The light and dark albedo patterns that define swirls appear intertwined. “For swirls, dust transport is the process most affected by elevation changes and we now re-examine the role of dust mobility across the lunar surface in the context of this new discovery,” Domingue said. ![]() These differences are apparent in the meter-scale-resolution topographical data. Two swirl regions in Mare Ingenii, a large, dark basaltic plain formed by ancient volcanic eruptions on the Moon’s far side, display a correlation between albedo and topography, where the bulk elevation in the bright regions is lower than the bulk elevation in the dark regions. This correlation argues that there is more than just shielding from space weathering that goes into their creation,” Domingue said. “Until now the swirls were thought to overlay the topography, which has been cited as part of the evidence that they are created through shielding of the surface from the solar wind by the magnetic fields present at swirls. PSI scientists John Weirich, Frank Chuang, Amanda Sickafoose and Eric Palmer are co-authors. ![]() ![]() Albedo is the measure of brightness or the proportion of light reflected from a surface, with a dark object having a low albedo. “This is the first time there has been a demonstrated correlation between the swirl albedo patterns and topography,” said PSI Senior Scientist Deborah Domingue, lead author of “ Topographic Correlations within Lunar Swirls in Mare Ingenii” that appears in Geophysical Research Letters. The images are from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) extracted from the LROC quickmap ( ).īright and dark swirling patterns on the Moon’s surface have been linked to the topography of the swirls, says a new paper by a team of scientists from the Planetary Science Institute. The bright and dark swirl pattern is stark against the lunar mare terrain. But then again, a landing here might be too exciting? Full panorama (M1432398306LR) showing the context of the Malapert Massif candidate landing region (NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University).This image shows the swirl region within Mare Ingenii, highlighting one of the study areas (inset). One could argue that the sheer grandeur of this region makes it a prime candidate. Off in the distance, you could see a 3500 meter (11,480 feet) tall cliff. Imagine the view from the summit it rises more than 5000 meters (16,400 feet) above its base. The relatively flat area (86°S, 0☎) above the "5000" in the image below is the heart of the Artemis 3 landing region, which continues down the slope toward the Earth, as seen here. The Artemis 3 candidate landing region is partially visible from this viewpoint. From this viewpoint, we see the back side of Malapert massif assuming an Earth-centric reference. ![]() LROC shuttered this view on 03 March 2023 when the spacecraft was about 170 kilometers beyond Shackleton crater (sub-spacecraft point was 84.10°S, 129.1☎) looking towards the nearside. Image is 25 kilometers wide in the center, Narrow Angle Camera M1432398306LR (NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University). More recently, this magnificent peak (lower left) was selected as an Artemis 3 candidate landing region. Malapert massif (informal name) is thought to be a remnant of the South Pole - Aitken basin rim, which formed more than 4 billion years ago.
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