Featured Images

Hell Q Crater

Recent impact craters are some of the most spectacular landforms on the Moon! For example, Hell Q (3.4 kilometers in diameter, 33.0° S, 355.5° E) shows off pristine impact melt that lined the crater walls and pooled in the bottom, now...

Published on 27 May 2018

Hawke Crater

Hawke crater, 13.2 km wide, is noticeably tilted because the impactor - an asteroid or a comet - that excavated it struck the sloping inner wall of Grotrian crater. Visible are light-colored rays that attest to the crater's youth, as...

Published on 03 May 2018

Curiously Fast Degradation of Small Lunar Craters

Taurus-Littrow valley, geologic exploration target for Apollo 17 and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera study team led by Dr. Prasun Mahanti.  Center latitude 20.15°N, center longitude 30.98°E, image 18 km wide, image...

Published on 24 Apr 2018

Lunar Light Plains: The Movie

The Orientale Basin, about 950 kilometers wide, is the striking multi-ringed impact feature at  lower right. New research suggests that the impact event that formed Orientale may have emplaced light plains deposits - visible here...

Published on 20 Apr 2018

Luminous Pierazzo Crater

The Moon continues to surprise us with its beauty! When did this magnificent crater form? From its pristine state it looks as if it could have formed yesterday, however erosion  proceeds slowly on the Moon. NAC M1265532953LR, scene...

Published on 13 Feb 2018

Zowie!

Looking down on the amazing central peak of Jackson crater, which rises 2000 meters above the crater floor. North is to the left; the area imaged measures 10 kilometers from left to right. NAC M1117602006LR [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State...

Published on 09 Jan 2018

Tycho Limb Shot!

Magnificent oblique view of the eastern side of Tycho's central peak acquired when the Sun was relatively high above the horizon. From the viewpoint of LROC the Sun was behind and a bit to the north, so shadows are mostly hidden, thus...

Published on 27 Apr 2017

NAC Anaglyph: Orientale Mare and Melt

Fractured impact melt from the Orientale basin-forming impact stands out from the mare lavas that later embayed it [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Published on 23 Dec 2016

Mapping Tycho Crater

A new geomorphological map of the interior of Tycho crater, produced using LROC NAC and SELENE Terrain Camera images. Read on for legend and unit descriptions [Krüger et al., 2016].

Published on 15 Jun 2016

Thick and Sticky Melt-Rock

Colorized slope map of a fresh impact crater and its ejecta. A deposit of solidified melt-rock and debris was formed at the end of the impact event on the floor of this 1.5-km diameter crater. The flat-lying floor materials (purple,...

Published on 15 Apr 2016

Chappy Oblique

Spectacular oblique view (65° slew angle) of a 1400 m diameter crater that formed on the rim of Chaplygin crater. Delicate lacy fingers of ejecta highlight the hummocky and steep topography around this young crater. The very brightest...

Published on 18 Mar 2016

Chappy

NW wall of spectacular young impact crater perched on the rim of Chaplygin crater. The dark smooth material (bottom right) is solidified impact melt that originally pooled on the crater floor; the dark, middle and bright tones on the...

Published on 01 Mar 2016

LROC NAC Anaglyph: Highland Ponds

Ponds of impact melt lining craters on the far side of the Moon [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Published on 22 May 2015

NAC Anaglyph: Messier Impact Melt

Impact melt deposits outside the west rim crest of Messier crater show evidence of ponding and flow before they cooled and solidified [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Published on 15 May 2015

LROC NAC Anaglyph: Tycho East Melt Puddles

Puddles and rubble - check out these melt puddles northeast of Tycho Crater [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Published on 30 Jan 2015

LROC NAC Anaglyph: Hell Q Crater

Hell Q crater - an excellent example of a simple bowl-shaped crater in the southwest region of the lunar near-side [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Published on 23 Jan 2015

Fractures and Boulders

Fractured impact melt left the interior of De Forest crater lined with boulders. LROC NAC M125650563L, image width is 720 m, North is up [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University]. 

Published on 05 Aug 2014

Making a Splash at King Crater

Impact melt ponds adorn the lumpy terraces of King crater. If you look carefully, you can see small fractures in some of the these ponds. LROC NAC mosaic (M1159315479L/R), image width is approximately 8 km [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State...

Published on 29 Jul 2014

Old and New

Degraded crater wall of Vavilov D. Image center is 1.14°N, 221.536°E, image width is 1440 m, incidence angle is 61°, down slope is to the lower right, M1128031686L  [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University]. 

Published on 12 Jun 2014

Distal Edges

Blocky fences border an impact melt deposit on the rim of a fresh crater. LROC NAC M112884286R, image width is 816 m, illuminated from upper right, north is up [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Published on 27 Mar 2014