I can’t get enough animations of space.
Launched in September, 2007, the Japanese lunar probe SELENE (nicknamed Kaguya) has been snapping away, taking tremendous amounts of data of our only natural satellite. The images and animations have been spectacular, of course, and a new one is on their site that is totally cool: a 3D tour of the crater Tycho (warning: BIG file download).
Tycho is one of the youngest big craters on the Moon, with rays emanating from it caused by ejected rock and dust when whatever it was that smacked into the Moon splashed out ejecta for hundreds of kilometers. If Tycho were old, those rays would be erased by subsequent impacts.
When the Moon is full, Tycho is one of the most obvious lunar features. It’s one of the Moon’s iconic features (it’s also where Arthur C. Clarke put the monolith in 2001).
The animation from SELENE was created by combining imaging data with altitude measurements, allowing each piece of the crater to be mapped both as a picture and a height. Once you have that, you can tell the computer to map it from any angle, and voila! A tour is born. This is an amazing sequence; you really get a feel for the height of the central mountains (caused by the shock wave of the impact rebounding off the lunar material and refocusing into the center of the newly-formed crater, similar to how drops of milk or water splash back up when dripped into a full glass). The slumping of the material at the crater rim is also pretty incredible. The Lunar Picture of the Day has a high-res zoom of the central peak, and more info too. The image above is from SELENE (courtesy JAXA/SELENE).
When I look at the central peaks, I wonder how long it will be before some human stands there and looks around. It will happen, sometime. Maybe not in the next twenty years, or even fifty, but someday.
July 18th, 2008 at 8:29 am
Very cool! Imagine showing Tycho to your friends and neighbors through a telescope and then zooming in on the same crater with these images. It makes the moon a much more *real* place – more of a 3D world instead of a giant 2D disk in the sky.
July 18th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Having zero reference, approximately how tall is that central mountain?
July 18th, 2008 at 8:45 am
Oh BOY I hope JAXA releases these data sets to the PDS. It was enough fun animating the Columbia hills from HiRISE data, but Kaguya’s terrain camera is just beyond coolness!!
July 18th, 2008 at 9:10 am
To be fair, the monolith was buried under the surface…
We’re just a few years too late!
July 18th, 2008 at 9:13 am
I would be great if in some of these fly by images we could catch a glimpse of the things the apollo missions left behind like the rovers or the flag.
July 18th, 2008 at 9:17 am
@Darth Curt: According to Wikipedia, 1.6 km (almost exactly 1 mile). Wow.
July 18th, 2008 at 9:40 am
Where’s the left-behind Apollo stuff? Surely the imaging quality must be up to getting a snapshot of what the missions left behind?
Or do you have to go to a secret hangar in the desert to see Apollo relics? –grins–
July 18th, 2008 at 9:53 am
How excellent is this? When looking at it through a telescope it’s just a small splodge in the middle of a crater. But then we get to see images like THIS?! Wonderful! Imagine taking a telescope to a local school one night, showing the kids Tycho through the eyepiece … then showing them this animation!
@ Craig – No, SELENE doesn’t have the resolution required to image the Apollo equipment. The Terrain Camera has a resolution of 10m to a pixel if I recall correctly.
July 18th, 2008 at 9:56 am
“Only natural satellite”?
I thought Earth has another, smaller one with a funny orbit?
July 18th, 2008 at 9:58 am
Oh, nevermind. Cruithne doesn’t orbit Earth, it orbits the sun close to the Earth’s orbit.
July 18th, 2008 at 10:01 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3753_Cruithne
It’s quite interesting, actually.
July 18th, 2008 at 10:15 am
@Chris Owen – thanks for the information.
Follow-up question: Why is there NOT equipment orbiting our nearest neighbour with 1m or less pixel resolution? Is it because that kind of detail is unnecessary? It just seems strange to me that we can photograph Spirit and Opportunity on the surface of Mars but yet we can’t see the surface of our own moon with that level of clarity and detail. Lots of fodder for no-moon-landing-conspiracy-types there if you ask me.
I suppose moon exploration isn’t as sexy as the outer and inner planet missions so nobody has spent the dollars to hang a good camera in orbit around the moon. Sad, really.
July 18th, 2008 at 10:29 am
It looks like a face! Just kidding!
July 18th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Hi Guys – The high res movie is soooo cool -
I’ve created some 3D anaglyphs from it – if people are interested – how would I post them here??
I have them on photobucket – so assume I would use one of the associated links – could someone instruct me as to which one??
Thanks Guys – Love the new site Phil
July 18th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Spirit and Opportunity also had big gas bags and parachutes to image; the debris of a lunar module descent stage is comparatively a much harder target requiring a much tighter resolution. Satellites and probes are launched in terms of need, and there’s generally no need at the moment to have sub-meter resolution around the Moon–no one is going to spend millions just to get pictures of the Apollo sites that the hoaxers are going to claim are doctored anyway.
Now the Chinese, on the other hand, if they wanted to play dirty, could spend the money to put an imager in orbit, take said pictures of the Apollo sites, and then edit the traces of Apollo out…
July 18th, 2008 at 11:01 am
@The Centipede – I am referring to the image of one of Opportunity perched on the rim of Victoria crater as the NASA team decided how to best make their way down knowing that the crater may well be the rover’s final resting spot.
Here is the image to which I am referring. It was taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
July 18th, 2008 at 11:02 am
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July 18th, 2008 at 11:11 am
The SELENE images are so awesome…I feel like a little kid again whenever I see them!
I haven’t been around for a bit, but I like the new site, Phil!
Gnat
July 18th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Is this the crater that Sagan talks about in “Cosmos” that might be so recent that monks possibly saw the collision that created it?
July 18th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Spectacular!
Does anyone know if the imagery has been vertically exagerrated? See this Lunar Orbiter image of Copernicus crater, which is morphologically similar to Tycho:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070616.html
It looks to me that the Kaguya image has been vertically exaggerated, maybe 2:1
Surveyor 7 landed on the northern ramparts of Tycho in 1968 – have a look at Tycho’s rugged landscape as viewed from the lunar surface:
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02977
July 18th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Once humans are living on the moon, I’ll be very disappointed if we don’t PUT a monolith there!
July 18th, 2008 at 11:48 am
According to the book, the monolith was found because it was a strong Magnetic Anomaly. We need a magnetic survey up there right away!
July 18th, 2008 at 11:57 am
@Arthur: Actually the crater is called Giordano Bruno, and is smaller than Tycho.
And actually there is some question whether they actually saw it forming. The impact forming Giordano Bruno should have kicked up so much debris, it should have rained down on Earth as a giant week-long meteor storm, yet no one seems to have noticed.
July 18th, 2008 at 11:59 am
That’s no moon… it’s a Space station!
Seriously, very cool images.
July 18th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Hi guys -
Found out how to post them – thanks for the info
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn259/BBurtonBradford/Tycho4.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn259/BBurtonBradford/Tycho6.jpg
Fascinating
July 18th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
@Craig:
You’re right, I stand corrected. Well, perhaps the Constellation program will include a few recon flights of similar resolution… or, if that’s deemed unnecessary, a mission to just next to Tranquility Base to visit the old site would be cool. ^_^
Statement about possible PRC information warfare remains.
July 18th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
As per Tom O’Reilly, I am also interested to know if there is any vertical exaggeration in that movie. Radar and visual imagery from Venus and Mars are so often presented with ridiculous vertical exaggeration that I suspect many folks now believe that the planets have the severe relief they’ve seen in the simulations. I must admit I get angry every time I see such footage. I know some planetary astronomers feel the need to add ‘drama’ to the imagery in order to hold laypersons’ attention, but I wish they would stick to good old real reality.
Vaguely related is the sensation I get when people watch regular 4:3 aspect ratio TV on widescreen sets, all stretched out and weird. Are those folks slowly damaging their senses of natural proportion somehow?
July 18th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
If the moon hoaxers were right, what Centipede says the Chinese will do would already have been done by the USSR circa 1972.
July 18th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
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July 18th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Cool! For decades I’ve been looking at the crater with the aid of various telescopes, trying to imagine how it would look like from the perspective of an astronaut.
But don’t be silly, surely you didn’t expect to see a black monolith on the surface. Everyone knows that TMA-1 is “buried 30 feet below the lunar surface”
July 18th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
@The Centipede – Have you heard that Google is offering a lot of cash for high-def shots of the moon landing sites? Is that true or is that just an urban legend and my wishful thinking?
July 18th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
To be fair, NASA did find these “Clangers” that live in craters covered with dust bin lids.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/classic/clangers/images/340/clangers4.jpg
July 18th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
If you browse a bit through the Kaguya site you’ll find 3D renderings of Kaguya compared to photos taken from the ground by Apollo 15 and 17. They are rather proud of the precision of their renderings, so I believe the Tycho picture/movie is not exaggerated in altitude.
One explanation for the “severe relief” of the moon may be its much lower gravity, allowing for steeper slopes and higher cliffs.
July 18th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
One thing to remember, Craig, is that the orbiters photographing the landers weren’t sent to Mars with the intent of taking pictures of landers. The high resolution cameras were installed for specific scientific reasons (weight is a premium on spacecraft) and we’re just lucky that they also happen to be able to image the landers.
As far as I know the moon hasn’t been as interesting a target for exploration as Mars for the little while (no history of water, no water-related geology, no possibility of supporting life in the past, etc) so no one has saw it fit to pay for launching a probe to the moon with a camera of similar capability. (No one’s going to pay just for the thrill of silencing a bunch of nuts.)
July 18th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Craig Says:
July 18th, 2008 at 9:40 am
Where’s the left-behind Apollo stuff? Surely the imaging quality must be up to getting a snapshot of what the missions left behind?
- – -
None of the Apollo missions landed at Tycho, although it was talked about as a landing site for one of the missions which was cancelled:
Okay, the URL got eaten. Let me try again:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_18
. . . ronn!
I always knew that I would see the first man on the Moon.
I never dreamed that I would see the last.
–Dr. Jerry Pournelle
July 19th, 2008 at 12:18 am
@ Craig,
The various missions to map the moon have been so successful that a global map of the Moon is more accurate than a global map of the Earth, at least in resoulutions on the order of a few hundred meters. Why would such a unrelentingly successful survey deign to cater to the whims of the tiny number of morons who discount the two most successful missions of exploration in human history, i.e., the mapping of the Lunar surface and the landing of humans on the Lunar surface, only to prove that that which has been done, has been done?
I have a son, he looks (unfortunately) just like me. Do you propose that I have never had intercourse?
Your queries, and I am sorry if I have missed some sarcasm or coded intertube message, are very ignorant of reality.
July 19th, 2008 at 3:49 am
BTW, I know how most people pronounce the name of the crater, but should the name of the astronomer be pronounced “Tee-koh” or “Tie-koh”? What say you all?
July 19th, 2008 at 6:02 am
Tie Koh. It’s after the man, Tie Koh Bra Hay – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tycho_Brahe
July 19th, 2008 at 6:25 am
Michael
Clangers ROCK! This is me doing my world famous Soup Dragon impression. Blue String Pudding anyone?
July 19th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Correct me if I’m wrong (I probably didn’t have to say that) but did the term “clangers” come from gold panning. A clanger was a nugget large enough to make noise in the pan.
July 19th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Not sure Canadian, but I had been looking for that crazy show for years.
Here’s a YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HArUmqqiL0s&feature=related
July 19th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
@ Michael L.
I stand corrected. Boy was that fun to watch. I’ll be giving it another watch when I have more time. I’ve never seen it before. If you make it into the big smoke and drop by the store I told you about make sure you take time to eye over their collection of antique telescopes and microscopes. Some have actually been lent out as props for locally filmed Sci-Fi shows. I hope your health is getting better and you can travel next weekend. Best wishes.
July 20th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Thanks Canadian
September 19th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Hi,
have you did see the reliefs or pictures on the Crater walls?
You have to zoom in the movie, it’s amazing.
December 13th, 2008 at 7:23 am
I think that is crucial to NASA to prove wrong the conspiracy theory of hoaxed lunar landings. If was wished so NASA would send a probe to the moon with high rezolution camera to prove the greatness of the american technology of 1969 .But we hear that NASA is to proud to do that. We are the morons that do not want to believe what we are told. we are the scams to doubt the supremacy of american technology. WELL WHAT NOW THAT WE HEAR FROM DONALD RUMSFELD AND HENRY KISSINGER THEMSELVES THAT THE VIDEOS AND PICTURES OF MOON LANDING APOLLO MISSIONS WERE ALL MADE IN MGM STUDIOS ON VERY EARTH ATMOSPHERE IN ENGLAND, REGIZED BY STANLEY KUBRICK ,THE MAKER OF ‘A SPACE ODISSEY 2001′.