Explore: Orbiting Lunar Observatories

The Lunar Gateway, or simply Gateway, is a planned space station which is to be assembled in orbit around the Moon. The Gateway is intended to serve as

Kaguya after successfully orbiting the Moon for a year and eight months, the main orbiter was instructed to impact on the lunar surface near the crater

many observatories that are no longer in operation. While other sciences, such as volcanology and meteorology, also use facilities called observatories for

as a comprehensive scientific experiment base built on the lunar surface or in lunar orbit that can carry out multi-disciplinary and multi-objective scientific

active great observatories include the Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO), launched by STS-93 in July 1999 and is now in a 64-hour elliptical orbit studying

the ecliptic (the plane of Earth's orbit around the Sun), this effect is small. Once every 18.6 years, the lunar north pole describes a small circle

with actual lunar phenomena (an effect known as astronomical seeing). Other non-lunar explanations include the viewing of Earth-orbiting satellites and

but not by western observatories that did not have precise information about location. In 2010 NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter located the Lunokhod

NASA's series of Great Observatories satellites are four large, powerful space-based astronomical telescopes launched between 1990 and 2003. They were

15 Lunar Module blast crater while orbiting above the lunar surface. Beginning in 2009, NASA's robotic Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, while orbiting 50