Coursekit is now Lore.
What’s the Story?
A discovery engine for meaningful knowledge, fueled by cross-disciplinary curiosity.
A Brain Pickings project edited by Maria Popova in partnership with Noodle.
Twitter: @explorer
space science and technology NASA photography
The spin axis of the Moon is tilted by only 1.54 degrees (vs. Earth’s 23.5 degrees), leaving some areas near the poles in permanent shadow and making others sunlit for the majority of the year. NASA used 1,700 wide-angle images taken with their Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter  over a six-moth period, or six lunar days, then converted each into a binary image to differentiate between sunlit and shadowed regions. All the binary images were then stacked, and a calculation was made for each pixel to determine what percentage of the time during six months that spot was illuminated. The result is this striking  South Pole illumination map.

The spin axis of the Moon is tilted by only 1.54 degrees (vs. Earth’s 23.5 degrees), leaving some areas near the poles in permanent shadow and making others sunlit for the majority of the year.

NASA used 1,700 wide-angle images taken with their Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter  over a six-moth period, or six lunar days, then converted each into a binary image to differentiate between sunlit and shadowed regions. All the binary images were then stacked, and a calculation was made for each pixel to determine what percentage of the time during six months that spot was illuminated. The result is this striking  South Pole illumination map.

4-10-2012
900 notes
  1. baileys-and-ice reblogged this from whisperrwarr
  2. darktroubleinparadise reblogged this from k-o-kot
  3. the-show-is-not-over reblogged this from whisperrwarr
  4. hopelessly--pathetic reblogged this from whisperrwarr
  5. whisperrwarr reblogged this from k-o-kot
  6. k-o-kot reblogged this from multipleskarosis
  7. multipleskarosis reblogged this from jazzstep
  8. jazzstep reblogged this from justjace
  9. ewwwdont reblogged this from ifdogsrunfree
  10. canvassedthoughts reblogged this from npr
  11. jamilasays reblogged this from explore-blog
  12. emipi reblogged this from npr
  13. thekingsthoughts reblogged this from thescienceofreality
  14. causeimflyinintheair reblogged this from marywanna-make-my-day
  15. sickly-cyclical reblogged this from thescienceofreality
  16. noonereceiving reblogged this from thescienceofreality and added:
    The spin axis of the Moon is tilted by only 1.54 degrees (vs. Earth’s 23.5 degrees), leaving some areas near the poles...
  17. unusualapproach reblogged this from thescienceofreality
  18. jishhd reblogged this from explore-blog
  19. jordanbabey94 reblogged this from thescienceofreality
  20. papercogs reblogged this from astudyinspock
  21. existentialrift reblogged this from higgs-broson
  22. callmelogic reblogged this from thescienceofreality
  23. nerdsmorgsboard reblogged this from thescienceofreality
  24. laura-annex reblogged this from englishredhead
  25. higgs-broson reblogged this from thescienceofreality
  26. experiment17 reblogged this from thescienceofreality
  27. theprinceofamber reblogged this from thescienceofreality
  28. acleveruser reblogged this from thescienceofreality
  29. rmrblkmod02 reblogged this from thescienceofreality
  30. alastairsloan reblogged this from explore-blog
  31. astudyinspock reblogged this from thescienceofreality
  32. englishredhead reblogged this from thescienceofreality
  33. quantum-immortal reblogged this from thescienceofreality
  34. bictori reblogged this from explore-blog