LROC news and images Options

[Bjorn Jonsson]

Do you happen to know if anyone has come up with a cylindrical version of these mosaics (along with the LOLA maps)? I'm debating whether to try contacting the team via the mission website, or to run some of my planetary mapping software to try and make such maps.

I know there are cylindrical LOLA maps (I have one on my computer) but I don't remember if there's a LROC/WAC cylindrical map. I would be surprised if there wasn't one though. Reprojecting an orthographic image to cylindrical is trivial though so making a new version of the orthographic views with a 'lumpy' limb isn't difficult.

[Phil Stooke]

Go to this link:

http://wms.lroc.asu.edu/lroc/wac_mosaic

Click on each section. Each subsequent page has a PDS format download link. Big files! But they could be downsampled as needed. So you would get most of the Moon in cylindrical in eight sections. Then a quick polar to cylindrical for the polar sections and you're done.

Phil


PS go here:

http://wms.lroc.asu.edu/lroc/rdr_product_select

for access to other images including the 'regions of interest'.

[CryptoEngineer]

LROC may have spotted a long-dead predecessor.

Crash or coincidence?

This article on the LROC site shows a fresh low-angle impact site, and suggests that it may be the final resting place of the 1966/7 Lunar Orbiter 2, famous for this shot of Copernicus.

CE

[Phil Stooke]

I had seen that... they say the impact is too large, but it's hard to tell how big the crater is in that view - I think it's only the faint circular spot between the two dark lobes, shown in red below, and that is only 15 m across, which I think is not too bad. But we do need a lower angle lighting view.

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

Here's a finder image for that spot:




Phil

[ilbasso]

Update from LRO's Twitter feed:

Today I will begin dipping down from my usual about 50 km orbit to an orbit that will allow me to image the Apollo sites from about 20 km away! This will allow me to obtain images of the Apollo sites that are about four times sharper than my current best images.

Once I reach my new temporary orbit, I'll take images of and around the Apollo sites between August 14 and 19. After that, I'll return to my 50-km-orbit until December.

(A clarification: my project scientists would like to point out that there are several technical challenges associated with getting improved resolution images at the lower altitude orbit.

Example: I will not slow down from my ~1.6 km/s (~3500 mph) speed when I get closer to the Moon's surface, which might cause some image blurring, particularly for the LROC Narrow Angle Camera images.

However, it will certainly be fun to compare the images from the different orbits!)

[eoincampbell]

Great to hear that ilbasso, yet more views on our solar system to look forward to this month...

[monty python]

Update from LRO's Twitter feed:

Great news. I wonder how many of the landing sites they can image in that time and if they could slew the camera (aka skeet shoot) the orbiter to improve the shots.

Fingers crossed!

[Explorer1]

Sounds great, though watch out for the 21 km high mountains! (are there even any?)

[ilbasso]

It is exciting to contemplate LRO dipping down lower in its orbit than some high-altitude jets can fly. Some of the Apollo astronauts described flying over the lunar mountains at that altitude and instinctively trying to pull their feet up!

[stevesliva]

Perhaps they should release those photos immediately!

[ElkGroveDan]

Sounds great, though watch out for the 21 km high mountains! (are there even any?)

All of the highest Lunar peaks are less than 5km. So there's plenty of room to fly over them at 21km.

[djellison]

Perhaps they should release those photos immediately!

Given the processing required for push-broom imaging, the map projection that requires reconstructed SPICE kernels - a moderate delay is to be entirely expected.

[moozoo]

I will not slow down from my ~1.6 km/s (~3500 mph) speed when I get closer to the Moon's surface

Actually it should be going a bit faster than it does a 50Km.
I'm guessing that the difference between 1,737km + 50km and 1,737km + 20km isn't that much and hence the ~1.6 km/s is still valid.

[ilbasso]

Fascinating photo of boulders clustered within an impact crater's ejecta ray.