UCSD Physics Professor Tom Murphy and his team shot a laser at the reflectors left on the lunar surface by the Apollo astronauts during the recent lunar eclipse on April 15, 2014. In addition to testing Einstein's General Relativity, eclipse operations allow insight into the layer of dust that has formed on the reflectors these past four decades (see http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/feature/source_of_moon_curse_revealed_by_eclipse).
April 2014 Lunar Eclipse Laser Ranging
UCSD Physics Professor Tom Murphy and his team shot a laser at the reflectors left on the lunar surface by the Apollo astronauts during the recent lunar eclipse on April 15, 2014. In addition to testing Einstein's General Relativity, eclipse operations allow insight into the layer of dust that has formed on the reflectors these past four decades (see http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/feature/source_of_moon_curse_revealed_by_eclipse).