Planets and Moons  ID: 11218

The Moon's Permanently Shadowed Regions

Released on March 6, 2013
As you watch the Moon over the course of a month, you'll notice that different features are illuminated by the Sun at different times. However, there are some parts of the Moon that never see sunlight. These areas are called permanently shadowed regions, and they appear dark because unlike on the Earth, the axis of the Moon is nearly perpendicular to the direction of the sun's light. The result is that the bottoms of certain craters are never pointed toward the Sun, with some remaining dark for over two billion years. However, thanks to new data from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, we can now see into these dark craters in incredible detail.
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Deep in the craters of the Moon's south pole lurk permanently shadowed regions: areas that have not seen sunlight in over two billion years. Now, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is shedding a new light on some of our satellite's darkest mysteries.

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Related

Staring Into Darkness
LRO Peers into Permanent Shadows

Credits

Ernie Wright (USRA): Lead Animator
Chris Smith (HTSI): Animator
Chris Meaney (HTSI): Animator
Dan Gallagher (USRA): Video Editor
Dan Gallagher (USRA): Narrator
Dan Gallagher (USRA): Producer
Chris Smith (HTSI): Producer
Chris Smith (HTSI): Writer
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11218

Mission:
LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter)

This item is part of these series:
Narrated Movies
LRO - Edited Features

Goddard TV Tape:
G2013-007 -- LRO's New Looks at the Moon's Permanently-Shadowed Regions

Keywords:
SVS >> HDTV
SVS >> Lunar
SVS >> Moon
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Land Surface >> Topography
SVS >> LRO
SVS >> Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
SVS >> LOLA
SVS >> LEND
SVS >> LAMP
SVS >> Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment (DLRE)
DLESE >> Narrated
SVS >> Shadowed Regions
NASA Science >> Planets and Moons
SVS >> Permanently Shadowed Regions

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0