Finally, we can see within the Shackleton permanently shadowed region (PSR)! In this area, the floor is littered with boulders resting on a large hummocky deposit. Brightness contrasts arise from the interplay of topography, secondary illumination, and albedo differences. Note that two shadows can be seen emanating from some of the larger boulders. The image is 1300 meters wide, ShadowCam M020993790S [NASA/KARI/Arizona State University].
ShadowCam maakt spectaculaire beelden van de zuidpool van de Maan
NASA’s ShadowCam vliegt met vijf andere instrumenten aan boord van KARI’s Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), ook bekend als Danuri, die op 4 augustus 2022 werd gelanceerd.
https://www.kuuke.nl/shadowcam-maakt-spectaculaire-beelden-van-de-zuidpool-van-de-maan/
Since the lunar spin axis is only tilted 1.5 degrees, the #Moon barely has seasons. The poles are in a perpetual state of dawn to dusk, with the Sun always on the horizon.
As a result, depressions near the poles never receive direct solar illumination, areas known as permanently shadowed regions or #PSRs.
LROC has imaged nearly all of the Moon at meter scale, except within PSRs. The LROC Narrow Angle Camera design was modified so that #ShadowCam is 200x more sensitive than the NAC to image within PSRs, taking advantage of light dimly reflected from nearby topography.
For film photography, this would be the equivalent of increasing from ISO 100 to greater than 12,800 without increasing grain.
The #NASA-funded #ShadowCam instrument released their first photo of a permanently shadowed crater near the #Moon's South Pole on Jan. 9. Permanently shadowed craters don't receive any direct illumination from the sun and are so cold that water ice is thought to be present near the surface. ShadowCam is so sensitive that it can use indirect sunlight reflected off the surrounding high terrain to "see in the dark"!
#ShadowCam was designed with maximum sensitivity to light, such that it could provide images of permanently shadowed regions of the #moon's poles.