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Credit: Lucy Whitehouse (c/o
D. Whitehouse)
Explanation:
Along the northwestern reaches of the
lunar
near side, the
Sinus Iridium
or Bay of Rainbows appropriately
lies at the edge of the Moon's smooth, dark Sea of Rains (Mare Imbrium).
In this sketch of
the lunar surface around the
Bay of Rainbows,
the sun shines from the left, illuminating the
arcing wall of the lava-floored bay.
The bay's Cape Heraclides, seen here at the top of the sunlit arc,
has been historically depicted as a moon maiden whose
hair streams behind her as she gazes sunward across the bay.
In the original Moon race - the race
to map
the Moon - this moon
maiden first appeared in
telescope-based
drawings of the lunar
surface by astronomer
Giovanni
Cassini in 1679.
Still gazing across the lunar bay, the moon maiden inspired
this drawing
by modern day astronomer, Lucy Whitehouse.
Done when she was 14, her sketch of the intriguing feature was made
from the countryside in northern England,
aided
by a telescope equipped with a digital
imaging eyepiece and a small television screen.
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Moon
Publications with words: Moon
See also: