The Moon in Stunning Wide Angle

By Nancy Atkinson - September 21, 2010 at 5:58 AM UTC | Planetary Science
Marius_Hills_thumb.jpg

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Here's a look at the Moon in a way we've never quite seen it before: a close up, but wide angle view. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter camera actually consists of three cameras: there are two narrow-angle cameras which make high-resolution, black-and-white images of the surface, with resolutions down to 1 meter (about 3.3 feet). A third, a wide-angle camera (WAC), takes color and ultraviolet images over the complete lunar surface at 100-meter (almost 330-foot) resolution. However, the raw wide-angle images are somewhat distorted by the camera, but

Maurice Collins

, a Moon enthusiast from New Zealand, found that putting several images together in a mosaic removes a lot of the distortions and produces a much clearer image. The results are nothing short of stunning; here are a few example of Maurice's handiwork, including this jaw-dropping image of the Marius Hills region of the Moon. Click on any of these images for a larger version on Maurice's website, Moon Science

[caption id="attachment_74084" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="Copernicus Crater on the Moon, captured by LROC's wide angle camera. Image processing by Maurice Collins"]

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Maurice told me that he has been studying the Moon for about ten years now, and he does telescopic imaging of the Moon from his backyard Palmerston North, New Zealand as well as study the various spacecraft data. "I found out how to process the WAC images from Rick Evans (his website is here ) for the Octave processing method, and I also use

a tool developed by Jim Mosher

for another quicker technique," Maurice said. Several of Maurice's images have been featured on the Lunar Photo of the Day website.

[caption id="attachment_74085" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="Aristarchus Crater, as seen by LROC's wide angle camera. Image processing by Maurice Collins"]

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Other areas of lunar imaging work he has done is using the

Lunar Terminator Visualization Tool (LTVT)

to study the lunar topography from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) digital elevation model laser altimeter data.

"Using a previous DEM from the Kaguya spacecraft I discovered a new large (630km long) mountain ridge radial to the Imbrium basin which I have nicknamed "Shannen Ridge" after my 9 year old daughter," he said. See the image of Shannen Ridge here.

Maurice said he is usually out every clear night imaging or observing the Moon with his telescope. Thanks to Maurice for his wonderful work, and for allowing us at Universe Today to post some of the images. Check out his complete cache of WAC mosaics at his website.

hat tip: Stu Atkinson!

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com