August 15, 2012

Inside the Rainbow

LRO mosaic processed by Maurice Collins, New Zealand

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images making up QuickMap have become the standard for depiction of the lunar surface.
But the QuickMap mosaic uses relatively high illumination to maximize the visiblity of crater interiors. So Maurice searched
through the individual LRO Wide Angle Camera images and found a set that he mosaicked to show Sinus Iridum with a lower
Sun angle. This clearly shows the main mare ridges as well as more subtle ones that lack a narrow steep ridgelett. A number
of small, mostly unknown rilles are seen around Iridum's edges - the most conspicuous at the east side of Prom. Heraclides
(near bottom left). The low Sun conceals the bright rays but emphsizes the tiny bright rims and shadowed floors of the line of
secondary craters from Copernicus. The low illumination also highlights the domical swell near the tip of the long shadow from
Prom. Laplace. Tomorrow we'll have a closeup of an unusual feature hidden in this image.

Chuck Wood

Technical Details
As reproduced above this image is 25% of the scale of the actual image.

Related Links
Rükl plate 10

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