Illumination at Schrödinger Basin

2023: Sunlight and shadow within 2 degrees of the lunar South Pole, rendered at two-hour intervals for a year. The visualizations on this page simulate the lighting at the South Pole of the Moon in the years 2023 to 2030 at two-hour intervals, a total of 35,064 time steps or frames. The field of view encompasses the area south of 88 south latitude.Global terrain mapping by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter s laser altimeter, LOLA, makes it possible to simulate sunlight and shadow on the Moon at any date in the past or future. This will be vital for planning exploration of the lunar South Pole, where the low Sun angle and rugged terrain produce a uniquely challenging lighting environment. 2024: Sunlight and shadow within 2 degrees of the lunar South Pole, rendered at two-hour intervals for a year. 2025: Sunlight and shadow within 2 degrees of the lunar South Pole, rendered at two-hour intervals for a year. 2026: Sunlight and shadow within 2 degrees of the lunar South Pole, rendered at two-hour intervals for a year. 2027: Sunlight and shadow within 2 degrees of the lunar South Pole, rendered at two-hour intervals for a year. 2028: Sunlight and shadow within 2 degrees of the lunar South Pole, rendered at two-hour intervals for a year. 2029: Sunlight and shadow within 2 degrees of the lunar South Pole, rendered at two-hour intervals for a year. 2030: Sunlight and shadow within 2 degrees of the lunar South Pole, rendered at two-hour intervals for a year.

Beginning on the near side of the Moon, with the Apollo sites marked, the view quickly moves to the South Pole and zooms in to show the changing illumination conditions there for an entire year. The Apollo program landed six pairs of astronauts on the Moon between 1969 and 1972. All six landing sites are at low latitudes, near the equator. In this visualization, the Apollo sites are contrasted with the South Pole, an area with enormous potential for future exploration. Time passes as we zoom toward Shackleton crater at the South Pole, revealing illumination conditions quite different from those near the equator. While many craters remain in permanent shadow, some nearby mountains and ridges are in persistent sunshine, making them attractive candidates for solar power and long-term habitation.The remaining visualizations on this page show the illumination at the lunar South Pole throughout 2024, at several different scales. The year begins in the middle of South Pole summer, with the subsolar latitude near its greatest southern extent. As the year progresses, the shadows begin to deepen until mid-year and South Pole winter, when the subsolar latitude is at its northern extreme. The full range of the Sun re permanently shadowed. Conversely, a small number of high spots on mountains and crater rims are in persistent sunshine. These were made by integrating (adding together) the frames of the above visualizations.

A high-resolution free-air gravity map based on GRAIL data, overlaid on terrain based on LRO altimeter (LOLA) and camera (LROC) data. The view is south-up, with the south pole near the horizon in the upper left and the crescent Earth in the distance. The terminator crosses the eastern rim of the Schrdinger basin. Gravity is painted onto the areas that are in or near the night side. Red corresponds to mass excesses and blue to mass deficits. This print-resolution still image was created for the cover of the May 28, 2014 issue of Geophysical Research Letters. It features a free-air gravity map of the Moon s southern latitudes developed by S. Goossens et al. from data returned by the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission.If the Moon were a perfectly smooth sphere of uniform density, the gravity map would be a single, featureless color, indicating that the force of gravity at a given elevation was the same everywhere. But like other rocky bodies in the solar system, including Earth, the Moon has both a bumpy surface and a lumpy interior. Spacecraft in orbit around the Moon experience slight variations in gravity caused by both of these irregularities.The free-air gravity map shows deviations from the mean gravity that a cueball Moon would have. The deviations are measured in milliGals, a unit of acceleration. On the map, purple is at the low end of the range, at around -400 mGals, and red is at the high end near +400 mGals. Yellow denotes the mean.The map shown here extends from the south pole of the Moon up to 50dinger basin in the center of the frame. The terrain in the image is based on Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) altimeter and camera data.