They left behind equipment that is kind of like the reflective cell plates mounted on cars and bicycles. So you can shoot a laser beam at that part of the Moon and you get a measurable reflection. Since your laser beam hits an area measured in kilometres, it isn’t a very bright reflection, relatively, but it’s there.

I didn’t end up getting any imaging gear set up – I went out earlier and the wind had picked up quite a bit, the Moon was happily bubbling away. I thought I’d just have a go eyeballing it. Didn’t see anything – though I had to keep readjusting the scope (just left it on the dob mount) and it’s a real pain to keep one eye open on a fairly bright object with minimal blinking for 10 minutes.

@ Tom (comment #26):

There are plenty of maps available on the internet that gives the location of the Apollo missions (and other unmanned missions). For example:

http://ralphaeschliman.com/luna/lnslamasm.jpg

Secondly, no, your telescope won’t be able to see any of the artefacts left at the Apollo landing sites – not even Hubble (or any surface based telescope) can do that.

Is it possible to see any of the ‘stuff’ with a small scope (mine is 150mm)?

And in [The long habit of living], where an indefinite longevity treatment in ten year instalments exists if you can afford it (the economics are quite interesting in simple terms, as are most of both these stories), there’s a not-generation starship, a slowboat, under construction in space. Two problems, they don’t actually have the longevity treatment and they have a killer mortgage. If in their library they have a copy of [The Galactic Whirlpool], a solution to one of the problems may occur to them…

Right now the question is, is your acre of Moon insured? Crashing probes into our sister planet seems to be the new international space race gimmick. The money, mooney, shot. Better see if American Interplanetary Group is taking new contracts.

As it is, expect moon rise tonight at 7pm, 8pm, 8.15, 8.22, and 9.47…

I still wonder about private enterprise going there. If, as I asked, money wasn’t an option and I as a private citizen launched landed and established a viable colony, what national or international laws could be levied against me in an attempt to stop and or evict me from said colony/station/hole in the lunar ground if they wanted to? Are there specific conventions through international law preventing people from doing this?

-Joseph

Joseph: “Basically, do I actually own an acre of land on the moon, or can I at least lay some kind of claim to it if I can get there?”
No. This is scam.