A sharper than ever moon

A ROBOTIC spaceship circling the moon has snapped the sharpest photographs ever of the tracks and rubbish left by Apollo astronauts in visits from 1969 to 1972.

Nasa’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter got close enough to see the astronauts’ path when they walked on the moon, ruts left by a moon buggy and backpacks pitched out of the lunar landers.

The images were taken two weeks ago from about 24km above the moon’s surface and show the land-ing sites for Apollo 12, 14 and 17.