Help scientists find boulders and craters on the moon. What can you spy with your little eye? Moon Explorer shows real photos of the moon taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. There are so many photos that scientists can’t examine them all, so they have asked Tiny Planets Explorers to help analyze the data. Yes, this really is rocket science!

Note that Moon Explorer opens in a new window or tab on your browser. Tiny Planets is still open to. You can click back to it anytime.

More about Moon Explorer and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

Craters are depressions like shallow bowls left in the Moon’s surface by meteors. Use the crater marking cross-hair to mark the number and size of craters. Find a big crater? Hold down the mouse button and drag the circle out to the right size to just cover the crater.

If you see boulders, click the area and then hit the Report Boulders button - say whether you see Some boulders or tons of boulders.

If you see something interesting that is neither a boulder or a crater, click the Interesting Object button and drag a rectangle over the area.

Compare the two images to see which one has the most boulders. You (yes you!) can do this way better than even the smartest computer! Boulders come from under the surface of the moon. Knowing about them tells us a lot about what’s going on underground.

NCheck out where you’ve been on the moon and which bits you’ve marked. You can also see where the Apollo Astronauts landing ans loads of other spacecraft as well.