Apollo 8 Imaged Pasteur Craters During Christmas Eve 1968 Lunar Orbit

Summary: Apollo 8 imaged Pasteur craters during Christmas Eve 1968 lunar orbit, as the spacecraft rounded the lunar far side.

black-and-white telephoto view of Earth rising (240,000 statute miles away) above the moon’s Earth-viewed eastern limb (570 kilometers; 350 statute miles away) captures the middle of Pasteur Crater, with Paster G (foreground) and Paster U cluster (top); Christmas Eve 1968 photo by Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) William Anders during Apollo 8 spacecraft’s fourth lunar orbit; NASA ID AS08-13-2329; NASA Johnson Space Center Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA does not maintain a copyright, via Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth

Apollo 8 imaged Pasteur craters during Christmas Eve 1968 lunar orbit, as Apollo Command-Service Module (CSM) 103 emerged from its 45-minute communication-less trek behind Earth’s moon.

Apollo 8 astronaut William Alison Anders (born Oct. 17, 1933) took three photographs of Earth rising above the lunar surface as CSM-103 rounded the lunar far side. He obtained his first Earthrise as a black-and-white photograph with a 250-millimeter telephoto lens. The image captured the sunlit-portion of the terrestrial globe, with the sunset terminator appearing to balance on the lunar horizon.

The lunar setting for Anders’ black-and-white Earthrise photograph is the far side’s selenocentric (moon-centered) southwestern quadrant. Pasteur Crater and its western satellites dominate the image’s lunar landscape.

Irregularly rimmed Pasteur lies southeast of Mare Smythii (Sea of Smyth). The equatorial basaltic lava plain spills across the near side’s southeastern quadrant into the far side’s southwestern quadrant.

In Apollo Over the Moon: A View From Orbit, published by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1978, astrogeologists Harold Masursky (Dec. 23, 1922-Aug. 24, 1990), G.W. Colton and Farouk El-Baz (born Jan. 2, 1938) described Pasteur as “. . . a large, ancient crater, 250 km in diameter, with numerous younger and smaller craters superposed on its rim and flat floor” (Chapter 2, page 33, figure 18). The authors noted that, “aside from a few small fresh-appearing craters,” Pasteur’s surrounding terrain “. . . appears to be old and subdued as if mantled by a thick layer of debris.”

Pasteur is centered at minus 11.58 degrees south latitude, 104.91 degrees east longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. The southern hemisphere crater’s northernmost and southernmost latitudes extend to minus 7.74 degrees south and minus 15.42 degrees south. It registers easternmost and westernmost longitudes at 108.83 degrees east and 100.99 degrees east. The lunar impact crater’s diameter spans 232.77 kilometers.

The IAU credits Pasteur with 14 satellites. Three of Pasteur’s designated satellites, G, H and M, cluster near their parent’s midpoint. The trio are visible in the foreground of the black-and-white Earthrise image.

Pasteur G is centered at minus 11.84 south latitude, 106.12 east longitude. The satellite obtains southernmost and northernmost latitudes of minus 11.5 degrees south and minus 12.19 degrees south. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes reach to 106.47 degrees east and 105.77 degrees east, respectively. The satellite has a diameter of 20.73 kilometers.

H neighbors G to the southwest. H is centered at minus 12.42 degrees south latitude, 106.79 degrees east longitude. The satellite marks northernmost and southernmost latitudes at minus 12.06 degrees south and minus 12.78 degrees south, respectively. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes register at 107.15 degrees east and 106.42 degrees east. Pasteur H has a diameter of 21.6 kilometers.

M lies west of H and southwest of G. Its northernmost and southernmost latitudes trim to minus 12.24 degrees south and minus 12.61 degrees south, respectively. M registers easternmost and westernmost longitudes at 105.27 degrees east and 104.89 degrees east, respectively. M has a diameter of 11.33 kilometers.

Toward Earthrise’s horizon, craterlets cluster around satellites S and U. Each satellite bears an intruding small crater. U also merges with Pasteur V along its northwestern wall.

Pasteur S lies to the south of Pasteur U. S aligns westward of Pasteur H and M.

S is centered at minus 12.4 degrees south latitude, 102.34 degrees east longitude. S obtains northernmost and southernmost latitudes at minus 11.92 degrees south and minus 12.87 degrees south, respectively. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes reach to 102.83 degrees east and 101.86 degrees east, respectively. S’s diameter measures 28.76 kilometers.

Pasteur U hunkers north-northwest of S. It lies northwestward of the midpoint clustering of G, H and M.

U is centered at minus 9.99 degrees south latitude, 101.99 degrees east longitude. U marks northernmost and southernmost latitudes at minus 9.37 degrees south and minus 10.62 degrees south, respectively. Easternmost and westernmost longitudes reach to 102.62 degrees east and 101.35 degrees east, respectively. U’s diameter spans 37.88 kilometers.

The takeaway for Apollo 8’s image of Pasteur craters during the mission’s Christmas Eve 1968 lunar orbit is that the black-and-white Earthrise photograph taken by Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) William Anders makes a dramatic capture of Earth that includes a recognizable tour of lunar far side crater Pasteur’s western satellites.

Detail of Lunar Aeronautical Chart (LAC) 82 shows parent crater Pasteur dotted with its 13 satellites; scale 1:1,000,000; Mercator Projection: United States Air Force (USAF) Aeronautical Chart and Information Center (ACIC) via USGS/Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

black-and-white telephoto view of Earth rising (240,000 statute miles away) above the moon’s Earth-viewed eastern limb (570 kilometers; 350 statute miles away) captures the middle of Pasteur Crater, with Paster G (foreground) and Paster U cluster (top); Christmas Eve 1968 photo by Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) William Anders during Apollo 8 spacecraft’s fourth lunar orbit; NASA ID AS08-13-2329; NASA Johnson Space Center Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA does not maintain a copyright, via Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth @ https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos/photo.pl?mission=AS08&roll=13&frame=2329;
Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Video Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-as08-13-2329

Detail of Lunar Aeronautical Chart (LAC) 82 shows parent crater Pasteur dotted with its 14 satellites; scale 1:1,000,000; Mercator Projection: United States Air Force (USAF) Aeronautical Chart and Information Center (ACIC) via USGS/Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/images/Lunar/lac_82_wac.pdf

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