Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter - not just pretty pictures of the Moon

The video below shows how various instruments on LRO have examined the permanently shadowed craters at the Moon's poles, giving us a fuller picture of those areas.

As you watch the Moon over the course of a month, you’ll notice that different features are illuminated by the Sun at different times. However, there are some parts of the Moon that never see sunlight. These areas are called permanently shadowed regions, and they appear dark because unlike on the Earth, the axis of the Moon is nearly perpendicular to the direction of the sun’s light. The result is that the bottoms of certain craters are never pointed toward the Sun, with some remaining dark for over two billion years. However, thanks to new data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, we can now see into these dark craters in incredible detail.

reply to post by wildespace


Pretty..

I would love to have a 3D HD map of the moon surface from LRO..
And I´m not talking google moon.. with this tech in the video it should be able to create a highly detailed 3D interactive map of the moon surface.

reply to post by Spacespider

And I´m not talking google moon.. with this tech in the video it should be able to create a highly detailed 3D interactive map of the moon surface.

Such a "map" exists, but there is so much memory required that it is extremely unwieldy. As information technology improves, it might one day be possible to make it accessible to the general public. In the meantime, there's this:

target.lroc.asu.edu...

reply to post by wildespace


S&F to you.

Originally posted by Spacespider
reply to post by wildespace

 

Pretty..

I would love to have a 3D HD map of the moon surface from LRO..
And I´m not talking google moon.. with this tech in the video it should be able to create a highly detailed 3D interactive map of the moon surface.

First of all, googlemoon doesn't use LRO's hi-res images.

Secondly, I don't think it would need to be 3D as much as having an efficient way of viewing the LRO hi-res images.

I mean, if you look at the best LRO images, you are able to see rocks the size of beach balls. That's pretty damn impressive -- even in 2D -- but as DJW mentioned above, the entirety of those images is unwieldy to browse efficiently and quickly.

I'm especially impressed by LRO's ability to detect the faint starlight reflecting off those dark craters. Now, what if astronomers on Earth had this technology...

Perhaps the floor of such a dark and cold crater would be a good place for a super-cooled infrared telescope. Imagine what it could find in the Kuiper belt, or even closer to home.

Originally posted by wildespace
Perhaps the floor of such a dark and cold crater would be a good place for a super-cooled infrared telescope. Imagine what it could find in the Kuiper belt, or even closer to home.

I remember as a kid, when I looked at stars surrounded by thick nebula, thinking about what some civilizations might be missing out on because they couldn't see past their own solar system, and how it might affect their philosophies on existence etc. I kind of actually felt sorry for them, not being able to see the splender of it all. We in a lesser way actually suffered a similar limitation (until space telescopes came along) with our atmosphere, especially with things like mid band infrared imaging. It will be exciting to see what we can see when concepts like the one you propose are implemented.

Thanks op, for the op, by the way.