(music)
It's been said that "art is science made
clear." Just look to space if you need proof. NASA's Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter has brought this thought to life with a beautiful array of
visuals from the moon. Selecting the best image was what The Moon As Art
campaign was all about. LRO has thousands of photos
and datasets to choose from, but just 24 were selected to be a part of The
Moon as Art collection. There are views of craters, ejecta blankets,
and temperature maps. But only one image can be chosen to grace the cover.
Of these candidates the LRO team selected 5
to put up for a public vote. First is "Starry Night."
Here, laser-created topography was used to bring us this colorful view
of the slopes near the moon's south pole. Next
is "Tycho Central Peak." This mountain peak is inside an impact
crater, and has a bolder over 100 meters wide at its summit.
"Diviner North Pole" features nighttime
temperatures at that location on the Moon. Colder spots are in blue,
warmer in orange and red. Next up is "Linne Crater topography,"
where a digital terrain map was created using several images from the
narrow angle camera, and color-coded to show differences in elevation.
"Clerke Crater" is the final option, where highly reflective granular
debris can be seen flowing down its interior wall. Now,
after 2 weeks of online voting, the winner of The Moon As Art contest
is . . .Tycho Central Peak - capturing 52%
of votes. This beautiful photograph will be the face of The Moon As Art
collection, thanks to you. To see the collection in detail, visit
the LRO website.
(beeping)