
   Of course the Parkes Radio Telescope dish became famous for its
   superior lunar television reception during the Apollo 11 mission in
   1969, allowing denizens of planet Earth to watch the first moonwalk.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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