Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Planetary Photo Journal Collection
Title:
Moon - False Color Mosaic
Original Caption Released with Image:
This false-color photograph is a composite of 15 images of the Moon taken through three color filters by Galileo's solid-state imaging system during the spacecraft's passage through the Earth-Moon system on December 8, 1992. When this view was obtained, the spacecraft was 425,000 kilometers (262,000 miles) from the Moon and 69,000 kilometers (43,000 miles) from Earth. The false-color processing used to create this lunar image is helpful for interpreting the surface soil composition. Areas appearing red generally correspond to the lunar highlands, while blue to orange shades indicate the ancient volcanic lava flow of a mare, or lunar sea. Bluer mare areas contain more titanium than do the orange regions. Mare Tranquillitatis, seen as a deep blue patch on the right, is richer in titanium than Mare Serenitatis, a slightly smaller circular area immediately adjacent to the upper left of Mare Tranquillitatis. Blue and orange areas covering much of the left side of the Moon in this view represent many separate lava flows in Oceanus Procellarum. The small purple areas found near the center are pyroclastic deposits formed by explosive volcanic eruptions. The fresh crater Tycho, with a diameter of 85 kilometers (53 miles), is prominent at the bottom of the photograph, where part of the Moon's disk is missing.
Addition Date:
1996-01-29
Produced By:
JPL
Mission:
Galileo
Spacecraft:
Galileo Orbiter
Target Name:
Moon
Is a satellite of:
Earth
Instrument:
Solid-State Imaging
Product Size:
1083 samples x 1092 lines
Primary Data Set:
Galileo EDRs
Producer ID:
P41491
facet_what:
Crater
facet_what:
Moon
facet_what:
Earth
facet_what:
Galileo
facet_what:
Galileo Orbiter
facet_what:
Solid-State Imaging
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_when:
December 8, 1992
facet_when_year:
1992
Image #:
PIA00132
UID:
SPD-PHOTJ-PIA00132
orignial url:

Moon - False Color Mosaic