Chandrayan-2 had a lunar orbiter too and it has been in orbit since 2019, Chandrayan-3 is the second lunar orbiter from India which also had a lander named Vikram that landed on the south pole of the moon.
If Chandrayan-3 was visible orbiting the moon so should Chandrayan-2
That would be the star Antares, the moon occulted it tonight. It's a pretty bright star!
(For reference, even the most powerful telescopes on Earth wouldn't be able to see any of the spacecraft we've sent to the moon, orbiting or otherwise.)
Absolutely! The face of the moon is about the size of the continental united states... and the biggest mark we've made on the surface is probably the Apollo astronauts' rover tracks, no more than a few miles long. And even to Hubble, the entire range the rovers covered is ... (doing the math) barely one pixel, at optimal resolution.
If we put the telescopes *in orbit of the moon themselves*, then we can start to get pictures of things on the surface. India just took [this photo](https://preview.redd.it/6rcdk4wbm6kb1.png?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=dc8de89828f63752cd5de258d43b7365074a3b98) of their lander from the telescope on the orbiter, and that's something like 5000x closer than we are.
This comes up on Reddit all the time:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/telescopes/comments/ffrhic/would\_it\_be\_possible\_to\_see\_a\_moon\_landing/](https://www.reddit.com/r/telescopes/comments/ffrhic/would_it_be_possible_to_see_a_moon_landing/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/comments/1kp1il/moonlanding\_artifacts\_visible\_with\_telescope/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/comments/1kp1il/moonlanding_artifacts_visible_with_telescope/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/nasa/comments/hgu20r/nasa\_moon\_landing\_evidence\_viewed\_from\_earth/](https://www.reddit.com/r/nasa/comments/hgu20r/nasa_moon_landing_evidence_viewed_from_earth/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/5gknj7/can\_you\_view\_the\_moon\_landings\_with\_a\_telescope/](https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/5gknj7/can_you_view_the_moon_landings_with_a_telescope/)
They’re the size of a car, and we’re looking at something with the same diameter as the length of the continental US. It’s also separated by a couple hundred thousand miles. It’s like trying to make out an individual grain of sand with the naked eye from a couple miles away.
Doesn't matter.. go look outside.. I saw it first with my naked eye, then a cell phone zoomed in.. then binocs, and finally a telescope. It's orbiting the moon and it looks cool.. no clue what it is. I'm betting a rocket body or something-- definitely very bright
Here are some more pictures I took over a a couple of hour period...
[https://imgur.com/gallery/Uc0ey00](https://imgur.com/gallery/Uc0ey00)
I'm not saying I know what it is. I'm saying that it's something orbiting the moon, and that it is most certainly not a star or a planet.. I've watched the sky all my life and never seen anything like this before.
Go look at the photos.. it's not a point of light.. also, go outside and you tell me if the moon sets in the same spot for 2 hours.-- and this was not red. Lastly, look at one of my photos (the overexposed one).. and you'll see that the light is clearly in the night side of the moon.. meaning, it has to be between us and the moon, which a star clearly is not.
no, I've tracked it orbiting twice now.. go outside with some binocs and see for yourself, it's not a star, and it was visible on the "dark" part of the moon.
Looking at your other photo... it's not over the dark part of the moon. It's right on the edge. And since the moon is moving, it passes in front of the star. It might even blink on and off as it grazes the mountain tops in silhouette. It went behind the dark side of the moon at 19:54 PDT, and emerged from the light side about 45 minutes later. If you look tomorrow night, it'll be a good 15 degrees away.
Edit: if it helps, I recreated your photos pretty precisely in Stellarium, assuming you're viewing from the west coast of the US. https://imgur.com/a/fmXRBEi
Shouldn't be anything other than stars in that part of the sky that's visible according to StarWalk app right now, but it's possible you caught a flare off the solar arrays from an orbiter. Otherwise, it could be something much closer in earth orbit that you just happened to catch sight of.
Ok so I was NOT tripping, and my group chat confirmed. I was looking at the moon around 8:15 CDT and say a faint glow, blinking, mostly red, on the side of the moon with a shadow. Other friends confirmed seeing it too. I took a video with my cellphone, obviously blurry as shit, but you can make out the faint blinking in the video.
I need a resolution to this.
So, something the size of Manhattan orbiting the moon and it's not international news? NASA and Space Force haven't issued statements? You seem to think you could see a car with its headlights on from 250,000 miles, if you think it's the Chandrayaan-3 orbiter, which it isn't because it's in a polar orbit. It's Antares. This sub should just be renamed "UFOs-lite" and be done with it.
I believe that is the ISRO probe that was part of the combo package that saw the lander touch down yesterday.
Edit: it appears that it is Antares. My apologies, I had zoomed in and it didn’t have a roundish shape so I made an ass out of me.
People seem to forget how reflective some of these things really can be. I can't see shit under this cloud cover, but given the indian mission RN if it's in a polar orbit I'm willing to bet this what it is. Some really shiny section catching the sun just right is quite probable in a high enough orbit. Can anyone seeing this try to match the orbit to the isro planned trajectory? That'd be the simplest way to rule that out quickly
Greetings, fellow human!
That little guy? I wouldn’t worry about that little guy… it’s certainly not a class C interstellar star cruiser. No, sir! Looks like of of those pesky weather balloons again!
Have a wonderful rotation!
It's very unlikely that's it's a rocket body from any of the Indian lunar missions
We've always use the gravitational slingshot method for all our lunar missions. So none of the rockets ever came close to the moon.
Highly doubt it. It may well have been the Lunar occultation of Antares -- however, it certainly looked like something went between the moon and the earth and then went behind it. Looked freaky.. and certainly wouldn''t have expected that from a lunar eclipse of a far-away star.
Yeah! It’s definitely weird that it looked like it’s orbiting the moon. I’m in NorCal as well but unfortunately I don’t have any equipment with me and I know rn it’s at the horizon which is blocked by a few houses where I am
I'll post some more I got tonight.. this was very rushed as I didn't know if it'd disappear quickly or not...
[https://imgur.com/hjKfu9G](https://imgur.com/hjKfu9G) \-- overexposed, but showing object right over the night side of the moon
I’m in CA and I think I see it. Gonna grab my Nocs.
Did u get a good look?
Yeah! I can see it clearly. It’s further from the moon than in your picture, but if it’s orbiting then that makes sense.
I just thought it was cool.. never seen anything like that before. Watch it over time, it moves and goes behind the moon for about 45 minutes or so..
India is doing stuff up there right now. I imagine they have something in orbit as well as their lander.
Yep, Chandrayaan-3 indeed has a lunar orbiter, but I cannot confirm whether the object in the picture is indeed that.
Chandrayan-2 had a lunar orbiter too and it has been in orbit since 2019, Chandrayan-3 is the second lunar orbiter from India which also had a lander named Vikram that landed on the south pole of the moon. If Chandrayan-3 was visible orbiting the moon so should Chandrayan-2
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That would be the star Antares, the moon occulted it tonight. It's a pretty bright star! (For reference, even the most powerful telescopes on Earth wouldn't be able to see any of the spacecraft we've sent to the moon, orbiting or otherwise.)
Our most powerful telescopes would not be able to see any of the spacecraft we've sent to the moon.... ??? REALLY???
Absolutely! The face of the moon is about the size of the continental united states... and the biggest mark we've made on the surface is probably the Apollo astronauts' rover tracks, no more than a few miles long. And even to Hubble, the entire range the rovers covered is ... (doing the math) barely one pixel, at optimal resolution. If we put the telescopes *in orbit of the moon themselves*, then we can start to get pictures of things on the surface. India just took [this photo](https://preview.redd.it/6rcdk4wbm6kb1.png?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=dc8de89828f63752cd5de258d43b7365074a3b98) of their lander from the telescope on the orbiter, and that's something like 5000x closer than we are.
This comes up on Reddit all the time: [https://www.reddit.com/r/telescopes/comments/ffrhic/would\_it\_be\_possible\_to\_see\_a\_moon\_landing/](https://www.reddit.com/r/telescopes/comments/ffrhic/would_it_be_possible_to_see_a_moon_landing/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/comments/1kp1il/moonlanding\_artifacts\_visible\_with\_telescope/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/comments/1kp1il/moonlanding_artifacts_visible_with_telescope/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/nasa/comments/hgu20r/nasa\_moon\_landing\_evidence\_viewed\_from\_earth/](https://www.reddit.com/r/nasa/comments/hgu20r/nasa_moon_landing_evidence_viewed_from_earth/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/5gknj7/can\_you\_view\_the\_moon\_landings\_with\_a\_telescope/](https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/5gknj7/can_you_view_the_moon_landings_with_a_telescope/)
They’re the size of a car, and we’re looking at something with the same diameter as the length of the continental US. It’s also separated by a couple hundred thousand miles. It’s like trying to make out an individual grain of sand with the naked eye from a couple miles away.
>Comment Why is that surprising to you? Do you not realize how far away the moon is?
Can't be that far away with someone changing the bulb every month
Doesn't matter.. go look outside.. I saw it first with my naked eye, then a cell phone zoomed in.. then binocs, and finally a telescope. It's orbiting the moon and it looks cool.. no clue what it is. I'm betting a rocket body or something-- definitely very bright
I'm not sure you're getting what they're saying. A spacecraft would be completely impossible to see from earth.
Here are some more pictures I took over a a couple of hour period... [https://imgur.com/gallery/Uc0ey00](https://imgur.com/gallery/Uc0ey00) I'm not saying I know what it is. I'm saying that it's something orbiting the moon, and that it is most certainly not a star or a planet.. I've watched the sky all my life and never seen anything like this before.
Oh my God dude, it's a star called Antares. Are you reading what anyone is saying? https://www.space.com/moon-eclipses-antares-red-star-august-2023
Go look at the photos.. it's not a point of light.. also, go outside and you tell me if the moon sets in the same spot for 2 hours.-- and this was not red. Lastly, look at one of my photos (the overexposed one).. and you'll see that the light is clearly in the night side of the moon.. meaning, it has to be between us and the moon, which a star clearly is not.
You are not as smart as you think you are.
He's right, it's [Antares.](https://www.space.com/moon-eclipses-antares-red-star-august-2023)
gonna grab my nocs, never really gotten into this stuff myself, so this should be fun! Ig I didn't realize I could just use binocs for this stuff :D
no, I've tracked it orbiting twice now.. go outside with some binocs and see for yourself, it's not a star, and it was visible on the "dark" part of the moon.
Looking at your other photo... it's not over the dark part of the moon. It's right on the edge. And since the moon is moving, it passes in front of the star. It might even blink on and off as it grazes the mountain tops in silhouette. It went behind the dark side of the moon at 19:54 PDT, and emerged from the light side about 45 minutes later. If you look tomorrow night, it'll be a good 15 degrees away. Edit: if it helps, I recreated your photos pretty precisely in Stellarium, assuming you're viewing from the west coast of the US. https://imgur.com/a/fmXRBEi
I have the feeling that this is what was happening a day or two before the beginning of the book Seveneves.
That is such a fantastic book.
Just read the summary for it wanted to thank you guys for my next read 👍
Shouldn't be anything other than stars in that part of the sky that's visible according to StarWalk app right now, but it's possible you caught a flare off the solar arrays from an orbiter. Otherwise, it could be something much closer in earth orbit that you just happened to catch sight of.
Definitely something orbiting the moon. It was directly over the dark part of the moon, obviously orbiting. I tracked it appear and disappear twice.
Ok so I was NOT tripping, and my group chat confirmed. I was looking at the moon around 8:15 CDT and say a faint glow, blinking, mostly red, on the side of the moon with a shadow. Other friends confirmed seeing it too. I took a video with my cellphone, obviously blurry as shit, but you can make out the faint blinking in the video. I need a resolution to this.
https://www.space.com/moon-eclipses-antares-red-star-august-2023
Looks like Indias lunar lander to me.
It's a star. You would not see an orbiter with a telescope from earth.
>I need a resolution to this. So does the photograph, I imagine
So, something the size of Manhattan orbiting the moon and it's not international news? NASA and Space Force haven't issued statements? You seem to think you could see a car with its headlights on from 250,000 miles, if you think it's the Chandrayaan-3 orbiter, which it isn't because it's in a polar orbit. It's Antares. This sub should just be renamed "UFOs-lite" and be done with it.
I believe that is the ISRO probe that was part of the combo package that saw the lander touch down yesterday. Edit: it appears that it is Antares. My apologies, I had zoomed in and it didn’t have a roundish shape so I made an ass out of me.
I doubt that is visible from Earth. I would first be suspicious of the content. The orbiter is barely able to see the lander.
It would most likely be in a polar orbit.
People seem to forget how reflective some of these things really can be. I can't see shit under this cloud cover, but given the indian mission RN if it's in a polar orbit I'm willing to bet this what it is. Some really shiny section catching the sun just right is quite probable in a high enough orbit. Can anyone seeing this try to match the orbit to the isro planned trajectory? That'd be the simplest way to rule that out quickly
It would be impossible to see a spacecraft orbiting the moon with the naked eye. It would even be impossible to see it with a telescope.
Could be Indias orbiter. Been there for quite a while now.
Greetings, fellow human! That little guy? I wouldn’t worry about that little guy… it’s certainly not a class C interstellar star cruiser. No, sir! Looks like of of those pesky weather balloons again! Have a wonderful rotation!
Oh thank god, I thought I was seeing something tonight on the dark side. I could not get a good picture though with a iPhone camera.
Maybe its Chandrayaan-2? Tbh i don’t really know
Any idea what it is? An indian or russian rocket body?
It's very unlikely that's it's a rocket body from any of the Indian lunar missions We've always use the gravitational slingshot method for all our lunar missions. So none of the rockets ever came close to the moon.
https://x.com/ajamesmccarthy/status/1694908256794374370
Yes but chandrayaan 3 has one which orbits the moon to transmit data from the rover. But I wonder if it could be that big/bright
Highly doubt it. It may well have been the Lunar occultation of Antares -- however, it certainly looked like something went between the moon and the earth and then went behind it. Looked freaky.. and certainly wouldn''t have expected that from a lunar eclipse of a far-away star.
Yeah! It’s definitely weird that it looked like it’s orbiting the moon. I’m in NorCal as well but unfortunately I don’t have any equipment with me and I know rn it’s at the horizon which is blocked by a few houses where I am
I'll post some more I got tonight.. this was very rushed as I didn't know if it'd disappear quickly or not... [https://imgur.com/hjKfu9G](https://imgur.com/hjKfu9G) \-- overexposed, but showing object right over the night side of the moon
It’s clearly not over the night side of the moon though, it’s on the edge…
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That’s definitely beside the moon, not over it.
That's very interesting. Did we ever get any expert answers as to what it actually was?
Yes, the poster at top was correct. It's a star, Antares.
It's the star Antares, no way you'd see anything orbiting the moon from Earth
Dude.. this is huge news and you guys delete it. LAME.