NASA films far side of moon
February 2nd, 2012 - 11:07 pm ICT by IANSLondon, Feb 2 (IANS) Rare and spectacular video footage of the far side of the Moon has been captured by a NASA spacecraft, The Telegraph reported Thursday.
One whole face of the Moon can never be seen from Earth because it constantly faces away from our planet. But now one of the twin GRAIL spacecraft launched by NASA last September has returned its first video of the Moon’s hidden side.
The video scans the barren, dusty face - the oldest part of the moon - all the way from north to south poles, revealing a landscape scarred by countless collisions with comets and asteroids, the newspaper said.
Among the geographical features it picks up are the 149 km wide Drygalski crater, which features a star-shaped formation in its centre and can be seen to the left of centre near the bottom of the screen as the video reaches the south pole.
The footage was taken as part of a project for middle school students, who will pick out areas such as craters which they want to study in more detail, and is intended to inspire the next generation of space scientists.
Maria Zuber, GRAIL principal investigator, said: “The quality of the video is excellent and should energise our students as they prepare to explore the Moon.”
- Twin NASA probes reach lunar orbit - Jan 02, 2012
- NASA to launch moon mission in September - Aug 26, 2011
- NASA's Swift satellite, Hubble Telescope probe asteroid collision debris - Apr 29, 2011
- Moon's biggest crater exposes its hidden lower crust - Mar 05, 2010
- NASA's LRO creates Moon's most precise landscape yet - Dec 18, 2010
- Moon's craters can help improve Solar System surface-dating methods - Jul 28, 2010
- NASA's Cassini spacecraft captures dramatic views of Saturn's 2nd largest moon - Dec 22, 2010
- Camera captures comet's fiery end as it grazes sun - Jan 21, 2012
- NASA craft prepares for Valentine's Day date with comet - Jan 20, 2011
- NASA'S NEOWISE finds previously unknown 20 comets, 33,000 asteroids - Feb 02, 2011
- Moon's surface more complex than previously thought - Sep 17, 2010
- NASA's WISE mission discovers 'horseshoe' asteroid - Apr 09, 2011
- Plans afoot for astronauts to orbit moon's far side - Nov 26, 2010
- We might be looking in the wrong places for water on the moon - Dec 23, 2009
- 'Observe the Moon Night' with rest of the planet on Saturday! - Sep 18, 2010
Tags: collisions, comets and asteroids, craters, drygalski, far side of the moon, geographical features, grail, last september, left of centre, london feb, maria zuber, middle school students, nasa, nasa films, nasa spacecraft, principal investigator, south pole, south poles, space scientists, video footage