The Moon's South Pole in 3D via LRO/LOLA First Light Data
- Visualizations by:
- Alex Kekesi
- View full credits
The topographic data shown here is currently processed to show at approximately 30 meters per pixel.
The colors in this animation depict the relative heights of the lunar surface with respect to the surface mean. Warm colors (brown, red, magenta, and tan) indicate areas above the mean. Cooler colors (green, cyan, blue, and violet) are areas below the mean.
This animation shows some of the first results of the LRO/LOLA instrument with labels over several craters. As the virtual camera flies around the lunar south pole we not only get an indication of the moon's mysterious topography at this pole, but also a sense that this mission has just begun.
This animation shows some of the first results of the LRO/LOLA instrument without any labels.

Print resolution still of the moon with some early swaths of LOLA data.

Print resolution still of the LRO/LOLA data swaths as they are laid out on the lunar surface. Please note that for aesthetic purposes the swath widths are shown wider than actual. The actual width of a swath is approximately 65 meters across.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio
Animators
- Alex Kekesi (GST) [Lead]
- Ernie Wright (USRA)
- Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC)
- Marte Newcombe (GST)
Scientists
- David Smith (NASA/GSFC)
- Gregory A. Neumann (NASA/GSFC)
Producer
- Andrew Freeberg (NASA/GSFC)
Project support
- Eduardo Valente (GST)
- James W. Williams (GST)
Missions
This visualization is related to the following missions:Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Datasets used in this visualization
Clementine 750-nm Basemap (Collected with the UVVIS Camera sensor)
LRO DEM (A.K.A. Digital Elevation Map) (Collected with the LOLA sensor)
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.