Washington, Sept 7 : NASA''s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has captured the sharpest images ever taken from space of the last foot trails left on the moon by astronauts.

The images show the tracks and debris left by Apollo astronauts in visits from 1969 to 1972 at the Apollo 12, 14 and 17 landing sites.

The `remarkable' twists and turns of the paths made when the astronauts explored the lunar surface, including the tracks laid down by the lunar rover, are clearly visible in these images.

The images also show where the astronauts placed some of the scientific instruments that provided the first insight into the moon''s environment and interior.

"We can retrace the astronauts'' steps with greater clarity to see where they took lunar samples," said Noah Petro, a lunar geologist at NASA''s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., who is a member of the LRO project science team.

In the Apollo 17 image, the foot trails, including the last path made on the moon by humans, are easily distinguished from the dual tracks left by the lunar rover, which remains parked east of the lander.

"The new low-altitude Narrow Angle Camera images sharpen our view of the moon''s surface," said Arizona State University researcher Mark Robinson, principal investigator for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC). (ANI)