Featured Images

Mount Marilyn: A Lunar Love Story

Mount Marilyn, with its distinctive triangular shape, served as an important navigation landmark for the Apollo 11 astronauts. Portion of LROC Wide Angle Camera mosaic, 138 km wide [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Published on 31 Aug 2023

Looking Over the Orientale Basin

Indian Ocean as seen from lunar orbit (2015-12-10 06:00:29.202 UTC). NAC high-resolution monochrome image merged with WAC lower-resolution color observations. North is to the left, Antarctica to the right, Australia at the top, and...

Published on 07 Apr 2023

Malapert Massif

Malapert massif (informal name) is thought to be a remnant of the South Pole - Aitken basin rim, which formed more than 4 billion years ago.  More recently, this magnificent peak (lower left) was selected as an Artemis 3 candidate...

Published on 14 Mar 2023

Three Impact Events

Spectacular 4500-meter diameter crater (10.67°S, 225.82°E) formed at the intersection of the rims of Lowell W crater (18-kilometer diameter) and the Orientale basin (750-kilometer diameter). Impact melt and debris spilled from the low...

Published on 20 Feb 2023

Thousands of Thrust Faults!

Prominent lobate thrust fault scarp in the Mandel’shtam cluster, one of the thousands discovered in Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) images. The fault scarp or cliff is like a stair-step in the lunar landscape formed when the...

Published on 14 Feb 2023

Dramatic Contrast

The dark rim of Aristarchus crater (23.7°N, 312.5°E) dramatically highlights its bright interior and central peak. There are more than 2700 meters of relief from the rim to the crater floor, and the central peak is 3,000 meters wide...

Published on 01 Dec 2022

Far Flung Ejecta

Far-flung ejecta (32.7°N, 99.7°E) from the Giordano Bruno impact event raced across a small mare deposit, leaving bright streaks and clues to the details of crater ray formation. This image was acquired looking west-to-east from an...

Published on 31 Oct 2022

Where is the South Pole?

Often hidden in shadows, the south pole (90°S, 0°E) occurs just inside the rim of Shackleton crater (20-kilometer diameter). This spectacular view, aimed at the pole, was acquired on 18 May 2022. The image is 2400 meters wide in the...

Published on 19 Oct 2022

Silicic Volcanoes on the Moon

The silicic volcano Mairan T (41.79°N, 311.61°E) stands over 600 meters tall and in stark albedo contrast to the surrounding dark mare basalts of Oceanus Procellarum. The view is from west-to-east, scene is 6.6 kilometers wide, NAC...

Published on 11 Oct 2022

Mystery Rocket Body Found!

A rocket body impacted the Moon on 04 March 2022 near Hertzsprung crater, creating an apparent double crater, roughly 28 meters wide in the longest dimension. LROC NAC M1407760984R enlarged 3x [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Published on 23 Jun 2022

Lunar Terminator

Western portion of Mare Moscoviense seen under extreme lighting, east-to-west view snapped 25 August 2019. The illuminated rim in the background is an unnamed crater 21 kilometers in diameter (24.2°N, 146.3°E); spacecraft altitude was...

Published on 15 Apr 2022

Traversing the Shackleton de Gerlache Ridge

Amazing oblique view of the rim of Shackleton crater (on the left) and the Shackleton - de Gerlache ridge that runs from middle left to upper right. The south pole is near the small, sharp, bright crater on the rim of Shackleton (left...

Published on 01 Apr 2022

First to See the Farside

First photograph (BW) taken of the famous Apollo 8 Earthrise sequence, the following images were acquired with color film [AS08-13-2329, NASA].

Published on 24 Dec 2021

Saturn 2021

Saturn and Jupiter have been a comforting presence in the evening sky for the past several months. On October 13, 2021, LRO slewed to allow LROC to acquire this magnificent view revealing Saturn and its rings. NAC M1388758232L...

Published on 22 Nov 2021

Chang'e 5: After Blast Off

Chang'e 5 descent stage seen just before sunset on 7 Februray 2021, M136736629LR [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Published on 19 Feb 2021

Great Conjunction!

Yesterday afternoon (21 December 2020 21:15 UTC) LRO turned around and swept LROC across deep space to capture an amazing image of the Jupiter–Saturn conjunction. Saturn brightness increased 4x to match Jupiter; NAC M1363224501R...

Published on 22 Dec 2020

First Look: Chang'e 5

Box indicates Chang'e 5 lander on the basaltic plains of Oceanus Procellarum ("Ocean of Storms") on 02 December 2020 09:54 EST (14:53:55 UTC). The lander is the bright spot in the center of the outline. Image is 1210 meters wide; north...

Published on 04 Dec 2020

Keeps on Roving!

Arrows indicate Yutu-2 (left) and Chang'e 4 lander (right). Rover tracks are faintly visible between the lander and Yutu-2. LROC image acquired 18 October 2020, M1357657468LR, enlarged 2x [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Published on 01 Dec 2020

Apollo 12 Fifty-first Anniversary

LROC low-altitude image of the Apollo 12 landing site. The Lunar Module descent stage, Apollo Lunar Science Experiment Package (ALSEP), and Surveyor III spacecraft are all visible along with astronaut tracks. Image is 275 meters wide,...

Published on 13 Nov 2020

Sea of Night

Rim of Aepinus crater rising above a sea of dark during a winter night. Illuminated area 1.5 kilometers by 6.0 kilometers, NAC M1338480133LR [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Published on 19 May 2020