Astronomy Picture of the Day for July 6, 2011 – Sunrise at Tycho Crater (Credit: NASA / GSFC / Arizona State Univ. / Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter)
If you don’t already, you really should checkout NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day website daily. Today’s image has left me particularly awestruck at its beauty. It is an image from the Tycho Crater on the Moon taken with the Lunar Reconnaissnace Orbiter Camera (LROC).
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has provided some of the most detailed images of the Moon since the days of Apollo. Its suite of seven instruments has taken detailed measurements of the lunar environment using many wavelengths of light and the Lunar Orbiter Laster Altimeter, or LOLA, has produced a detailed 3D map of the lunar surface. With LRO data you can even see the landing sites and footsteps from the Apollo missions.
Today’s image APOD image from the Tycho Crater is an image taken as an oblique view, where the image is captured from a position other than straight overhead and was taken on June 10th, less than a month ago. The mountains are actually in the center of the Tycho Crater. If you take a look at the overhead image on Google Moon of the crater you can clearly see these mountains in the context of the crater. You can also switch the view to elevation and look at the detailed topographical data.
This image is simply majestic and is now my desktop wallpaper. Be sure to check back in to APOD daily for many more stunning images and look through the extensive archive going back to the mid-90s.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are my own and do not necessarily represent the views of NASA. The articles I write for GeekDad are independent of my day-job and I am not officially representing NASA in this capacity.
