Astronomy Picture of the Day

Explanation: The Apollo 12 mission was the second ever to land humans on the Moon. The mission was dedicated to studying the Moon, developing techniques, and developing instruments that could be used in future lunar landings. Astronauts Charles (Pete) Conrad and Alan Bean spent just under two days on the lunar surface in November 1969, while Richard Gordon orbited above in the Command Module. Pictured above in this digitally stitched panorama, Alan Bean works near the Lunar Module. Scrolling to the right will reveal a dark colour panorama where flat lunar terrain and a tall video camera are visible. Apollo 12 mission astronauts visited the site of the nearby Surveyor 3 robot spacecraft that had landed on the moon three years earlier.