perspective view of South Pole-Aitken region (IMAGE)
Caption
A closer view of the same topographic model shown in [THE MAP FIGURE]. This is a synthetic view based on real-world data called a colored hillshade, i.e., elevation data that has been color-coded (blue is low; red is high) and draped over a surface that is artificially illuminated from the right. As the illumination conditions around the lunar poles are very challenging and always cause very long shadows, such a synthetic view is ideal to convey the shape of the surface. At its bottom edge this view is about 700 km wide and gazes along the southern edge of the South Pole Aitken basin, with white arrows marking some of the massifs that are likely remnants of the basin rim. Some of these massifs tower over 10 km above their immediate surroundings, thereby exceeding the tallest mountains on Earth. The white, dotted ellipse outlines the Artemis Exploration Zone, which is the area that contains all candidate sites currently considered by NASA for future crewed landings that will bring the first woman and first person of color to the Moon.
Credit
Hannes Bernhardt, University of Maryland
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License
CC BY-NC-SA