The Carruthers Legacy

Our Namesake 

The geocorona was first observed in 1972 during the Apollo 16 mission to the Moon with a telescope invented by Dr. George Carruthers. Dr. Carruthers developed a technique to observe the invisible UV glow from the exosphere that our new mission named in his honor still uses. Scientists were surprised by how large the exosphere was. It extended beyond the field of view of the Carruthers telescope. To see the whole geocorona we need a vantage point much farther away than the Moon. This is why there have only been three other images of the geocorona since Apollo 16. 

Project SMART students
Project SMART students
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moon-based-telescope
Man's First Moon-Based Space Observatory-The first observatory ever operated by man from a fixed platform outside the earth was this gold-plated ultra-violet (UV) camera/spectograph.It was placed on the moon by the Apollo 16 astronauts, after they landed there April 20,1972.
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Astronaut John W. Young, commander of the Apollo 16 lunar landing mission, jumps up from the lunar surface as he salutes the U.S. Flag at the Descartes landing site during the first Apollo 16 extravehicular activity (EVA-1). Astronaut Charles M. Duke Jr., lunar module pilot, took this picture. The Lunar Module (LM) "Orion" is on the left. The Lunar Roving Vehicle is parked beside the LM. The object behind Young in the shade of the LM is the Far Ultraviolet Camera/Spectrograph. Stone Mountain dominates the background in this lunar scene.
Young