Lunar Prospector Map of Lunar Thorium Anomalies (IMAGE)

Washington University in St. Louis

Lunar Prospector Map of Lunar Thorium Anomalies

Caption

This map of the abundance of the element thorium on the moon was made with data from the Lunar Prospector, a space mission launched in 1998, shows that most of this radioactive element is concentrated in a region on the moon's near side (left). But there is also a small hot spot called the Compton-Belkovich Thorium Anomaly (labeled C-B in the map) on the side of the moon that faces away from Earth.

Credit

NASA/GSFC/ASU/WUSTL, processing by B. Jolliff

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