SOFIA Map of Water Near the Moon's South Pole

The virtual camera flies toward the Moon, visualized as it appeared on February 17, 2022, then scans south over the area of the SOFIA observations, shown in shades of blue (stronger water signal) and brown. Includes a color key and latitude-longitude grid near the South Pole.

The virtual camera flies toward the Moon, visualized as it appeared on February 17, 2022, then scans south over the area of the SOFIA observations, shown in shades of blue (stronger water signal) and brown. This is the animation as rendered, without the color key. The frames are in high dynamic range OpenEXR format with alpha.

The virtual camera flies toward the Moon, visualized as it appeared on February 17, 2022, then scans south over the area of the SOFIA observations, shown in shades of blue (stronger water signal) and brown. This is an alternate rendering, without the color key and South Pole grid. The frames are in high dynamic range OpenEXR format with alpha.

The virtual camera flies toward the Moon, visualized as it appeared on February 17, 2022, then scans south over the area of the SOFIA observations, shown in shades of blue (stronger water signal) and brown. Includes a color key and latitude-longitude grid near the South Pole. This is a vertical aspect ratio version.

The virtual camera flies toward the Moon, visualized as it appeared on February 17, 2022, then scans south over the area of the SOFIA observations, shown in shades of blue (stronger water signal) and brown. This is the animation as rendered, without the color key. The frames are in high dynamic range OpenEXR format with alpha. This is a vertical aspect ratio version.

The virtual camera flies toward the Moon, visualized as it appeared on February 17, 2022, then scans south over the area of the SOFIA observations, shown in shades of blue (stronger water signal) and brown. This is an alternate rendering, without the color key and South Pole grid. The frames are in high dynamic range OpenEXR format with alpha. This is a vertical aspect ratio version.

A still image of the ful disk of the Moon as it appeared on February 17, 2022. The region of the SOFIA observations is shown in shades of blue and brown.

A still image of the Moon and the northern portion of the SOFIA water data.

A still image of the Moon and the southern portion of the SOFIA data.

The color key. Blue shades indicate a stronger water signal in the 6.1μm infrared band.