PIA00131: Moon - False Color Mosaic


Moon - False Color Mosaic

Caption:

This false-color mosaic was constructed from a series of 53 images taken through three spectral filters by Galileo's imaging system as the spacecraft flew over the northern regions of the Moon on December 7, 1992. The part of the Moon visible from Earth is on the left side in this view. The color mosaic shows compositional variations in parts of the Moon's northern hemisphere. Bright pinkish areas are highlands materials, such as those surrounding the oval lava-filled Crisium impact basin toward the bottom of the picture. Blue to orange shades indicate volcanic lava flows. To the left of Crisium, the dark blue Mare Tranquillitatis is richer in titanium than the green and orange maria above it. Thin mineral-rich soils associated with relatively recent impacts are represented by light blue colors; the youngest craters have prominent blue rays extending from them.

Background Info:

The Galileo project, whose primary mission is the exploration of the Jupiter system in 1995-97, is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Moon Jupiter
System Earth
Target Type Satellite Planet
Mission Galileo
Instrument Host Galileo Orbiter
Host Type Orbiter
Instrument Solid-State Imaging (SSI)
Detector
Extra Keywords Color, Crater, Impact, Volcano
Acquisition Date
Release Date 1996-02-05
Date in Caption 1992-12-07
Image Credit NASA/JPL
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00131
Identifier PIA00131