Featured Images
Moon or Abstract Expressionism?
Seeing small areas of the Moon at 50 cm per pixel often presents unexpected views, and sometimes it is hard to interpret the geology at first glance, much less what is up and what is down! What are the white streaks? How did they get...
Published on 22 Dec 2009
Fresh Copernican Crater
Subset of NAC Image M112162602L showing landslides (bottom) covering impact melt on the floor (top) of a fresh Copernican-age crater at the edge of Oceanus Procellarum and west of Balboa crater. Image width is 550 m [NASA/GSFC/Arizona...
Published on 21 Dec 2009
Vallis Alpes
A bottleneck at the start of the lunar sinuous rille within Vallis Alpes formed several morphologic features including (from left to right) a lava pond, a breached dam, and an island in the rille. Image width is 3.3 km, image resolution...
Published on 17 Dec 2009
Pull Apart - Grabens
Graben are common extensional features on the Moon as well as the other terrestrial planets and icy satellites. This graben (700 m wide) formed within a larger graben (1700 m). Illumination is the from the left (NASA/GSFC/Arizona State...
Published on 16 Dec 2009
Impact Melt Flows on Giordano Bruno
Frozen impact melt flows on the ejecta blanket of the young impact crater Giordano Bruno (22 km diameter). The image is about 600 m across and the flows are about 50-100 m wide (NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University).
Published on 15 Dec 2009
Wrinkle ridges of northwest Mare Imbrium.
A northeast-trending wrinkle ridge cuts across the plains of Mare Imbrium. The overall ridge is about 4.5 km wide. The contact between the ridge (right) and the surrounding mare basalt plains (left) runs diagonally up the image...
Published on 14 Dec 2009
Debris flows I
Debris flow extending down the southwest wall of Janssen K crater (a highlands crater about 16 km in diameter). Image width is 570 meters (NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University).
Published on 04 Dec 2009
Cluster of farside secondary craters
Cluster of secondary craters help geologists determine the relative ages of features, even when they are separated by great distances. Image width is 630 meters [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].
Published on 23 Nov 2009
Central Peak of Rutherfurd
LROC NAC view of boulders, on the floor of Rutherfurd crater, about to disappear into the shadows of dusk. Image width is 510 meters [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].
Published on 20 Nov 2009
Mountains of the Moon
Most mountains on the Earth are formed as plates collide and the crust buckles. Not so for the Moon, where mountains are formed as a result of impacts. Images taken looking across the landscape rather than straight down really bring out...
Published on 17 Nov 2009
Dark Craters on a Bright Ejecta Blanket
Dark materials excavated by later small impacts show up clearly on the bright ejecta of a small lunar crater (800 meters in diameter) to the west. Image width is 640 meters [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].
Published on 16 Nov 2009
High Noon at Tranquility Base
As the Apollo 11 Lunar Module (LM) neared the surface, Neil Armstrong could see the landing area was right on the rough bouldery ejecta of West crater. He had to change the flight plan and fly the LM westward to find a safe landing...
Published on 09 Nov 2009
Ejecta Blanket Features
Interactions between the mobilized material excavated during impact and the pre-existing surface formed dune-like and trough-like features in the ejecta blanket of Galvani B, a 15-km diameter crater. North is up, image resolution is...
Published on 06 Nov 2009
Landslides in Marius Crater
Landslide deposits seen on the steep interior slopes of Marius crater, image is 510 meters wide [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].
Published on 05 Nov 2009
Apollo 12 Second Look: Midday on the Ocean of Storms
New view of the Apollo 12 landing site in Oceanus Procellarum imaged from the LRO mapping orbit. Small black arrows show locations where astronaut footpaths can be clearly discerned. Image width is 490 meters [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State...
Published on 04 Nov 2009
More Impact Melt!
Frozen impact melt flows on the floor of Moore F, a farside highlands crater. Image width 600 m, 0.61 m/pixel, NAC image M110383422LE [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].
Published on 30 Oct 2009
Exploring the Apollo 17 Site
The Apollo 17 Lunar Module Challenger descent stage comes into focus from the new lower 50-km mapping orbit, image width is 102 meters [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].
Published on 28 Oct 2009
The Floor of Saha E
Diverse textures on the floor of Saha E on the lunar farside. Image width is 1.08 km [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].
Published on 27 Oct 2009
Epigenes A
A plethora of boulders surrounds braided flows of impact melt along the inside wall of crater Epigenes A. As the melt moves toward the crater floor (direction indicated by white arrow), the flow buries and moves boulders. Epigenes A is...
Published on 23 Oct 2009
Bright Boulder Trail
High-albedo marks on the lunar surface left by a boulder bouncing down the northeast wall of farside highlands crater Moore F. Image width is 610 meters [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].
Published on 21 Oct 2009