Friday 18 November 2011

Sharpest ever Moon elevation map



The US space agency (NASA) has released the sharpest ever elevation map of the Moon. It will enable scientists to accurately portray the shape of the entire Moon at a higher resolution than ever before.

The map was produced using data sent back by the Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft, which was launched in June 2009. It reveals troughs and bumps over nearly the entire Moon with a pixel scale close to 100m (328 ft).

A single measure of elevation (one pixel) on the map is roughly the size of two football pitches placed side-by-side. Two instruments were involved in producing the map: the camera instrument (specifically the Wide Angle Camera) and the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (Lola) instrument.

The Nasa spacecraft was launched to lunar orbit carrying six instruments designed to collect detailed information about the lunar environment.

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