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Hi, I'm NASA scientist

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Jim Garvin. Today I'd like to share with you, some of the most stunning,

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evocative pictures taken throughout the universe. These

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are my top "pics."

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(Music)

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Today's segment flies

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us to the Moon, revealing images captured by LROC - the Lunar Reconnaissance

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Orbiter Camera. Since 2009, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

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spacecraft has been mapping the Moon. Here are my top five favorite images.

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Number five: Aristarchus. What you're seeing

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here is Mother Nature's expression of a gigantic landform made by

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a cosmic collision: an impact crater. Fourteen thousand feet of

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relief is shown in this picture. The inner wall slopes of this giant impact

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crater expressing rocks that have been excavated from beneath

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the lunar crust, shown for the first time here by Mother Nature. This is how

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the solar system works. Moving on to number four: the lunar

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South Pole. In this image you see what may be the the coldest place in the solar system.

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In the shadows of the craters you see here, the temperatures may be below

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twenty-five degree kelvin, colder than Pluto. In this image we also see

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places where there may be lurking the relics of ancient ices

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frozen in this part of the solar system, billions of years ago.

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Number three: Moon ejecta. In this image, almost reminiscent of abstract

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art, we see the process of impact cratering on the surface of the Moon

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in its most pristine state. We see how the dust and rocks that are

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displaced or excavated by this process are distributed on the lunar surface. This

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beautiful image shows us how that process works throughout the solar system.

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Onto number two: lunar pit craters. In this very revealing

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image, we see what is in effect a hole, showing a shadow, revealing the

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underside of the lunar crust, by a process that we think is associated with

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collapse. Perhaps collapse over an ancient river of lava that flowed

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on the Moon long ago, revealing for us subterranean tunnels. This

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spectacular image really suggests for us new environments on the moon,

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those not at the surface, very worthy of future exploration.

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And the top spot goes to the Tycho impact crater - formed

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by a colossal cosmic collision on the Moon around the time that dinosaurs

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roamed here on Earth. And as we zoom in on the picture, we can see the consequences

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of that giant impact process; producing for us fifteen

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thousand foot mountain reminiscent of the biggest on Earth. At the top of which

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are giant rocks, big blocks the size of buildings, displaced

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by Mother Nature instantly. This is Mother Nature at her best.

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So those are my top "pics" from LROC. I'm Jim Garvin, signing

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off.

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(beeping)

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