Lunar Swirls: Reiner Gamma
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- Visualizations by:
- Ernie Wright
- View full credits
Lunar swirls are bright, often sinuous features with the diffuse appearance of abstract airbrush paintings. They are unique to the Moon and have long defied easy explanation. Five papers recently published in Icarus (1, 2, 3), JGR: Space Physics (4), and JGR: Planets (5) use a combination of computer modeling and the data gathered by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and other recent lunar missions to shed new light on the origin of these unusual surface decorations.
Reiner Gamma, a bright patch amid the otherwise dark Oceanus Procellarum mare, is perhaps the most spectacular example of a lunar swirl. Through backyard telescopes near full Moon, it looks like a small figure-8 on its side. LRO's view from orbit reveals tendrils and daughter swirls that extend for several hundred kilometers.
The animation zooms up on an LRO wide-angle camera mosaic of Reiner Gamma, then tilts the view to show that this large swirl is entirely two-dimensional — it's not a mountain range or a valley, but instead looks painted onto the surface. The narrated videos are available in both English and Spanish.
Datos captados por el Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter fueron utilizados en la creación de esta visualización de Reiner Gamma — un remolino lunar. Este vídeo fue narrado por Nayi Castro Líder Técnica Diputada de el Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Música proporcionada por Killer Tracks: Eric Chevalier, Facing the Truth — TV Mix
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Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
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Visualizer
- Ernie Wright (USRA) [Lead]
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Scientists
- John Keller (NASA/GSFC)
- Noah Petro (NASA/GSFC)
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Producer
- David Ladd (Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc.)
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Narrator
- Noah Petro (NASA/GSFC)
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Technical support
- Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
- Laurence Schuler (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
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Narrator (spanish)
- Nayi Castro (KBRwyle)
Papers
This visualization is based on the following papers:- Brent W. Denevi et al., The distribution and extent of lunar swirls, Icarus 273:15 (July 2016), pp. 53-67
Missions
This visualization is related to the following missions:Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Datasets used in this visualization
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter LROC WAC Global Morphological Map (A.K.A. Global Morphological Map) (Collected with the Wide-Angle Camera sensor)
LRO WAC 643nm High Sun Global Mosaic (Collected with the LROC sensor)
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.