Featured Images

"Oceanus Procellarum Base Here - The Eagle Has Landed"

In 1969, NASA published a map showing candidate Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 landing sites. The map was based on photographs taken using large Earth-based telescopes. The map above, based on an LROC global image mosaic, is a near-copy of...

Published on 09 Aug 2019

Almost a Hole-in-One

A geologic story in Antoniadi crater on the Moon's far side. North is toward the top. Image width 1.54 kilometers, NAC M1311837924LR [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Published on 26 Jul 2019

The Moon in Arizona

This 3.48-kilometer-wide part of the Sea of Tranquility is very special, though no one has ever landed or walked here. NAC image M1123426954LR [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Published on 02 Jul 2019

On and Around Mons Piton

Mons Piton rises 2300 meters above the dark volcanic rocks of Mare Imbrium. The image covers an area 15.5 kilometers wide, north is up, and the Sun shines from the east (right). LROC NAC image pair M190609650LR [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State...

Published on 09 May 2019

Order from Chaos — Blagg Crater

Blagg crater, named for the British astronomer who helped bring order to lunar naming chaos, is full of surprises. Taken during morning with the Sun shining from the right (east), the image above shows an area of the Moon just 9.5...

Published on 16 Apr 2019

Mysteries of Compton Crater

The oblique view of part of the north-central floor of Compton crater (center lat 55.9°, center lon 104.1°) shows floor fractures, the north slopes of its central peaks (center right), thousands of impact craters (some less than a meter...

Published on 10 Apr 2019

Chladni 225

Chladni crater (center lat 3.96°N, center lon 1.11°E) is a classic bowl-shaped "simple" lunar crater located in Sinus Medii ("central bay"). The image displays the north and east parts of the 13.1-kilometer-wide crater, including part...

Published on 21 Feb 2019

The West Side of Plato Crater

Western Plato crater (at right) and the geologically complex region west of its rim — part of a controlled and corrected mosaic made up of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) images. The late afternoon...

Published on 18 Jan 2019

Korolev X and Z

Sharing a melt flow: visible in the right part of this oblique image is the bright wall of Korolev Z crater, the source of a 12.5-kilometer-long dark melt flow that drapes across the ancient floor of the degraded crater Korolev X. South...

Published on 14 Dec 2018

Lunar Beauty

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera imaged this bright young ray crater (3.13˚N, 281.07˚E) on 3 November 2018 — just three weeks ago. The Sun shone from the west (left, 48˚ incidence angle). This image covers an area 8.1 kilometers...

Published on 21 Nov 2018

Lobate Scarps: The Movie

Lobate scarps - like those shown here on the floor of the farside crater d'Alembert - are not large, but they tell us much about how hot the Moon was when it was born and its ongoing thermal evolution. Image width is about four...

Published on 31 Oct 2018

Cool Cold Spots

Oblique (very!) view of Einthoven cold spot crater, located at 109.91° E, 6.74° S. White rays and the crater's rocky rim and rugged interior wall are visible signs of youth. The cold spot anomaly surrounding the crater is another sign...

Published on 21 Aug 2018

John Young at South Ray Crater

Overhead view of South Ray crater, the most prominent feature at the Apollo 16 Descartes landing site in the central lunar highlands. Astronaut John Young landed Lunar Module Orion north of the crater on  21 April 1972 (UTC)....

Published on 05 Jul 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