Universe Today reports Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Finds Some Surprises on the Moon.
"Imaging the Apollo landing sites have served a practical purpose," said Mark Robinson, LROC principal investigator, "as we are using them in lieu of to calibrate the LROC Narrow Angle Cameras. Plus these images are much more fun than stars, because we get to see where humans used to walk. It's also much less stress on the spacecraft because you don't have to slew in and out to look at the stars...Robinson said the soil compacted by the Apollo astronauts and lunar rovers is darker than undisturbed soil. "Disturbing the soil changes the brightness by a factor of two," he said."
Also, New Images Provide Insight Into Our Sun's Ultimate Fate.
"When our Sun begins to die, it will become a red giant as it runs out of hydrogen fuel at its core. Astronomers have a pretty good idea of what will transpire: the sun will swell to a size so large that it will swallow every planet out to Mars in our solar system. Don't worry, though, this won't happen for another 5 billion years. But now, astronomers have been able to watch in detail the death of a sun-like star about 550 light-years from Earth to get a better grasp on what the end might be for our Sun. The star, Chi Cygni, has swollen in size, and is now writhing in its death throes. The star has begun to pulse dramatically in and out, beating like a giant heart. New close-up photos of the surface of this distant star show its throbbing motions in unprecedented detail."
They made this animation. Note the legend showing the distance between the Sun and the Earth (that is 1 Astronomical Unit which is about 93,000,000 miles).
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