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Moon surface photo taken with Lunar Orbiter IV

97-734
Accession Number
97-734
8x10 inches (21x26 cm)
Black & White
Related Collection
HST Keywords
Lunar Orbiter IV; Moon - Riccioli Crater; National Aeronautics And Space Adminstration
Rights

Public Domain - This item is in the public domain and can be used freely without further permission.

Note: If you use this image, rights assessment and attribution are your responsibility.

Credit:

Harry S. Truman Library & Museum.

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Description

An area of lunar surface displaying evidence of a very complicated geological history is seen in this portion of a Lunar Orbiter IV telephone picture made near the western edge of the Moon's visible surface. The large crater at right center is Riccioli, about 100 miles in diameter. Much of the area is covered by a blanket of debris deposited when the Mare Orientale, many miles further west, was formed by the impact of a giant meteorite. The beautifully displayed patterns of deposition show that materials thrown out by the impact were laid down party by the arrival of fragments traveling along ballistic trajectories and party by debris which continued to flow along the surface after landing. With the band of edge data at the left, North is approximately at the top of the picture, which is telephoto frame 173 made by Lunar Orbiter IV on May 24 from an altitude of 1,700 miles. The approximate selenographic coordinates for the center of the area are 77 degrees longitude and 3 degrees South latitude. NASA's Lunar Orbiter IV is one of a series of photographic spacecraft managed by the Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. The prime spacecraft contractor of the Boeing Company, Seattle, Washington.

Date(s)
June 2, 1967