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> South pole of the Moon

South pole of the Moon

author: Nasa/GSFC/ASU/Novapix

reference: a-lun07-01000

Image Size 300 DPI: 51 * 51 cm

As LRO passes over the pole every two hours, the LROC WAC snaps an image, and over a month, images covering the entire polar region are captured (80°S to 90°S). This mosaic contains 288 images taken in one month; you can see where the month began and ended at about 90°E longitude (note how the lighting changed). The rim of Shackleton crater seems to be disjointed. However, if you look closely, you can see that the Sun came from opposite sides for portions of the mosaic, resulting in opposite sides of the crater's wall being illuminated in some images. As the mission progresses, the WAC captures the pole across the full range of seasons.

Keywords for this photo:

2010 - ASTRONOMY - BLACK AND WHITE - ICE - LRO - LUNAR RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER - MOON - POLE - POSTER - SATELLITE - SOUTH POLE - WATER -