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color photo of clemintine

CLEMENTINE - USGS IMAGES

A RETURN TO THE MOON

The Clementine spacecraft successfully mapped the Moon with 4 cameras (UVVIS 415-1000nm; NIR 1100-2789 nm; HI-RES 415-750 nm; LWIR 9 microns) over the period February through May 1994. Using the UVVIS and NIR cameras the entire Moon was mapped at a resolution of 125-250 m/pixels. From these new data it will be possible to map the mineralogy (rock types) of the entire Moon, a truly unprecedented feat in the history of planetary exploration. In addition to the multispectral mapping cameras the Clementine spacecraft also carried a laser altimeter. The laser altimetry data will make possible the first ever uniform global lunar topographic map.

The DoD/ BMDO Clementine spacecraft was built and operated by the Naval Research Laboratory, with remote-sensing instruments from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Larger, higher resolution versions of all images may be downloaded by selecting the small image.

Last updated: April 30, 1998

Tycho Crater
(346 kb jpeg image)

Tycho Crater This mosaic of Clementine UVVIS images covers the center of the impact crater Tycho. It was formed when a large meteorite (or comet) slammed into the Moon. The version on the right is a 3 color composite (415 nm, 750 nm, 1000 nm); the version in the center is a color composite of wavelength ratios which show different rock and soil types. Note the distinct color difference of the central peak due to excavation of deep material during the impact that formed the crater. The ratio image on the left enhances an unusual polygonal pattern in the floor of the crater. The origin of this feature is not clear, however future work using all 11 wavelengths collected by the UVVIS and NIR cameras will most likely reveal the origin of these enigmatic "cracks".


HI-RES Mosaic

hi res mosaic (295 kb jpeg image)

This mosaic shows a detail of a finished HI-RES mosaic that has been "controlled" and is "overlain" on a mosaic of UVVIS images. Note the large difference in resolution between the HIRES (strip in the middle) and the background UVVIS.

Farside Color Mosaic

farside color mosaic (52 kb jpeg image)

Color mosaic of a portion of the lunar farside (left) obtained with the Clementine UVVIS Camera. This spectacular oblique view shows the rugged topography of the lunar highlands. The smooth dark patches seen in the extreme lower right forground and middle left background are mare plains - similar in composition to the large dark areas (mare flood basalts) that define the features of the "man in the Moon" visible to a casual observer on the Earth.

Star Tracker Earthshine

Star Tracker Earthshine (53 kb jpeg image)

In addition to the geologic mapping cameras, the Clementine spacecraft also carried two Star Tracker cameras for navigation. These amazing lightweight (0.3 kg) cameras kept the spacecraft on track by constantly observing the positions of Stars, reminiscent of the age old seafaring tradition of sextant/star navigation. These navigation cameras were also able to take some spectacular wide angle images of the Moon. In this picture the Moon is seen illuminated solely be light reflected from the Earth - Earthshine! the bright glow on the lunar horizon is caused by light from the solar corona, the sun is just behind the lunar limb. The low angle of Earthshine near the limb results in dramatic shadowing which enhances the rings of the Orientale basin - the scar of a massive asteroid (or comet) impact. Also of interest in this image is the planet Venus at the bottom of the frame.

Clementine global albedo map of the Moon

About 50,000 Clementine images have been processed and mosaicked to produce a global map of the Moon's albedo (normalized brightness or reflectivity) at a wavelength of 750 nm (just longward of visible red). This provides the best albedo map produced to date for much of the far side. The original images have resolutions of about 100 m/pixel, but were reduced to 1 km/pixel for the mosaic, and have been further reduced to 5 and 10 km/pixel for the versions shown here. Pre-flight calibration was used, which does not fully correct a brightness gradient across each frame, and this results in the north-south striping seen in the mosaic. This artifact will be corrected in future mosaics. The brightnesses are dominated by albedo everywhere except near the poles, where the brightness is dominated by topographic shading.

Three versions of the mosaic are shown here:

Albedo provides first-order information on surface compositions and soil "maturity" (lunar soils darken as a function of time and composition following exposure on the lunar surface). The darkest 2% of the Moon's surface corresponds to titanium-rich mare and dark mantle deposits; all of these areas are on the near side. Other dark areas correspond to the maria, or basaltic flood plains. Extensive bright areas correspond to highland soils. Large areas with intermediate albedo correspond to mixed mare-highland soils, often corresponding to "cryptomare" (hidden mare), where ancient mare basalts are mixed with more recent ejecta from impact basins. Very bright spots are due to relatively recent (less than 1 billion years old) impact craters, which have exposed immature soils. Many new identifications of relatively recent impact craters will result from analysis of the Clementine dataset, which will help us to better understand the impact flux that has profoundly influenced the evolution of life on Earth. The brightest crater larger than 20 km diameter is Giordano Bruno (upper left side of far side image), which is probably less than 50 million years old, more recent than the Cretaceous-Terciary impact on earth which killed the last of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

Image processing by the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Clementine map of the topography of the Moon

topographic map of the moon (449 kb jpeg image)

Oblique view of the Moon looking towards the east, with color-coded altimetry on a shaded-relief image. The lowest elevations are shown in purple, increasing to blue, green, and red. 10x vertical exaggeration. Original image was in a Mercator projection from latitude -70 to 70 and with 450 degrees of longitude (repeating region from 90 to 180). The large-scale topography of the Moon is dominated by two giant basins or depressions separated by rugged highlands. The deepest depression is the South Pole/Aitken basin (upper right), and the larger but shallower depression covers most of the central and northern nearside. The nearside basin may be due to a single large impact, several large impacts, or to magma-ocean processes. The highest regions on the Moon occur on the north-central farside, perhaps due to giant-basin ejecta and/or magma ocean processes. Except perhaps for the nearside basin and central farside highlands, all of the large-scale topography of the Moon has been determined by impact events and mare fill. All of the multi-ring impact basins on the Moon are at least 3.9 billion years old.

Data processing by NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Earth-Moon Transit Images:

The two images below are the Earth as viewed by the UVVIS camera while Clementine was in transit to the Moon.

Earth Orbit Images:

These two views of southeastern Africa were acquired by the UVVIS camera while Clementine was in low Earth Orbit early in the mission.

Earth from the Moon

Earth from the moon (108 kb jpeg image)

The Earth as seen across the lunar north pole by the UVVIS camera, the large crater in the foreground is Plaskett. The Earth actually appeared about twice as far above the lunar horizon as shown.

Apollo 11 Landing Site

apollo 11 landing site (279 kb jpeg image)

False Color mosaic composed of Clementine UVVIS images (Red = 1000 nm, Green = 750 nm, Blue = 415 nm) covering the Apollo 11 landing site in Mare Tranquillitatis, resolution is about 125 m/pixels). Only preliminary calibrations were applied to these images resulting in the seam boundaries across orbit strips (orbits 159, 160, 291, 292).

Other Clementine Mission resources:

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