Using a beam of radar less powerful than a microwave oven, researchers have produced the highest resolution images of the moon ever taken from Earth.

The stunning new pictures, presented Jan. 10 during a press conference at the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Seattle, Washington, captured the landing site of NASA’s Apollo 15 mission as well as Tycho crater, a prominent impact feature in the southern lunar highlands.

Researchers made the images using the 330-foot-diameter (100 meters) Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia — currently the world’s largest steerable radio telescope (a type of telescope designed so that its dish can be aimed at different parts of the sky), said Patrick Taylor, the radar division head for the Green Bank Observatory and National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), during the press briefing. The GBT shot out radio waves that illuminated the moon, and their echoes were captured by a set of four 82 feet wide (25 m) radio telescopes at the Very Long Baseline Array in Hilo, Hawaii, he added.

see images here – source livescience.com