Johnston's Archive--Space Art

Return to the Moon (part 1)

Recently NASA released results from the topographic mapping of the Moon by the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. This provides the ability to model the light and shadow effects for the true topography of the Moon, with my first results below.

View of the lunar farside, showing Mare Orientale (top): lines of smaller craters radiating from Orientale are visible, representing impacts of debris ejected by the impact that formed Orientale.
View of the lunar farside, showing the Earth beyond the Moon's south pole (south is at the top). The darker region below the Earth is the South Pole-Aiken Basin.
Crescent Moon and Earth, with farside crater Tsiolkovskiy (upper right) visible.
View of the lunar nearside showing crater Copernicus (center), with Mare Imbrium (above center).
View straddling the lunar nearside (left, center) and part of the farside (right).
Closeup of the Apennine Mountains forming one wall of Mare Imbrium, with Copernicus (upper right). South is to the top.
Closeup of the Moon, showing craters Tycho (just left of center), Maginus (below right of Tycho), and Longomontanus (lower left).
View of a first quarter moon, similar to a view from Earth.
View of part of the northeast quarter of the lunar nearside, showing (from left to right) Mares Imbrium, Serenitatis, Tranquillitatis, and Crisium.