Welcome

The Open University’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Knowledge Media Institute have been working on virtual microscopes for many years. This collaboration has resulted in the creation of virtual microscopes for teaching purposes (current microscopes form part of two courses - S276 Geology and S339 Understanding the Continents). More recently we have established partnerships with other organizations (such as the Sedgwick Museum in Cambridge) to create microscopes for a more general audience.

The application you see here is the outcome of a partnership with NASA Johnson Space Center (the home of Moon rock collected by the Apollo astronauts between 1969 and 1972), and in particular with NASA scientists Everett Gibson, Gary Lofgren and Charles Meyer. Colin Pillinger of the Open University’s Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute also contributed to the project. Additional thin sections were obtained from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) who have a suite of samples on loan from NASA. STFC operate a loan scheme of lunar and other extraterrestrial material (mainly for schools) and separately they have their own lunar virtual microscope (click here).

The purpose of this partnership is to show to the general public what rocks collected by Apollo astronauts look like when viewed with a petrological microscope. Samples have been carefully selected to show the diversity of form and to reflect the different origins of Moon rock. Along the way, great beauty will be encountered. The collection consists of 28 samples that span a range of locations visited during the Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17 missions.

For each sample there is a brief explanation making use of maps, field photographs, hand specimens and of course the virtual microscope images.

.........but before we begin the examination - read on for a brief summary of the origin of the Moon and a history of the Apollo missions.