Possible recent lunar volcanism Options

[Bjorn Jonsson]

This is very interesting - and unexpected (at least to me):

http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/posts/818

Apparently there may be small features of volcanic origin on the Moon that are less than 100 million years old. The images are also very interesting - I would probably never have guessed that the image at the top was of lunar terrain.

[Phil Stooke]

I was just enjoying the very interesting post by GoneToPlaid when I realized I had said almost the opposite higher up the page. But GoneToPlaid is correct here.

I was commenting a bit hastily regarding a common situation in spectral analysis of airless bodies. Surfaces are often described as red or blue, or redder or bluer, and in many cases the 'bluer' material is neutral, but closer to the blue end of the spectrum than the redder material so it gets described as blue or bluer and processed as blue in images.

In this case I completely accept that the surface may in fact be blue.

Phil

[GoneToPlaid]

I was just enjoying the very interesting post by GoneToPlaid when I realized I had said almost the opposite higher up the page. But GoneToPlaid is correct here.

I was commenting a bit hastily regarding a common situation in spectral analysis of airless bodies. Surfaces are often described as red or blue, or redder or bluer, and in many cases the 'bluer' material is neutral, but closer to the blue end of the spectrum than the redder material so it gets described as blue or bluer and processed as blue in images.

In this case I completely accept that the surface may in fact be blue.

Phil

I am glad that you enjoyed my post. Ina is the really only obviously visually blue thing on the near side of the moon. Ina stood out to the Apollo 15 astronauts. Not sure, but I think that the transcripts will show that it was Worden who commented on Ina's extraordinarily blue color from orbit. Apollo 17 specifically photographed the Ina region in one of the CM orbital passes. Ina's blue hue has been photographed from Earth by what I consider to be two of the best amateur astronomer experts for lunar astrophotography, Michael Theusner and Michael Hunnekuhl. The blue hue in one of their best lunar photos is nearly identical to the hue in the Apollo photos which I presented.