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        "alt_text": "Deep in the craters of the Moon's south pole lurk permanently shadowed regions: areas that have not seen sunlight in over two billion years. Now, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is shedding a new light on some of our satellite's darkest mysteries.For complete transcript, click here.This video is also available on our YouTube channel.",
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            "description": "As you watch the Moon over the course of a month, you'll notice that different features are illuminated by the Sun at different times. However, there are some parts of the Moon that never see sunlight. These areas are called permanently shadowed regions, and they appear dark because unlike on the Earth, the axis of the Moon is nearly perpendicular to the direction of the sun's light. The result is that the bottoms of certain craters are never pointed toward the Sun, with some remaining dark for over two billion years. However, thanks to new data from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, we can now see into these dark craters in incredible detail.",
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            "description": "Deep in the craters of the Moon's south pole lurk permanently shadowed regions: areas that have not seen sunlight in over two billion years. Now, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is shedding a new light on some of our satellite's darkest mysteries.<p><p><p>For complete transcript, click <a href=\"/vis/a010000/a011200/a011218/G2013-007_Perma_Shadows_MASTER_youtube_hqTranscripts.html\">here</a>.<br><a href='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbtpoBe46kk'>This video is also available on our YouTube channel</a>.<br>",
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    "related": [
        {
            "id": 14886,
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            "page_type": "Produced Video",
            "title": "Artemis Science: Exploring the Moon’s South Pole",
            "description": "By sending astronauts to collect samples from the Moon’s South Pole, NASA’s Artemis missions may uncover clues to the formation of the solar system.Complete transcript available.Universal Production Music: “Transitions” by Harry Gregson Williams [BMI] and Ben Andrew [PRS]; “Love on the Moon” by Sebastian Barnaby Robertson [BMI] and Yaacov Kobi Hokima [BMI]Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || Artemis_Sci_Young_S_Pole_Preview.png (1920x1080) [1.5 MB] || Artemis_Sci_Young_S_Pole_Preview.jpg (1920x1080) [721.6 KB] || Artemis_Sci_Young_S_Pole_Preview_print.jpg (1024x576) [139.2 KB] || Artemis_Sci_Young_S_Pole_Preview_searchweb.png (320x180) [84.1 KB] || Artemis_Sci_Young_S_Pole_Preview_thm.png (80x40) [6.7 KB] || 14886_Artemis_Sci_Young_SPole_720.mp4 (1280x720) [37.3 MB] || 14886_Artemis_Sci_Young_SPole_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [208.1 MB] || ArtemisSciYoungSPoleCaptions.en_US.srt [4.0 KB] || ArtemisSciYoungSPoleCaptions.en_US.vtt [3.8 KB] || 14886_Artemis_Sci_Young_SPole_4K_Small.mp4 (3840x2160) [155.7 MB] || 14886_Artemis_Sci_Young_SPole_4K.mp4 (3840x2160) [1.3 GB] || 14886_Artemis_Sci_Young_SPole_ProRes.mov (3840x2160) [7.4 GB] || ",
            "release_date": "2025-08-22T11:00:00-04:00",
            "update_date": "2026-05-18T15:04:35-04:00",
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                "filename": "Artemis_Sci_Young_S_Pole_Preview.jpg",
                "media_type": "Image",
                "alt_text": "By sending astronauts to collect samples from the Moon’s South Pole, NASA’s Artemis missions may uncover clues to the formation of the solar system.Complete transcript available.Universal Production Music: “Transitions” by Harry Gregson Williams [BMI] and Ben Andrew [PRS]; “Love on the Moon” by Sebastian Barnaby Robertson [BMI] and Yaacov Kobi Hokima [BMI]Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.",
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        },
        {
            "id": 11230,
            "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11230/",
            "page_type": "Produced Video",
            "title": "Staring Into Darkness",
            "description": "The walls within some craters at the moon's poles have gone without sunlight for as long as two billion years. Known as permanently shadowed regions, these craters lie almost perpendicular to the sun, never receiving its warmth or light. By bouncing laser beams off the moon's surface, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mapped the shape and elevation of these incredibly dark areas. Detailed 3-D models constructed from the data, combined with data collected by other instruments aboard the spacecraft, reveal which craters are fully hidden from the sun's rays, and which crater floors are cold enough for chemicals such as water to build up in the lunar soil. Watch the video to learn more. || ",
            "release_date": "2013-04-02T00:00:00-04:00",
            "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:52:16.405170-04:00",
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                "alt_text": "A NASA spacecraft explores the moon's permanent shadows.",
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        {
            "id": 4043,
            "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4043/",
            "page_type": "Visualization",
            "title": "LRO Peers into Permanent Shadows",
            "description": "The Moon's permanently shadowed regions, or PSRs, are places on the Moon that haven't seen the Sun in millions, or even billions, of years. The Earth's tilted axis allows sunlight to fall everywhere on its surface, even at the poles, for at least part of the year. But the Moon's tilt relative to the Sun is only 1.6°, not enough to get sunlight into some deep craters near the lunar north and south poles. PSRs are therefore some of the coldest, darkest places in the solar system.Because of that, PSRs are expected to be excellent traps for volatiles, chemicals that would normally vaporize and escape into space, and this includes water. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) includes several instruments designed to peer into the PSR darkness and measure temperature, reflectivity, and neutron absorption, all of which are clues to what chemicals might be hiding there. This animation shows where the PSRs are and in what ways LRO can see inside them. || ",
            "release_date": "2013-03-06T11:00:00-05:00",
            "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:52:20.595975-04:00",
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                "media_type": "Image",
                "alt_text": "Beginning with a full-frame Moon, the camera flies to the lunar south pole and shows areas of permanent shadow. Realistic shadows evolve through several months.",
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