English: "The solar corona in (this photograph) was observed by Surveyor I, 16 minutes after sunset on the Moon on June 14, 1966," remarked GORDON NEWKIRK, of the High Altitude Observatory. "A bright coronal streamer is visible as a thin pencil of light extending out of the brighter inner corona, against which the lunar horizon is silhouetted. Halation in the optical system produces an apparent depression of the horizon immediately below the brightest portion of the corona. The faint disk in the upper-right corner and the bar extending to the lower-right corner are the omni-directional antenna and its support structure, visible in the light of earthshine.

"This photograph demonstrated the feasibility of making observations of the solar corona from lunar-based observatories. With little or no modification, the Surveyor cameras can investigate the outer corona and inner zodiacal light, which are inaccessible to ground-based observatories

"The fact that the corona is visible after sunset demonstrates that little or no residual atmosphere exists on the Moon. Detailed photometric comparison of these Surveyor observations with those made on the ground the same day will allow an exact upper limit of such a residual lunar atmosphere to be established."