Moon Censorship Gone Mobile

Greetings! I haven't posted in years it seems like but as always, I've been listening. If you have an iPhone check out the application Seadragon Mobile (again, I don't know how to make links here but here's the appstore link:

itunes.apple.com...

It's Microsoft's first foray into iTunes and basically, it's a collection of high resolution photographs. I was looking at Mars (of course, only believing half of what I saw) and then I decided to check out the Moon. Mars had no black squares of censorship on it but our Moon was FILLED with'em. I was wondering if any of you with knowledge about our Moon could maybe explain why those squares are there? Just zoom in almost anywhere and you'll see what I'm talking about. Strange stuff!!

I don't have itunes so I can't follow the link but I think I know what you mean.

I'm fairly sure the simple/official explanation for what you are seeing is that they don't have photographs covering the entire moon, hence the black spots.

As MrVertigo said, it's probably just lack of data for those areas, the Moon was completely photographed some years ago, and the photos are available to anyone that wants to look for them.

reply to post by ArMaP


ArMap, not to mention the fact that amateur astronomy technology has allowed amateur astronomers to take some pretty good moon photos now.

reply to post by NavalFC


Yes, if I can take a photo like this

just with a common camera, it's no surprise that an amateur astronomer that wants and can invest time and money in astronomy can take high definition photos, specially with the help of super-resolution software.

Edited to make the picture "clickable", clicking it shows the full.sized version.

[edit on 15/12/2008 by ArMaP]

reply to post by ArMaP


Yea but you still cant take pictures of the "dark side of the moon".. due to its almost geosynchronous orbit... that's where all the fun is!

EDITED: to add graphic illustrating the visible moon phases from Earth





(Nice picture by the way ArMap... )





[edit on 14-12-2008 by Alter-Ego]

reply to post by Alter-Ego


Yes, we have to rely on space photos for the far side, but we have total coverage at a medium resolution, as you can see with software like NASA's World Wind.