Shadows at the Moons South Pole
Explanation:
Was this image of the Moon's surface taken with a microscope?
No -- it's a
multi-temporal illumination map made with a wide-angle camera.
To create it, the
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft collected
1,700 images over a period of 6 lunar days (6 Earth months),
repeatedly covering an area centered on the
Moon's south pole from different angles.
The resulting images were stacked to produce the
featured map --
representing the percentage of time each spot on the surface was illuminated by the
Sun.
Remaining convincingly
in shadow,
the floor of the 19-kilometer diameter
Shackleton
crater
is seen near the map's center.
The
lunar south pole
itself is at about 9 o'clock on the crater's rim.
Crater floors near the lunar south and north poles can remain in permanent
shadow,
while mountain tops can remain in nearly
continuous sunlight.
Useful for
future outposts, the
shadowed crater floors could offer
reservoirs of water-ice, while the
sunlit mountain tops offer
good
locations to collect
solar power.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
