An animated view of the Sun and the Earth as seen from the Moon's South Pole, narrated by the visualizer.Music Provided by Universal Production Music: “Enduring Faith” – Frederik WiedmannThis video can also be viewed on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || shackleton_earth.0001_print.jpg (1024x576) [41.1 KB] || shackleton_earth_YouTube.webm (1920x1080) [15.7 MB] || shackleton_earth_YouTube.mp4 (1920x1080) [177.5 MB] || shackleton_earth_CAPTIONS.en_US.srt [3.4 KB] || shackleton_earth_CAPTIONS.en_US.vtt [3.2 KB] || shackleton_earth_YouTube.mp4.hwshow [201 bytes] ||

As the Earth and Moon orbit around the Sun, there are places on the Moon that never receive direct sunlight. Most of these permanently shadowed regions are at the lunar poles. This animation approximates the permanently shadowned regions pertaining to the Moon's south pole by maintaining a maximum sun angle to the surface of 1.5 degrees. These permanently shadowed areas are of interest because they could hold water ice. (NOTE: South Pole Digital Elevation Maps [DEM] based on publically released JAXA/Selene data.) ||

On March 15, 2010, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) released its first installment of scientific data to NASA's public archive for planetary data, the Planetary Data System (PDS). This animation highlights several of the datasets made available through the PDS by the LOLA, LEND, and Diviner instruments on LRO. ||

The famous color photograph known as Earthrise, as well as a black-and-white image taken a minute earlier, document the moment when Earth was seen for the first time by human eyes from behind the Moon. They were taken on December 24, 1968 by the crew of Apollo 8, the first humans to leave low Earth orbit.The sight of a small, intensely blue Earth rising above the barren, gray horizon of the Moon was one of the few things that NASA and the crew of Apollo 8 had not thoroughly planned and rehearsed beforehand. As historian Robert Poole noted, this lack of preparation meant that the sight of Earth came with the force of a revelation, not just for the astronauts but for everyone on the ground. We came all this way to explore the Moon, Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders said, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth.Using the latest elevation data from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, this visualization attempts to recreate what the astronauts saw. The virtual camera of the rendering software is put in the position of the Apollo 8 spacecraft at the time of the photographs, as the spacecraft emerged from its fourth pass behind the Moon. It shows a two-minute interval centered on 16:39:06 UT (10:39 a.m. Houston time) on December 24, 1968. This is around the time of AOS (acquisition of signal), the moment when radio contact is re-established after being lost on the far side of the Moon.The position and motion of the spacecraft are based on a state vector, a set of (x, y, z) position and (vx, vy, vz) velocity values, published in NASA's Apollo 8 Mission Report about a year after the flight. The animator translated these values, given in Moon-centered inertial coordinates for Besselian year 1969.0, into a modern coordinate system, then calculated an orbit. The spacecraft was 110 km (68 miles, 60 nautical miles) above the surface of the Moon at 11.2°S 113.8°E when the Earthrise photograph was taken. ||

2023: Sunlight and shadow within 2 degrees of the lunar South Pole, rendered at two-hour intervals for a year. || sp_illum_2023_print.jpg (1024x576) [103.9 KB] || sp_illum.0001_searchweb.png (320x180) [55.6 KB] || sp_illum.0001_thm.png (80x40) [5.3 KB] || sp_illum_2deg_2023_1080p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [71.3 MB] || sp_illum_2deg_2023_720p30.mp4 (1280x720) [40.9 MB] || 2023 (1920x1080) [0 Item(s)] || sp_illum_2deg_2023_720p30.webm (1280x720) [17.4 MB] || sp_illum_2deg_2023_360p30.mp4 (640x360) [17.2 MB] || sp_illum_2deg_2023_1080p30.mp4.hwshow ||

Visualization of the precise location of the lunar South Pole in the Moon Mean Earth coordinate system. Includes narration and music. Presented in both horizontal (landscape) and vertical (portrait) aspect ratios.Music provided by Universal Production Music: Unmatched Skills – John K Sands, Marc Ferrari, Michael A TremanteThis video can also be viewed on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || southpole.0120_narrated_print.jpg (1024x576) [19.1 KB] || PinpointingSouthPole-YouTubeHD.mp4 (1920x1080) [50.5 MB] || PinpointingSouthPole-VERTICAL.mp4 (1080x1920) [54.6 MB] || PinpointingSouthPole-VERTICAL.webm (1080x1920) [7.8 MB] || PinpointingSouthPole-MASTER.mov (1920x1080) [382.4 MB] || PinpointingSouthPole-Captions.en_US.srt [1.5 KB] || PinpointingSouthPole-Captions.en_US.vtt [1.5 KB] || PinpointingSouthPole-YouTubeHD.mp4.hwshow [196 bytes] ||

The wandering path of the lunar South Pole is shown over a period from 4.25 billion years ago to the present.This video can also be viewed on the SVS YouTube channel. || tpw.0750_print.jpg (1024x576) [250.9 KB] || tpw.0750_searchweb.png (320x180) [109.2 KB] || tpw.0750_thm.png (80x40) [7.6 KB] || tpw_1080p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [46.9 MB] || tpw_720p30.mp4 (1280x720) [22.5 MB] || 1920x1080_16x9_30p (1920x1080) [0 Item(s)] || tpw_720p30.webm (1280x720) [5.6 MB] || tpw_360p30.mp4 (640x360) [8.1 MB] || tpw_1080p30.mp4.hwshow [177 bytes] ||

2025: Sunlight and shadow within 10 degrees of the lunar South Pole, rendered at two-hour intervals for a year. || moon.2025_print.jpg (1024x576) [232.8 KB] || moon.2025_searchweb.png (320x180) [96.4 KB] || moon.2025_thm.png (80x40) [7.5 KB] || 2025 (1920x1080) [0 Item(s)] || sp_illum_10deg_2025_720p30.webm (1280x720) [17.6 MB] || sp_illum_10deg_2025_1080p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [176.7 MB] || sp_illum_10deg_2025_720p30.mp4 (1280x720) [107.4 MB] || sp_illum_10deg_2025_360p30.mp4 (640x360) [37.1 MB] || sp_illum_10deg_2025_1080p30.mp4.hwshow ||

An overhead view of Schrödinger basin showing both the inner peak ring and outer rim. The view is centered on 75°S 133°E with a vertical FOV of 5.8° from a distance of 2 Moon radii. || sp_illum.0002_print.jpg (1024x576) [245.3 KB] || sp_illum.0001_searchweb.png (320x180) [106.0 KB] || sp_illum.0001_thm.png (80x40) [7.1 KB] || schrodinger_2024_2025_720p30.mp4 (1280x720) [58.6 MB] || outer (1920x1080) [0 Item(s)] || schrodinger_2024_2025_720p30.webm (1280x720) [17.2 MB] || schrodinger_2024_2025_1080p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [105.2 MB] || schrodinger_2024_2025_360p30.mp4 (640x360) [20.1 MB] || schrodinger_2024_2025_1080p30.mp4.hwshow ||

The path of the Sun in the lunar sky is shown at four latitudes, including the South Pole. An arrow points toward the Sun. Annotations include the subsolar longitude and the elapsed time in Earth days. || moon.0330_print.jpg (1024x576) [135.4 KB] || moon.0330_searchweb.png (320x180) [76.0 KB] || moon.0330_thm.png (80x40) [5.9 KB] || sun_paths_1080p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [18.0 MB] || sun_paths_720p30.mp4 (1280x720) [8.8 MB] || 1920x1080_16x9_30p (1920x1080) [0 Item(s)] || sun_paths_720p30.webm (1280x720) [4.5 MB] || sun_paths_360p30.mp4 (640x360) [3.0 MB] || sun_paths_1080p30.mp4.hwshow [183 bytes] ||