July 20, 2012
Long Ago And Far Away
image from NASA/ASU/Arizona State University
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter cameras are collecting so much data that places of high interest can be investigated under nearly all phases of illumination. A wonderful example is the new set of LROC pages for Featured Sites. The first, of course, featured sites are the six Apollo landing sites - one view of Apollo 16 is shown here. The slider along the top allows smooth movement through 22 different closeup NAC images of Apollo 16, making it easy to appreciate the landing site under much lower as well as much higher illumination than what it was on landing day 40 years and 3+ months ago. All of the images can be seen at one time by selecting the "Individual Images" tab on the website. Click the "Hardware" button above the slider to see the locations of the rover, ALSEP, etc. Much more information - and a critical resource for scientists re-examining Apollo samples in the geologic context provided by LRO high resolution images - is the "Traverse" option. It adds overlays of feature names and each EVA and the stops along it. Perhaps some day each of the different images will be available under the same overlays, or perhaps there will be links to images and data for samples collected. I think the Featured Sites pages will become one of the most popular parts of the LROC webpages as new new sites are added. Will the Lunas be next, or perhaps all the images for Copernicus or Giordano Bruno? I look forward to being surprised.
Chuck Wood
PS - Didn't some once great power do something important on this date a long time ago?
Related Links
Rükl plate 45
Yesterday's LPOD: Lancing the Moon
Tomorrow's LPOD: Chocolate Moon
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