Incredible new moon images show Artemis 3 landing sites near the lunar south pole (photos)
This striking composite shot appears in National Geographic Magazine’s special space issue out on Sept. 19.
The lunar south pole looks haunting in a new mosaic image that uses photography from two different NASA cameras in orbit around the moon.
National Geographic, in coordination with NASA, shared a never-before-seen, high-resolution composite image of the lunar south pole with a detailed companion map of Artemis 3 candidate landing sites.
This striking image of the moon’s south pole region was composed from a series of photos taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC), a network of cameras mounted on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter which has been circling the moon since June 2009, and ShadowCam, a NASA-funded instrument on the Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO). ShadowCam is 200 times more sensitive to light than previously deployed NASA lunar cameras, according to an agency statement.
Here’s the official photo description per NASA and NatGeo:
“Shrouded in permanent darkness, the interior of Shackleton crater near the moon’s south pole is revealed in this stunning mosaic. The crater itself was captured by ShadowCam, a NASA instrument designed to peer into the shadowy parts of the lunar surface that has been orbiting the moon for almost a year on the South Korean spacecraft Danuri. The surrounding areas were imaged by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera. Portions of three of the 13 potential landing regions for astronauts during Artemis 3 can be seen in this image.”
Along with the mosaic image of Shackleton Crater, National Geographic released a topographical map of the lunar south pole showing potential Artemis 3 landing sites in the region.
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It seems that all eyes are fixed upon our lone satellite these days, especially with India’s historic Chandrayaan-3 lunar south pole mission in the news over the past few weeks.
Back on Aug. 23, 2023, India became the first country to land a spacecraft near the moon’s south pole on a $77 million mission that allowed their space program to become only the fourth in history to accomplish a soft lunar landing after the United States, the former Soviet Union and China. Following a two-week mission exploring the vicinity and conducting experiments, the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover went into sleep mode as the sun set, to be hopefully reawakened on Sept. 22.
Russia’s most recent attempt at reaching the moon’s south pole, meanwhile, the Luna-25 mission, ended in failure when its lander crashed into the lunar surface.
Both China and the United States want to send human crews to the moon’s south pole. China has a mission planned for no earlier than 2030, while NASA plans to land a crew of astronauts near the lunar south pole no earlier than 2025 in what is planned to be the first human mission on the moon in over 50 years.
For more on this inspiring story and additional Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images, check out National Geographic’s special “Space” issue landing on Sept. 19, 2023.
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Making the Moon
Learn how to make a model of a 3D lunar crater, plus find out how to draw the moon.
By David Aguilar
CREATING CRATERS
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In 1874, a book featuring photographs of plaster of paris models of the moon was released. The images turned out so real, many wondered if they were taken on the moon. Now you can make your own 3D model of a lunar crater.
Supplies
- An empty yogurt or cottage cheese container to mix the plaster in
- Plaster of paris mixture (see instructions in Step Two)
- Scissors
- 2 sheets of letter-size printer paper
- A black felt marker
- A sheet of 1-inch-thick pink or blue foam board cut into about a 12-inch square (a small pizza box will work too)
- Paper towels or paper napkins
- A large water bucket to rinse out your mixing container and paintbrush
- 2-inch-wide masking tape
- A spoon to stir and apply the plaster
- A pencil with not too sharp a point and a rounded eraser (we’ll use this to make small craters)
- A bottle of white glue; construction glue works best
- An inexpensive 1-inch paintbrush
- A small bag of gray grout or dry cement mix
Step One
First find a picture online of a crater that you want to make. The craters Tycho, Kepler, or Copernicus work well. Print two enlargements of the crater on letter-size paper. Cut one out and, using the black felt marker, trace it directly onto the foam board. Now we know how big our crater is going to be. The other printout will be our guide for adding details.
Step Two
Prepare your plaster of paris mixture: Pour half a cup of cold water into your empty mixing container. Take 2 large spoonfuls of dry plaster of paris and gently sprinkle them into the water. Stir the mixture around, and add a bit more plaster or water until it has the thickness of milk.
Step Three
Tear off little pieces of paper towel about 2 inches wide by 5 inches long. One at a time, dip them into the plaster and arrange them around the outline of the crater, squishing and shaping them with your fingers. Keep adding more plaster-soaked paper until the rim of the crater is complete. Work quickly because the plaster will set in about 6 to 10 minutes. Any plaster that drips onto the foam board can be smeared around using your fingers.
Step Four
While waiting for your rim to harden, scrape out any extra plaster in the mixing container onto a newspaper and toss it into the trash. Rinse the mixing container in the bucket of water. Apply masking tape all around the outside edges of the foam board to keep plaster from running off the edges onto your surface.
Step Five
Mix another full container of plaster.
Step Six
Build the crater walls higher by dripping on spoonfuls of plaster, and spread some on the crater floor. Pour the new container of plaster around the outside of the crater to make the lunar surface higher. You may need to add another container of plaster later if the lunar surface is not high enough. Drip a little bit of plaster in the middle of the crater to make tiny peaks and wet the end of the pencil eraser and twist it around the drying plaster to make nice little craters. Use the sharp end of the pencil to trace in little cracks on the crater floor. Add more little craters as needed.
Step Seven
Clean out your mixing container once again, and set your crater aside in a warm room to let it dry overnight.
Step Eight
In your clean mixing cup, pour in about a 1/2-inch layer of white glue and add about 1/2 inch of cold water to thin out the glue. Dip your paintbrush in the diluted glue and quickly paint over your entire plaster model with a layer of the glue.
Step Nine
Quickly sprinkle on the grout or cement mix until everything is covered. Now, once again, wait until everything dries. Then pick up the foam board and walk outside to gently blow off any loose dust.
Step Ten
You’ve just made your own model of a lunar crater! If you want to get really crafty, put your model in a darkened room and shine a light on it from one direction, just as the sun would be shining on the moon. With a cell phone, take a picture of it. It’ll look like you shot a close-up image of the moon through a big telescope.
DRAWING THE MOON
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For centuries, the only way to record surface features on the moon was by making drawings. To become a genuine lunar artist, head outside to get started sketching.
Supplies
- A comfortable chair or blanket to sit on while looking through the eyepiece of your telescope (it’s harder to draw when standing up)
- A small telescope to be used at about 50x to 60x magnification
- A handheld clipboard
- A pencil
- A flashlight or headlamp to illuminate your drawings as you work
- A piece of letter-size white paper to draw on
- A round object about 4 to 6 inches in diameter, such as an empty yogurt container or a small paint can
Step One
Place the round object in the middle of your paper and trace around it with your pencil. That’s the outline of the moon that you’re now going to fill in.
Step Two
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The first thing to draw in is the terminator line. Remember, that’s the dividing line between night and day on the moon. Everything you draw in will be on the daytime side.
Step Three
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Look through your telescope and lightly sketch everything you see on the daytime side of the terminator.
Step Four
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When you’re done, go back inside and make the lines darker and shadow in the nighttime area. In the upper left corner of the paper, be sure to write the date of your drawing, the time of night, and the power of the eyepiece you used on your telescope. Go outside on several nights and make a drawing each night. You’ll be amazed at how lunar features change over time.
REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM THE NAT GEO KIDS BOOK LUNA: THE SCIENCE AND STORIES OF OUR MOON, COPYRIGHT © 2019 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PARTNERS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
