The Colorful Moon
Explanation:
Do you recognize the
Earth's Moon when you see it?
The crazy, patchwork appearance of
the false-color image makes
this almost full
view of the Moon's
familiar
near side look very strange.
The Sea of Tranquillity
(
Mare Tranquillitatis) is the bright blue area at right,
the Ocean of Storms (Oceanus Procellarum) is the extensive
blue and orange area on the left, and white lines radiate
from the
crater Tycho at bottom center.
Recorded in 1992 by the Galileo spacecraft enroute to Jupiter,
the picture is a mosaic of 15 images taken through three color filters.
The image data was combined in an exaggerated color scheme to emphasize
composition differences - blue
hues reveal titanium rich areas while orange and purple colors
show regions relatively poor in titanium and iron.
Multicolor images
exploring the Moon's global surface composition
were made in 1994 by the Clementine spacecraft.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
