![]() “It is surprising how much brighter Earth is than the Moon," said Adam Szabo, DSCOVR project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. A thin sliver of shadowed area of Moon is visible on its right side. The largest far side features are Mare Moscoviense in the upper left and Tsiolkovskiy crater in the lower left. The lunar far side lacks the large, dark, basaltic plains, or maria, that are so prominent on the Earth-facing side. ![]() This natural lunar movement also produces a slight red and blue offset on the left side of the Moon in these unaltered images. Because the Moon has moved in relation to the Earth between the time the first (red) and last (green) exposures were made, a thin green offset appears on the right side of the Moon when the three exposures are combined. The red, green and blue channel images are used in these color images.Ĭombining three images taken about 30 seconds apart as the Moon moves produces a slight but noticeable camera artifact on the right side of the Moon. EPIC takes a series of 10 images using different narrowband spectral filters - from ultraviolet to near infrared - to produce a variety of science products. However, more research is needed to understand the full history, present, and future of water on the Moon.His image shows the far side of the Moon, illuminated by the Sun, as it crosses between the DSCOVR spacecraft's Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) camera and telescope, and the Earth - one million miles away.ĮPIC’s “natural color” images of Earth are generated by combining three separate monochrome exposures taken by the camera in quick succession. There is evidence that the water on the Moon comes from ancient and current comet impacts, icy micrometeorites colliding on the lunar surface, and lunar dust interactions with the solar wind. Lunar scientists continue to investigate the origins of water and its behavior. Researchers have confirmed that water exists both in the sunlit and shadowed surfaces of the Moon, yet many questions remain. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio/Ernie Wright Although the right side of the region is drier overall, water can still be seen tracing the insides of craters in light blue. The inner wall of the crater’s upper half is clearly delineated in dark blue, indicating a greater presence of water on this shady surface. Halfway down the left side of the region is Moretus Crater. Near the top left of the studied region, a ridge is visible in dark blue, where the water is particularly concentrated on the shady side of a steep lunar feature. ![]() We now know these spots to be plains of basalt created by early volcanic eruptions, but the nomenclature of ‘maria’ (plural) or ‘mare’ (singular) remains. Similar maps from Johannes Hevelius (1647), Giovanni Riccioli and Francesco Grimaldi (1651) were published over the next few years. In 1645, Dutch astronomer Michael van Langren published the first-known map of the Moon referring to the dark spots as “maria” – the Latin word for “seas” – and putting into writing the widely-held view that the marks were oceans on the lunar surface. When early astronomers looked up at the Moon, they were struck by the large, dark spots on its surface. Here is a brief history of the discoveries leading up to the confirmation of water on the Moon. In 2020, data from NASA’s SOFIA mission confirmed water exists in the sunlit area of the lunar surface as molecules of H 2O embedded within, or perhaps sticking to the surface of, grains of lunar dust. What’s big, covered in water, yet 100 times drier than the Sahara Desert? It’s not a riddle, it’s the Moon! For centuries, astronomers debated whether water exists on Earth’s closest neighbor. Explore this history in an interactive timeline › ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |