Earth's Moon - Ranger 8

Final Ranger 8 pictures taken 1/2 second before impact

Earth's Moon
Final pictures taken by the Ranger 8 P-camera about 1/2 second before impact. Impact occurred on 20 February 1965 at 9:57:36.256 UT. The images are ordered (clockwise from upper left) P3, P4, P2, P1. Impact occurred before transmission of the image P4 was complete, hence the static over most of the image. The areas shown are in Mare Tranquillitatus (Sea of Tranquillity) about 60 km north of the Apollo 11 landing site. Image P3 was taken 0.489 seconds before impact, from a distance of 1.09 km. The image is about 140 meters across. Image P1 was taken 0.689 seconds before impact from 1.52 km and is 60 meters across. Image P2 was taken 0.289 seconds prior to impact from 640 meters. The frame is 30 meters across. North is up on all images. (Ranger 8, P020)
Larger image: 486K

High resolution tiff file (1.0M)

Location & Time Information
Date/Time (UT): 1965-02-20 T 9:57:36
Distance/Range (km): 1
Central Latitude/Longitude (deg): +02.71, 024.61 E
Orbit(s): Impact - Hard Landing

Imaging Information
Area or Feature Type: crater
Instrument: Vidicon Camera P
Instrument Resolution (pixels): 300 x 300
Instrument Field of View (deg): 2.1 (P1, P2) 6.3 (P3, P4)
Filter: None
Illumination Incidence Angle (deg): 75.2
Phase Angle (deg): 39.1
Instrument Look Direction: N/A
Surface Emission Angle (deg): 36.6

Ordering Information
CD-ROM Volume: N/A
NASA Image ID number: Ranger 8 P020
Other Image ID number: N/A
NSSDC Data Set ID (Photo): 65-010A-01A
NSSDC Data Set ID (CD): N/A
Other ID: N/A

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[NASA Logo] Authors/Curators:

Dave Williams, dave.williams@nasa.gov, (301) 286-1258
Code 690.1, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA

Jay Friedlander, jay.s.friedlander@nasa.gov, (301) 286-7172
Code 612.4, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA

NASA Official: Dr. David R. Williams, David.R.Williams@nasa.gov
Last updated: 24 September 2015