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The DoD/ BMDO Clementine spacecraft was built and operated by the Naval Research Laboratory, with remote-sensing instruments from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Last updated: April 30, 1998
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".
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.
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.
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.
Three versions of the mosaic are shown here:
Image processing by the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Arizona.
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.
(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.
(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).