Shadows in the South Pole of the Moon

Unique snimokEto card illumination depending on time. For its creation companion Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has made its wide-angle camera shots in 1700 for six lunar days (six Earth months). These pictures covered the same land surface of the Moon around the South Pole. Further, all images transferred into a binary form (the dark areas is set to 0, and the light - 1) and lay down. Get a map showing percentage of sunlit particular area.





Without a doubt, the bottom of the 19-kilometer crater Shackleton is always in the shade. The crater is visible near the center of the image. Himself lunar South Pole is located on the left side of the rim of the crater. Since the axis of rotation of the Moon remains still practically perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic, the lower parts of craters near the south pole of the moon and the North are constantly in the shade, and the top of the mountain ranges are constantly illuminated by the sun. This is useful for future lunar bases: permanently dark craters pits can serve as natural reservoirs of water ice and on lit mountain tops can be placed solar panels.

via stellar.d3.ru/teni-na-iuzhnom-poliuse-luny-756840/