Featured Images
Ejecta from Copernicus
One of the geologic features that makes Copernicus crater special is its extensive, high-reflectance ejecta rays that extend across nearby mare and superpose (overlap) ejecta from other craters - Copernican ejecta extends more than 500...
Published on 30 Sep 2010
Smooth floor in Copernicus crater
With the exception of recent impacts (such as this one) into the floor material of Copernicus, much of the northwestern floor of Copernicus appears smooth and relatively featureless (upper right corner). This region on the crater floor...
Published on 29 Sep 2010
Copernicus Crater and The Lunar Timescale
LROC NAC view of the southern rim of Copernicus crater. Downslope direction is to the upper left and the fragmented material demarcates the rough edge of the crater rim. The surface texture is still sharp and crisp indicating a...
Published on 28 Sep 2010
The Lunar South Pole
LROC Wide Angle Camera (WAC) mosaic of the south polar region, width ~600 km [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].
Published on 27 Sep 2010
Ejecta Blanket
The pattern of ejecta from a young crater is still preserved on the floor of Van de Graaff crater. The variations in albedo (bright and dark areas in the ejecta) indicate either different surface exposure times, grain sizes, or...
Published on 23 Sep 2010
Immature Ejecta
This crater in the floor of Van de Graaff crater has a high reflectance ejecta blanket compared to the surrounding low reflectance material. The contrast in albedo is due to the crater excavating "fresh" or "immature" material from...
Published on 22 Sep 2010
Ejecta from Van de Graaff Crater
The texture of ejecta thrown from Van de Graaff Crater along the northern rim, seen from a low Sun angle in the NAC image (incidence angle is 72°). This subset of the NAC image M115177455R has a width of 980 m [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State...
Published on 21 Sep 2010
Americas from the Moon
The western hemisphere of our home planet Earth. North (upper left), Central, and South America (lower right) were nicely free of clouds when LRO pointed home on 9 August 2010 to acquire this beautiful view! LROC NAC E136013771...
Published on 15 Sep 2010
New Views of Lunar Pits
Spectacular high Sun view of the Mare Tranquillitatis pit crater revealing boulders on an otherwise smooth floor. Image is 400 meters wide, north is up, NAC M126710873R [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].
Published on 14 Sep 2010
Color of the Moon
The LROC WAC is busily mapping the Moon in 7 UV and visible wavelengths (320 nm through 689 nm). This color composite shows 320 nm light in blue, 415 nm in green and 689 nm in red, scene is ~1000 km wide [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State...
Published on 10 Sep 2010
Moon Seen From the East
LROC Wide Angle Camera (WAC) view of the Moon seen from 90° east longitude. Half the nearside is visible to the left, and half the farside to the right [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].
Published on 08 Sep 2010
Natural Bridge on the Moon!
Another amazing bit of lunar geology revealed by LROC! NAC M113168034R, north is up [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].
Published on 07 Sep 2010
Necho's jumbled floor
The chaotic floor of Necho crater attests to the dynamic environment immediately after the impact event. NAC image M115502787R, scene is 960 m across [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].
Published on 02 Sep 2010
Impact melt at Necho crater
Impact melt that flowed from the rim shortly after the formation of Necho crater. NAC image M134374642R, scene is 620 m across [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].
Published on 01 Sep 2010
Necho's Terraces
Closeup view of the spectacular western terrace of Necho crater. NAC image M134388215R; scene width is 660 m [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].
Published on 31 Aug 2010
Hummocky Terrain
NAC image M115475912R shows hummocky terrain north of the central peak of Tsiolkovskiy, still within the crater rim but outside the region flooded by mare basalt. The hummocks formed as the crater rebounded after the shock of impact...
Published on 26 Aug 2010
Central Peak/Mare Boundary
The central peak of Tsiolkovskiy crater is surrounded with mare basalt. This NAC frame shows where boulders rolled down the central peak and onto the mare basalt (note the boulder trails). The central peaks of larger lunar craters like...
Published on 25 Aug 2010
Fractures in the mare of Tsiolkovskiy Crater
Small fractures in the mare floor of Tsiolkovskiy Crater are a departure from the usual scene of smooth mare pitted with impact craters. As the mare cools, fractures like these can form, or these fractures might have formed due to...
Published on 24 Aug 2010
Photogrammetric Processing of LROC NAC Stereo Images
High-resolution 3D Digital Terrain Model (DTM) of a lunar crater created from a LROC NAC stereo pair. The scale bar on the left is the elevation in meters [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University/Ohio State University].
Published on 12 Aug 2010
Volcanoes in Lacus Mortis
Most of the craters on the Moon formed through impact processes. However, some craters, like the one visible in this portion of LROC NAC frame M131488521R, may be a volcano summit pit crater. Crater diameter is ~400 m, the image width...
Published on 10 Aug 2010