PIA12236: How to Find Water on the Moon


How to Find Water on the Moon

Caption:

These graphs show detailed measurements of light as a function of color or wavelength. The data, called spectra, are used to identify minerals and molecules. On the left are spectra of lunar rocks, minerals and soil returned to Earth by NASA's Apollo missions, taken in the visible to shorter wavelength infrared range. The blue bar shows where a dip in the light is expected due to the presence of water and hydroxyl molecules. To the right are model spectra for pure water (H2O) and hydroxyl (OH-).

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Moon
System Earth
Target Type Satellite
Mission
Instrument Host
Host Type
Instrument
Detector
Extra Keywords Color, Infrared, Water
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2009-09-24
Date in Caption
Image Credit ISRO/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Brown Univ.
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA12236
Identifier PIA12236