Moonlight Sonata

                    Moonlight Sonata⁣

This new mosaic reveals the power of two Moon orbiting cameras, working together. It was created with imagery acquired by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) and ShadowCam, a NASA instrument aboard a Korea Aerospace Research Institute spacecraft called Danuri.⁣

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LROC can capture detailed images of the lunar surface but has limited ability to photograph shadowed parts of the Moon that never receive direct sunlight. ShadowCam is 200-times more light-sensitive than LROC and can operate successfully in these extremely low-light conditions, revealing features that are not visible to LROC.⁣

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ShadowCam’s light sensitivity, however, renders it unable to capture images of parts of the Moon that are directly illuminated, delivering saturated results. With each camera optimized for specific lighting conditions found near the lunar poles, analysts can combine images from both instruments to reveal unprecedented detail of the lunar South Pole region.⁣

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Image description: 

An aerial view of the lunar surface, captured in hues of black, white, and gray. Shackleton Crater appears in the lower right portion of the image. The permanently shadowed areas in this mosaic, such as the interior floor and walls of Shackleton Crater, are visible in such detail because of the imagery from ShadowCam. In contrast, the sunlit areas in this mosaic, like the rim and flanks of the crater, are a product of imagery collected by LROC.⁣

 

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                     19 September 2023