<p>You cannot see it from Earth, it is too small and too far away.</p>

<p>However the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Reconnaissance_Orbiter" rel="noreferrer">Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter</a> imaged it. <img src="https://i.sstatic.net/iKShg.jpg" alt="lunar surface with Apollo 11 lander"></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-04T19:03:52.380Z
2015-06-04T19:30:42.873Z
2015-06-04T19:30:42.873Z
geoffc
<p>No, the orbiting rocket was not visible to the naked eye.
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Command/Service_Module">Orbiter</a> plus <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Lunar_Module">lem</a> were about 65 square meters in size, about 25 X 25 feet.
At lunar distance they subtended about 0.000001 square degrees, and be at most 5 to 10 times as bright as the lunar surface; albedo 0.5 to 1 vs 0.1.
A speck 1/1000th of a degree on a side, and a little brighter than the moon is not visible in daylight. Likely it's well below the noise level in a daylight adapted eye.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-03T16:46:03.773Z
I think you have an order-of-magnitude error somewhere - I get $\arctan{10m\over 380000km} \approx 10^{-6} \deg$ which is over ten thousand times smaller than the maximum acuity of a human eye with a "perfect" vision.
JohannesD
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-03T17:28:59.997Z
@JohannesD You're right. I converted to ster-degrees which isn't what's wanted here. With regard to visual acuity, stellar discs are a good deal smaller than that, but they're also intrinsically brighter than the tiny amount of sunlight reflected off a small object in lunar orbit.
Wayfaring Stranger
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-03T15:26:15.777Z
2014-08-03T15:26:15.777Z
Wayfaring Stranger
<p>I wasn't around when man landed on the moon in 1969. When I see the moon, I always wonder, were people able to see the rocket?</p>

<p>Yesterday, I looked at the moon in daylight and wondered again.</p>

<p>My question is: how far were people able to see the rocket after it launched?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-04-17T18:43:48.803Z
Complementary on space.se: [Were the Apollo lunar activities observed from Earth?](https://space.stackexchange.com/q/9460/7017)
mins
<the-moon><moonlanding>
Visibility of Apollo 11 module
Erwin
# Visibility of Apollo 11 module

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-08-03)

I wasn't around when man landed on the moon in 1969. When I see the moon, I always wonder, were people able to see the rocket?

Yesterday, I looked at the moon in daylight and wondered again.

My question is: how far were people able to see the rocket after it launched?

**Tags:** the-moon, moonlanding

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Complementary on space.se: [Were the Apollo lunar activities observed from Earth?](https://space.stackexchange.com/q/9460/7017)  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2014-08-03. Score: 8 | Accepted answer

No, the orbiting rocket was not visible to the naked eye.
[Orbiter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Command/Service_Module) plus [lem](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Lunar_Module) were about 65 square meters in size, about 25 X 25 feet.
At lunar distance they subtended about 0.000001 square degrees, and be at most 5 to 10 times as bright as the lunar surface; albedo 0.5 to 1 vs 0.1.
A speck 1/1000th of a degree on a side, and a little brighter than the moon is not visible in daylight. Likely it's well below the noise level in a daylight adapted eye.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: I think you have an order-of-magnitude error somewhere - I get $\arctan{10m\over 380000km} \approx 10^{-6} \deg$ which is over ten thousand times smaller than the maximum acuity of a human eye with a "perfect" vision.  
> **username_3**: @username_4 You're right. I converted to ster-degrees which isn't what's wanted here. With regard to visual acuity, stellar discs are a good deal smaller than that, but they're also intrinsically brighter than the tiny amount of sunlight reflected off a small object in lunar orbit.  

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### Answer by username_2 on 2015-06-04. Score: 7

You cannot see it from Earth, it is too small and too far away.

However the [Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Reconnaissance_Orbiter) imaged it. ![lunar surface with Apollo 11 lander](https://i.sstatic.net/iKShg.jpg)


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