LRO_LROC_LCROSS_lunar_imaging

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Dana







PostPosted: July 3, 2009 8:11 AM 

LRO, LROC, LCROSS, imaging and instrumentation.
http://wms.lroc.asu.edu/lroc_browse
LROC Browse Gallery for full resolution source images.

[link]
News release on active mission, and links to source webpages.

http://wms.lroc.asu.edu/lroc_browse/view/nacl000000fd
A first calibration image of 128MB.

The initial source image shows unusual geological activity possibly. Possible venting and sublimed or explosive sourcing of phase changes in materials?

Dana Author Profile Page



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PostPosted: July 3, 2009 8:41 AM 

A first image sub-section at 100% size. Possible venting, mounded eruption, or other volatile or volcanic resurgance in lineage with the pit chains?
Many pit chains are an indication of subsurface fault/fracture/cavernous subsidence or open space.
Is this a possible eruptive expression?
Location, altered with several alternative alterations in sequence at the image host, in PNG.
x=1400 , y=42525

Image nacl000000fd
calibration image at LROC Browse Gallery.
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Joe Smith


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PostPosted: July 5, 2009 4:03 PM 


Greetings,Dana,Fred,and the rest of you very interesting people,all of who are my peers,

Today is July 5,this mission isn't getting NEAR the exposure it should.

Where can I find some sort of projected time line,(ie: IMPACT and ejecta analyzing)

When will we know (POSITIVE PROOF) is
there water?

Enjoy your long winded posts (truley),,also
enjoy this "freedom of speech Forum.

Respectfully,
judge

field


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PostPosted: July 6, 2009 10:25 AM 

For what it's worth, Patrick Moore said on Sky at Night on BBC last night that he was firmly of the view that no water would be found at the poles.

I am more interested now in the solar wind chemical interaction with the lunar regolith. Does that leave hydrogen compounds which could be used to create water with oxygen from oxides?

Dana Author Profile Page



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PostPosted: July 8, 2009 3:18 PM 

Had a siesta of several days for the holiday.
I believe ice will be very difficult to find, as we see on Mars. It's an open question as yet. The first impactor was scheduled for about October 9th, as I recall. I'll check on updates at the NASA mission pages.
Even chasms and tunnels such as might be under the pit chains in the image at #1, would carry small ice quantities at best, I imagine, for a time after a cometary impact.
If we cannot find the remains of chemistry from comet type impacts, or underground ice pockets, the ice is probably as transient as the chemistry associated with the sources of ices.
I have to defer to those who are trained for that knowledge.
I am very interested in this mission, and the chance to use the impactor technique on other possible water/ice sources, in the outer realm.
Hope all are safe after the long weekend.

Joe Smith


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PostPosted: July 8, 2009 11:09 PM 

Well then,allow me to ask this,,when will we be able to see the debris kicked up by impact of empty tank? The one going in with a camera
recording and passing thru ejecta,,,,
Thanks
joe

Joe Smith


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PostPosted: July 9, 2009 2:41 PM 

Thanks Dana,October 9th then.

No water nor Ice on the moon, will NOT be a good thing. I admire your optimism.

Joe.

Dana Author Profile Page



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PostPosted: July 21, 2009 3:06 PM 

We can add the Apollo, and, other landing sites equipment, to the list of items being found on the Moon now. I am sure you have seen either the images of these, or, the anniversary of the Moon landing videos and imagery now presented at the NASA site and NASA TV.
I have to spend today downloading, and will present other closeups, some enlarged, of additional LROC Moon initial images in selected sections. The images show what appear to be additional dark circular mounds some with flows leading either away from them, or, oriented with ejecta directional movement alongside them appearing related to the mounds in timing and physical contact.
If someone has a knowledge of the recent impacting to be the cause of these, please present some comment or link perhaps.
The fairly recent items are positive relief objects, and may represent some of the most recent activity on the Moon.
I imagine in addition to sustaining a current semi-permanent station crew with fuel, the plan is to test filtration and processing equipment for future missions at greater distance. Water is one of the heaviest components of a long duration mission at any location. Finding local water would allow longer missions.
Bright elevated peaks of slab-like shaped rock is appearing in some of the images.
The peaks are quite high in some, and very distinct in brightness compared to all other material in the images. Has anyone observed a source for the bright material? With the multiple occurrences in small areas, I imagine the material in large blocks and tilted thick layer shapes, has been a low impulse secondary thrown from a local source, in recent timing.
I'll present links for these observations soon.

Smile

Dana Author Profile Page



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PostPosted: July 22, 2009 3:45 AM 

The article, Google 5.0/3D Moon, and the magazine, National Geographic. And they're all free to all people.

A 3D map of each solar system body at close range. What a great goal for a new century.

Dana Author Profile Page



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PostPosted: July 22, 2009 6:53 AM 

My apologies in delaying these. The selected enlarged sections were available nearly a week ago, but I am reorganizing here, with mt focus on other concerns part time. If these are not understood as imagery, ask for additional details.
I believe the enlargement was 2x for these, and all the images were adjusted to improve contrast light levels, and focus sharpened slightly. I'll try to upload unsharpened versions which will be next to these in the index thumbnail list. The dpi was increased to preserve detail. All processed in XNView.
The main image is 'nacr00000141'. It is one of the first few dozen images returned in the LRO/LROC testing process. These are very low contrast images with nearly no dark shadow detail present. The bright occasional 'white' highlight spots are usually the pointed and very steep mounds which are apparently related to some large tilted, out-of-context, bright slabs casting long shadows in the next main image I will upload. The bright spots show no source, are setting on the crater debris as a highest elevation and apparently recently emplaced material, and show a stark contrast to the low elevation slightly dark mounds which I have been selecting for these sub-images.
I found the full frame low contrast image, marked with the two sub-image areas as cp1 & cp2, to be adequate for seeing the mound items, and the bright peaked mounds casting shadows to be better viewed in the small enlarged sub-images.
Both sub-images show a large low elevated mound, with some directional movement or relief orientation of flows or layered boundaries issuing to the lower left corner of each. The apparent flows may be ejecta directional terrain aspects, but I can see a probable connection to the mounds.
The mounds appear volcanic to my viewing, but very subdued in the scene.
Do these items appear clear to view?
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There is an adjacent main image which also has dark mounds, and small steeply pitched bright peaks, from the 'nacl' camera or the left camera of the two 'narrow angle' camera pair. I'll finish uploading those to add to the total numbers of each terrain type item.

Are all these items volcanic, and not impact objects? Are they impact reaction volcanic processes?
To me, they appear very recent in the scenes.

Dana Author Profile Page



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PostPosted: July 22, 2009 7:32 AM 

The LROC image gallery for original full frame images. The nacr and the nacl are being listed as a single group of images here currently. The two Narrow Angle Cameras will be taking the highest resolution images in the mission.

The image nacr00000141 , is titled 'Northwest of Anaxagoras A', midway down the first page.
A related image just prior, 'Rim of Anaxagoras A', will be my next image to display as sub-images, in enlarged size and increased dpi. That image is nacl00000141 .

A sub-image of the nacl00000141 full frame, with bright peaked and tilted thick layered slabs or blocks casting long shadows. These are topping a steep slope of debris.
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Is this tilted base rock, or a debris from above, dropped into place? The bright peaked mounds are very contrasty and bright. I had to work the image to bring the highlights into correct position, with a dark shadow lower end tone range. I altered the image to give a view of the upper end of the bright highlights, for textural detail.

MPJ


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PostPosted: July 22, 2009 11:16 AM 

Great images Dana - thats the power of not having an athmosphere with haze, clouds, sandstorms and all that annoying things for viewing from above Very Happy What is the scale of this images?
I guess the new moon observation campaign will yield some interesting details...

Dana Author Profile Page



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PostPosted: July 22, 2009 3:38 PM 

Pleased to see some comments and contributions here, MPJ, joe smith, and field, as this machine will be working fast and sending much information from the half dozen instruments rapidly once operating. I can't begin to keep pace with the results, so I'll be touching just a small number of the results with a few of my own observations closeup during the main mission phase.
This mission has images at low altitude and steep sun angle a large part of the gallery content, making viewing in grey scale difficult until finished altitude topology studies and unlit imaging is released.

The twitter LCROSS vehicle page pending the impacting around Oct 9,2009.
The twitter LAMP page address linked.

The twitter LRO general page. These pages give a rapid blog information source, if you use twitter processes.

It is the radar and LAMP processes that give access to unlit areas for imaging I am ambitious for. Possible ice, or other cold conditioned effects to study in comparison to the Sun warmed areas lit by sunlight.
As the images are built by hand at Earth based computers by engineers, the imaging may be slow.
I read about September for first images to be presented.
In the interim we have various shadowed light spectrum imaging to assess as it is a faster display of instrument results currently.

I noticed while checking links to images at my photo host that the mouse button toggling of a small reduced size to full image size choice has disappeared from my browser(using FireFox 3), so, if it is a feature elimination at imageshack.us, you may have to rely on the 'Zoom' reduction in size to study my enlarged or sub-image full size photos which I present. My images are designed to be large, and not pixel margin dominated now, and if you find them confusing at full size try the 50% or 25% 'Zoom' alternatives for better geological feature viewing. I am trying to provide small details with a resolution sufficient for normal or degraded vision, and all details must eventually be checked against the gallery originals when viewing my sub-image selected areas.
All information should be sourced at the originals eventually.

A couple links to general description of the camera systems on-board LRO, visual narrow angle(2), wide angle(1), and the UV(LAMP, 1 camera).
At the distance from the Moon, if I was reading correctly, the resolution at best with the LAMP UV camera will be about 330-383 meters/pixel, and imaging at more or less detail depending on the results and imaging software processes. The camera techniques are new, in aspects, and I wouldn't guess the results prior to seeing them.
Instrument list and description for LRO.

..........
While I stated the features in the sub=images appeared recent, I was intending to state that the smaller cratering was consistent across the dark mounds and the overall full frames, but there appears to be a outer margin preservation of the layers and slopes margins, and a lower count of medium sized craters in the mounded darker areas. Any dating of the features would require careful consideration of the fact that they appear with some of the bright steep peaked mounds on the dark mounds possibly, and all are very old generally.
I hesitate to claim even the central craters at the mound apex spots are related to the mounds. The mounds are real and viewable, however, and are distinct at the outer margins as an elevation and brightness variation.




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