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39-567: Tiselius is a lunar impact crater that lies just to the east of Valier , on the Moon 's far side . The craters Tiselius and Valier are separated by only a few kilometers. Less than one crater diameter to the east of Tiselius is the smaller, elongated Stein , and to the north is the small, eroded Šafařík . This is a roughly circular crater with a well-defined edge that has not been significantly degraded by impact erosion. The inner walls have slumped in places to form piles of scree . The interior floor

78-562: A magnetic anomaly due to the remnants of metal iron that was emplaced by the impactor that formed the South Pole–Aitken basin (SPA basin). However, the concentration of iron that is thought to be in the basin was not present in the mappings, as they could be too deep in the Moon's crust for the mappings to detect. Or the magnetic anomaly is caused by another factor that does not involve metallic properties. The findings were proven inadequate due to

117-409: A primary mission of proving the landing technology. The mission was carrying 30 kg (66 lb) of scientific instruments, including a robotic arm for soil samples and possible drilling hardware. The launch took place on a Soyuz-2.1b rocket with Fregat upper stage, from Vostochny Cosmodrome . On August 23, 2023 12:34 UTC , India 's Chandrayaan-3 became the first lunar mission to achieve

156-474: A recent NELIOTA survey covering 283.5 hours of observation time discovering that at least 192 new craters of a size of 1.5 to 3 meters (4.9 to 9.8 ft) were created during the observation period. In 1978, Chuck Wood and Leif Andersson of the Lunar & Planetary Lab devised a system of categorization of lunar impact craters. They sampled craters that were relatively unmodified by subsequent impacts, then grouped

195-469: A soft landing near the lunar south pole. The mission consisted of a lander and a rover for carrying out scientific experiments. The IM-1 Odysseus lander has taken about six days to travel from the Earth to the Moon. Once in the vicinity of the Moon, the lander spent approximately one more Earth-day orbiting the Moon. This set February 22, 2024 at 11:24 PM UTC as the lander's lunar landing date. The initial aim

234-546: A speed of 90,000 km/h (56,000 mph; 16 mi/s). In March 2018, the discovery of around 7,000 formerly unidentified lunar craters via convolutional neural network developed at the University of Toronto Scarborough , Canada was announced. A similar study in December 2020 identified around 109,000 new craters using a deep neural network . Because of the Moon's lack of water , atmosphere , and tectonic plates , there

273-474: Is deemed to be a compelling place for future exploration missions and suitable for a lunar outpost. The permanently shadowed places on the Moon could contain ice and other minerals, which would be vital resources for future explorers. The mountain peaks near the pole are illuminated for large periods of time and could be used to provide solar energy to an outpost. With an outpost on the Moon, scientists will be able to analyze water and other volatile samples dating to

312-448: Is little erosion, and craters are found that exceed two billion years in age. The age of large craters is determined by the number of smaller craters contained within it, older craters generally accumulating more small, contained craters. The smallest craters found have been microscopic in size, found in rocks returned to Earth from the Moon. The largest crater called such is about 290 km (180 mi) across in diameter, located near

351-504: Is marked by a few small craterlets, and there is an irregular group of ridges around the midpoint. The small, cup-shaped satellite crater Tiselius E lies near the eastern outer edge. The crater was named after Swedish biochemist Arne Tiselius , by the IAU in 1979. By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Tiselius. Lunar craters The word crater

390-705: The International Astronomical Union . Small craters of special interest (for example, visited by lunar missions) receive human first names (Robert, José, Louise etc.). One of the biggest lunar craters, Apollo , is named after Apollo missions . Many smaller craters inside and near it bear the names of deceased American astronauts, and many craters inside and near Mare Moscoviense bear the names of deceased Soviet cosmonauts. Besides this, in 1970 twelve craters were named after twelve living astronauts (6 Soviet and 6 American). The majority of named lunar craters are satellite craters : their names consist of

429-415: The early Solar System . In contrast, the lunar north pole region exhibits a much lower quantity of similarly sheltered craters. The lunar south pole is located on the center of the polar Antarctic Circle (80°S to 90°S). (The axis spin is 88.5 degrees from the plane of the ecliptic.) The lunar south pole has shifted 5.5 degrees from its original position billions of years ago. This shift has changed

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468-495: The formation of the Solar System . Scientists used LOLA (Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter), which was a device used by NASA to provide an accurate topographic model of the Moon. With this data, locations near the south pole at Connecting Ridge, which connects Shackleton to the crater de Gerlache , were found that yielded sunlight for 92.27–95.65% of the time based on altitude ranging from 2 m above ground to 10 m above ground. At

507-519: The lunar south pole . However, it is believed that many of the lunar maria were formed by giant impacts, with the resulting depression filled by upwelling lava . Craters typically will have some or all of the following features: There are at least 1.3 million craters larger than 1 km (0.62 mi) in diameter; of these, 83,000 are greater than 5 km (3 mi) in diameter, and 6,972 are greater than 20 km (12 mi) in diameter. Smaller craters than this are being regularly formed, with

546-505: The Moon's craters were mostly of impact origin. Around 1960, Gene Shoemaker revived the idea. According to David H. Levy , Shoemaker "saw the craters on the Moon as logical impact sites that were formed not gradually, in eons , but explosively, in seconds." Evidence collected during the Apollo Project and from uncrewed spacecraft of the same period proved conclusively that meteoric impact, or impact by asteroids for larger craters,

585-413: The Moon, then was circling the natural satellite for another five to seven days. The spacecraft then was planned to be set down in the Moon's south polar region, near the crater Boguslawsky . Luna developed an "emergency situation" that occurred during the reduction of the probe to a pre-landing orbit. The lunar lander abruptly lost communication at 2:57 p.m. (11:57 GMT). Luna 25 was a lander only, with

624-603: The Moon. They also reveal the line boundary and the magnetic dynamics within the regions of these neutral atoms on the Moon' surface. Cold traps are some of the important places on the lunar south pole region in terms of possible water ice and other volatile deposits. Cold traps can contain water and ice that were originally from comets , meteorites and solar wind -induced iron reduction. From experiments and sample readings, scientists were able to confirm that cold traps do contain ice. Hydroxyl has also been found in these cold traps. The discovery of these two compounds has led to

663-611: The U.S. began to convert the Wood and Andersson lunar impact-crater database into digital format. Barlow is also creating a new lunar impact crater database similar to Wood and Andersson's, except hers will include all impact craters greater than or equal to five kilometers in diameter and is based on the Clementine spacecraft's images of the lunar surface. The Moon Zoo project within the Zooniverse program aimed to use citizen scientists to map

702-408: The craters were caused by projectile bombardment from space, the other, that they were the products of subterranean lunar volcanism . Scientific opinion as to the origin of craters swung back and forth over the ensuing centuries. The competing theories were: Grove Karl Gilbert suggested in 1893 that the Moon's craters were formed by large asteroid impacts. Ralph Baldwin in 1949 wrote that

741-401: The funding of missions focusing primarily on the lunar poles using global-scale infrared detection. The ice stays in these traps because of the thermal behavior of the Moon that are controlled by thermophysical properties such as scattered sunlight, thermal re-radiation , internal heat and light given off by the Earth. There are areas of the Moon where the crust is magnetized. This is known as

780-476: The inconsistencies between the maps that were used, and also, they were not able to detect the magnitude of the magnetic fluctuations at the Moon's surface. Orbiters from several countries have explored the region around the lunar south pole. Extensive studies were conducted by the Lunar Orbiters , Clementine , Lunar Prospector , Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter , Kaguya , and Chandrayaan-1 , that discovered

819-549: The lunar south pole region has enough sustainable resources to sustain a permanent crewed station. The LRO carries the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment, which investigates the radiation and thermophysical properties of the south pole surface. It can detect reflected solar radiation and internal infrared emissions. The LRO Diviner is able to detect where water ice could be trapped on the surface. The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite ( LCROSS )

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858-415: The lunar surface include, among others, hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), silicon (Si), iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), aluminium (Al), manganese (Mn) and titanium (Ti). Among the more abundant are oxygen, iron and silicon. The oxygen content is estimated at 45% (by weight). Blue Origin is planning a mission to the south polar region in about 2024. The Blue Moon lander derives from

897-422: The lunar surface near the lander, with an impact velocity of about 10 m/s (22 mph). However, due to complications arising from a software patch, it was decided that EagleCam would not be ejected upon landing. It was later ejected on 28 February but was partially a failure as it returned all types of data, except post IM-1 landing images that were the main aim of its mission. The lunar south pole region

936-406: The name of a nearby named crater and a capital letter (for example, Copernicus A , Copernicus B , Copernicus C and so on). Lunar crater chains are usually named after a nearby crater. Their Latin names contain the word Catena ("chain"). For example, Catena Davy is situated near the crater Davy . The red marker on these images illustrates the location of the named crater feature on

975-478: The near side of the Moon. Lunar south pole The lunar south pole is the southernmost point on the Moon . It is of interest to scientists because of the occurrence of water ice in permanently shadowed areas around it. The lunar south pole region features craters that are unique in that the near-constant sunlight does not reach their interior. Such craters are cold traps that contain fossil records of hydrogen, water ice, and other volatiles dating from

1014-449: The presence of lunar water . NASA's LCROSS mission found a significant amount of water in Cabeus . The LCROSS mission deliberately crashed into the floor of Cabeus and from samples found that it contained nearly 5% water. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) was launched by NASA on 18 June 2009 and is still mapping the lunar south pole region. This mission will help scientists see if

1053-538: The results into five broad categories. These successfully accounted for about 99% of all lunar impact craters. The LPC Crater Types were as follows: Beyond a couple of hundred kilometers in diameter, the central peak of the TYC class disappear and they are classed as basins . Large craters, similar in size to maria, but without (or with a small amount of) dark lava filling, are sometimes called thalassoids. Beginning in 2009 Nadine G. Barlow of Northern Arizona University ,

1092-465: The rotational axis of the Moon lies within Shackleton Crater . Notable craters nearest to the lunar south pole include de Gerlache , Sverdrup , Shoemaker , Faustini , Haworth , Nobile , and Cabeus . The lunar south pole features a region with crater rims exposed to near-constant solar illumination, yet the interior of the craters are permanently shaded from sunlight. The area's illumination

1131-600: The rotational axis of the Moon, allowing sunlight to reach previously shadowed areas, but the south pole still features some completely shadowed areas. Conversely, the pole also contains areas with permanent exposure to sunlight. The south pole region features many craters and basins such as the South Pole–Aitken basin , which appears to be one of the most fundamental features of the Moon, and mountains, such as Epsilon Peak at 9.050 km, taller than any mountain found on Earth. The south pole temperature averages approximately 260 K (−13 °C; 8 °F). The pole defined by

1170-668: The same spots it was discovered that the longest continuous periods of darkness were only 3 to 5 days. The lunar south pole is a place where scientists may be able to perform unique astronomical observations of radio waves under 30 MHz. The Chinese Longjiang microsatellites were launched in May 2018 to orbit the Moon, and Longjiang-2 operated in this frequency until 31 July 2019. Before Longjiang-2 , no space observatory had been able to observe astronomical radio waves in this frequency because of interference waves from equipment on Earth. The lunar south pole has mountains and basins, such as

1209-484: The size and shape of as many craters as possible using data from the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter . However, it has since been retired. Craters constitute 95% of all named lunar features. Usually they are named after deceased scientists and other explorers. This tradition comes from Giovanni Battista Riccioli , who started it in 1651. Since 1919, assignment of these names is regulated by

Tiselius - Misplaced Pages Continue

1248-429: The south side of Malapert Mountain , that do not face Earth and would be an ideal place to receive such astronomical radio signals from a ground radio observatory. Solar power, oxygen, and metals are abundant resources in the south polar region. By locating a lunar resource processing facility near the south pole, solar-generated electrical power will allow for nearly constant operation. Elements known to be present on

1287-466: Was a robotic spacecraft operated by NASA . The mission was conceived as a low-cost means of determining the nature of hydrogen detected at the polar regions of the Moon . Launched immediately after discovery of lunar water by Chandrayaan-1 , the main LCROSS mission objective was to further explore the presence of water in the form of ice in a permanently shadowed crater near a lunar polar region. It

1326-683: Was adopted from the Greek word for "vessel" ( Κρατήρ , a Greek vessel used to mix wine and water). Galileo built his first telescope in late 1609, and turned it to the Moon for the first time on November 30, 1609. He discovered that, contrary to general opinion at that time, the Moon was not a perfect sphere, but had both mountains and cup-like depressions. These were named craters by Johann Hieronymus Schröter (1791), extending its previous use with volcanoes . Robert Hooke in Micrographia (1665) proposed two hypotheses for lunar crater formation: one, that

1365-553: Was launched together with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and it's Centaur Upper stage. It was successful in confirming water in the southern lunar crater Cabeus . The Moon Impact Probe (MIP) developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India's national space agency, was a lunar probe that was released by ISRO's Chandrayaan-1 lunar remote sensing orbiter which in turn

1404-491: Was launched, on 22 October 2008. The Moon Impact Probe separated from the Moon-orbiting Chandrayaan-1 on 14 November 2008, 20:06 IST and after nearly 25 minutes crashed as planned, near the rim of the crater Shackleton . With this mission India became the first to hard land or impact on the lunar South Pole. Russia launched its Luna 25 lunar lander on August 10, 2023. Luna-25 spent five days journeying to

1443-407: Was studied using high-resolution digital models produced from data by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter . The lunar surface can also reflect solar wind as energetic neutral atoms. On average, 16% of these atoms have been protons that vary based on location. These atoms have created an integral flux of backscattered hydrogen atoms due to the reflected amount of plasma that exists on the surface of

1482-413: Was the origin of almost all lunar craters, and by implication, most craters on other bodies as well. The formation of new craters is studied in the lunar impact monitoring program at NASA . The biggest recorded crater was caused by an impact recorded on March 17, 2013. Visible to the naked eye , the impact is believed to be from an approximately 40 kg (88 lb) meteoroid striking the surface at

1521-598: Was to land within the Malapert-A crater, which is about 300 km (190 mi) from the lunar south pole. Later, the exact time of landing was announced as 11:24 PM UTC. Odysseus became the first US moon landing in the 21st century. Just before landing, at approximately 30 m (98 ft) above the lunar surface, the Odysseus lander was planned to eject the EagleCam camera-equipped CubeSat, which would have been dropped onto

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