Illumination at the Moon's South Pole to 80°S, 2025 to 2028

  • Released Wednesday, October 5, 2022
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2025: Sunlight and shadow within 10 degrees of the lunar South Pole, rendered at two-hour intervals for a year.

The visualizations on this page simulate the lighting at the South Pole of the Moon in the years 2025 to 2028 at two-hour intervals, a total of 17,532 time steps or frames. The field of view encompasses the area south of 80° south latitude.

Global terrain mapping by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's laser altimeter, LOLA, makes it possible to simulate sunlight and shadow on the Moon at any date in the past or future. This will be vital for planning exploration of the lunar South Pole, where the low Sun angle and rugged terrain produce a uniquely challenging lighting environment.

2026: Sunlight and shadow within 10 degrees of the lunar South Pole, rendered at two-hour intervals for a year.

2027: Sunlight and shadow within 10 degrees of the lunar South Pole, rendered at two-hour intervals for a year.

2028: Sunlight and shadow within 10 degrees of the lunar South Pole, rendered at two-hour intervals for a year.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Wednesday, October 5, 2022.
This page was last updated on Friday, February 23, 2024 at 12:15 AM EST.

Missions

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Datasets used in this visualization

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