I never get tired of the stunning pictures being sent to Earth from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. This one is particularly cool:
It’s a little weird, isn’t it? What you’re seeing is sunset over some mountains on the Moon, with only the peaks popping up into the sunlight. It might help to pull back a bit:
[Click to embiggen.]
That’s a little better. You can see the long shadows of the two mountains on the hills farther back, giving the image a bit of context and relief.
But you’re still missing the coolest part. Ready? Here’s the entire shot:
Whoa! Getting the picture now? Those three mountains are actually the central peaks of the crater Bhabha, a 64 kilometer (40 mile) wide impact scar on the far side of the Moon. With really big impacts, the shock waves bounce around inside the crater bowl, making the rock flow like a fluid. The rock flows outward, then sloshes back inward, splashing up to form peaks. Usually there’s only one, but Bhaba has three.
This shot is from the west, facing east. It was taken just minutes before the Sun set over the peaks, throwing them into two weeks of darkness — remember, the far side of the Moon gets light just like the near side; when we see a thin crescent Moon that means the Sun is shining down on the other side, just like day on one side of the Earth means night on the other.
This picture is a vivid reminder that the Moon is a world in its own right. Eventually, I hope, people will once again get to see views like this by simply looking out the window. Until that time, LRO will provide us with these amazing pictures.
Image credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
July 29th, 2010 at 7:20 am
Simply awesome. I’ve seen images like that taken on Earth at sunset, but this is image is just too cool…
July 29th, 2010 at 7:30 am
Is that anywhere near the crater Black Sheep?
*tumbleweed*
*crickets chirping*
July 29th, 2010 at 7:37 am
Snap! (pun)
Great pic. LRO has quickly become one of my all time favorite spacecraft. Stunning images of the Moon and the Apollo landing sites? Not to mention the Russian lunar lander? Love it.
I should note, my name along with all my family members’ names are up there.
July 29th, 2010 at 7:46 am
@22. Sion : ROTFLMAO!
Well done – nice sequence of zooming out & writing up there BA. Superb.
Although one day I hope we get a fly by scene where we zoom the other way -from the crater into the three peaks (are they named Yes-Sir-1, 2 & 3 by any chance?
) all the way to one of the peaks where there is an astronaut – or three – completing the first ascent(s). Mountaineering on the Mountains of the Moon – the real Lunar ones and not their African namesake – blazes yes! 
@3. Lewis Says:
So I take your biased then? Crikey, *I* would be if I was in that situation!
Personally, my favourite remains Voyager II although there are just so many other great missions to choose from!
July 29th, 2010 at 8:05 am
I am taking my boy to the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL in a few weeks. WOOT! It is the first time for both of us so we are very excited. However, it’s sad that I’ll have to explain to him that not much has happened in manned space exploration for so many years and that Space Camp and the shuttle simulator are just about obsolete.
July 29th, 2010 at 8:09 am
Why do I think of Deuce Bigalow and cold water fish tank?
July 29th, 2010 at 8:29 am
Fantastic. Here’s a big version of the full picture: http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/uploads/M133982125_L_R_lowres.png
July 29th, 2010 at 8:49 am
Thank you for sharing that. It’s almost four peaks isn’t it?
I can’t wait to show my kids.
July 29th, 2010 at 9:42 am
Clearly faked because the shadows all point in different directions!
July 29th, 2010 at 10:21 am
A bit off-topic sorry but, BA, what’s your view on the rumours about the Kepler space observatory finding lots of earth-mass /diameter exoplanets for instance here :
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/07/28/2966817.htm?site=science/newsanalysis&topic=latest
& here :
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/07/26/keplers-early-results-suggest-earth-like-planets-are-dime-a-dozen/
I’m keen to know what you think of this.
Plus on another topic (again not related to the triple peaks of this Baaba crater, sorry.) this breaking news would be in your area too :
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/07/29/that-killer-asteroid-you-heard-about-yesterday-we-knew-about-it-last-year/
[Oliver Twist voice] Please can we some posts by you on these soon Dr Plait sir? Please? [/Oliver Twist voice off.]
***
PS. I’d send these as a private email or facebook message to you but I’m not sure whether you are recieving those or not so wanted to make sure. I know your busy & imagine you’ve heard about these and will probably post on them as I type this – but just in case not ..
July 29th, 2010 at 10:28 am
Its almost a lunar QUADRUPLE sunset! what does it mean?
July 29th, 2010 at 10:42 am
@ ^ Treherne – Does it have to mean *anything* or can it just be what it is :
A remarkable place in an astonishing solar system?
If you’re standing there or flying over it, then it means your “not in Kansas anymore Toto!”
Scientifically, it means a particular impacting body hitting at a particular velocity and angle and a subsequent series of events that I don’t have the knowledge to fully explain here.
Oh & it also means the ‘Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’ is working fine and doing a great job – thankyou to its designers and operators for bringing us this.
**********************
PS. sorry if I sound irritable, its wa-ay into the early hours of the morning – 2.15 a.m. and time I went to bed in my timezone.
July 29th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
@Messier Tidy Upper : But, OMG, a triple lunar sunset ! That’s amazing!!
What does it mean?!?!
OMG !!!
July 29th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
@ Sion: I think Bhabha is near the crater Ghanoush.
July 29th, 2010 at 12:14 pm
Messier Tidy Upper @ 10: Well – those are not rumours about Kepler planets. It is official that there are more than a hundred Earth-like (size-wise) planets in the Kepler data from the first year of its 3.5-year mission. These are *candidates* – we need follow-up observations from the ground, plus additional dips in the lightcurve of their parent stars (that is, at least three observed orbits around their star), in order to have them being confirmed planets. The various possibilities for false positives are statistically less likely than the 140 reported candidates, which makes the Kepler team rather confident in their assertion that Earth-like planets are rather common.
Cheers, Regner
July 29th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
This just cries out for a “Three Peak Moon” t-shirt…
July 29th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
The first thing that came to my mind:
Holy Bhabha!
Or was it:
Holy Babar?
Then the crater nearby would, of course, be
Crater Rataxes!
July 29th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
Whoa!
I am having a hard time trying to close my mouth with a dropped jaw!
As we say it here in Nicaragua: “De acachimba!”
I <3 LRO!
http://ungaman.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/primeras-imagenes-de-la-lro/
July 29th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Nice.
July 29th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
That is stupendously cool.
July 29th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
I hadn’t realised LRO took shots at oblique angles like that – I thought they were all straight downwards. An oblique view of Mt.Pico or Mt.Piton in the Mare Imbrium would be extremely cool to see.
July 29th, 2010 at 6:52 pm
10. Messier Tidy Upper
The most recent issue of Scientific American has a great article on the geophysics of planets in the earth size range and how their structure may differ from our little dirt ball. It proposes that Earth may be at the lower limit for biologically inhabitable planets. It brings to mind Hal Clements stories of humans adapted to living in 2-3 G gravity fields.
Dang, it’s great living in a time when we have SO much to discover . Now, if our biologists can just figure out a way to let me live long enough to actually see these places, I’d be happy(ok, I’m happy now. But I’m also greedy for more).
MORE KNOWLEDGE NOW please.
Gary 7
July 29th, 2010 at 6:58 pm
Amazing how the moon still manages to amaze us, isn’t it?
Nice find, Phil!
I wonder if LRO has managed to get good images of the crater Tycho.
That way, we find the monolith.
July 29th, 2010 at 10:31 pm
@15. Regner Trampedach & 22. Gary Ansorge :
Thanks. Can’t wait to hear more details and have these candidates confirmed.
@17. DrFlimmer Says:
Ali Babbar?
@13. YosemiteBear Says:
Well a “triple lunar sunset” must mean we’ve somehow had our Sun replaced and we’ve moved into a triple star system instead surely – right?
July 29th, 2010 at 11:30 pm
I think pictures like these do far more to advance the cause of science and reason than a dozen articles arguing against nutcase woo.
July 29th, 2010 at 11:37 pm
Four peaks, surely? Or is it just me?
How distinct does “a high part” have to be before it’s a peak?
July 30th, 2010 at 1:12 am
There is no such word as “embiggen”. What’s wrong with “enlarge”? Why the need to invent new words?
July 30th, 2010 at 1:12 am
Don’t let him fool you, it’s really the cloaking field around the Secret Nazi Base!
/hoaxland
Seriously though — cool pics, thanks Phil.
July 30th, 2010 at 1:36 am
[...] I am taking my boy to the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL in a few weeks. WOOT! It is the first time for both of us so we are very excited. However, it’s sad that I’ll have to explain to him that not much has happened in manned space exploration for so many years and that Space Camp and the shuttle simulator are just about obsolete. Read ahead [...]
July 30th, 2010 at 2:58 am
OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDD
TRIPLE LUNAR SUNSET
UGGGGGGGGGGGH
July 30th, 2010 at 5:36 am
Most excellent!
July 30th, 2010 at 9:24 am
@27 Who’s inventing? It’s a perfectly cromulent word. (Sorry, had to be done)
The peaks should definitely be called Mt. Master, Mt. Dame and Mt. Little Boy Who Lives Down the Lane
July 30th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
The rock flows outward, then sloshes back inward, splashing up to form peaks.
Is there a more specific technical term for this particular phenomenon?
July 30th, 2010 at 11:15 pm
@33, Pierce, technically it is known as a wibbly-wobbly splashy-rocky kind of a thing.
July 31st, 2010 at 9:51 am
Thanks, Buzz @ # 34, but that may be a little too technical for the science fiction story involving such a formation that I may not get around to writing anyway…
July 31st, 2010 at 3:08 pm
For another perspective I tried seting this as my desktop on stretch mode, which distorts it a lot, but seemd to change the wiewpoint too. My netbook desktop is 1024 x 600, YMMV.
August 4th, 2010 at 6:07 am
What would you call the illusion experienced by the second shot in which it appears the upper portion of the photos looks like the roof of a cave?
August 4th, 2010 at 8:16 am
Nice, I’m assuming its named after the great Indian physicist Homi Jahangir Bhabha (and first developer of the Indian A-bomb project)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homi_J._Bhabha
Conspiracy alert: Died in a mysterious air crash which is claimed to be the handiwork of the CIA to impede the a-bomb project.
August 5th, 2010 at 7:02 am
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