2023-10-01 01:00:18
NASA recently released a new composite image of an impact crater in the Antarctic region of the moon. It is a detailed image showing a crater with a permanent shadow, overlapping images from the ultra-high sensitivity camera ShadowCam and the high-resolution Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LROC). LROC has been orbiting the moon since 2009, while Shadow Cam is a NASA observation device mounted on Danuri, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s KARI lunar explorer, and was launched in August 2022. Both cameras observe the moon in different ways. LROC can capture lunar surface details, but is limited in its ability to image permanent shadows. As its name suggests, Shadow Cam has a sensitivity of over 200 times LROC and is active in dark areas of the lunar surface. According to NASA, this camera is structured to capture images in the dark using sunlight reflected from the lunar terrain or the Earth. Therefore, it is said that areas illuminated by direct sunlight cannot be captured. This image is a composite of images from two cameras orbiting the Moon to reveal the brightest and darkest parts of the Moon, respectively. According to NASA, the reason why the three points in this crater are continuously exposed to sunlight for more than 90% of the year is because the tilt of the Earth’s axis is 23.5, but the Moon is only slightly tilted by regarding 1.5 degrees. However, because sunlight does not reach the bottom of the crater, it is permanently in shadow. Evidence so far suggests that water ice may exist in the lunar permanent shadow, which might potentially be used as a valuable resource in future manned missions. In addition, it is revealed that areas strongly illuminated by the sun may be used to utilize solar energy in the future Artemis mission targeting the Antarctic region. Related information can be found here.
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