Posted 02.02.2012 at 12:05 pm
13 Comments
South Pole on the Dark Side
South pole of the far side of the moon as seen from the GRAIL mission’s Ebb spacecraft.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
A camera on board NASA’s gravity-mapping moon probes captured its first view of the dark side of the moon, a collection of images as part of a camera test in January. The clip serves as a prelude to the GRAIL probes’ secondary mission, which will allow schoolchildren to control its cameras and snap pictures of moon features.
In the video, the north pole is visible at the top of the screen as the spacecraft flies south. About a third of the way down the moon you see Mare Orientale, a 560-mile-wide impact basin that stretches over the moon's near and far sides. The clip fades out just north of the lunar south pole, according to NASA.
The star-shaped formation in the middle of that crater, Drygalski crater, is a central peak created billions of years ago by a comet or asteroid impact, the space agency said.
The Grail mission’s two washing machine-sized spacecraft, recently renamed Ebb and Flow, arrived at the moon on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day and entered orbit. The spacecraft will fly in tandem, using instruments sensitive enough to detect a hair’s breadth separation in order to measure the moon’s gravity field. They will continue making small trajectory corrections for the next month or so to get themselves lined up before the mapping mission starts in March.
The goal is to answer long-standing questions about the moon’s core, which could answer some questions about how it formed. Read more about the Grail probes here.
NASA's Grail Mission: Twin spacecraft will orbit in tandem, measuring tiny changes in the distance between them to map the moon's gravitational field. NASA/JPL
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Robot02/02/12 at 12:04 pm
It is conclusive, no cheese on both sides of the moon!
But, I was very happy to watch the video! Very COOL!
(Second attempt to post in the correct place.lol)
.............................
Science sees no further than what it can sense.
Religion sees beyond the senses.
Every time I see or hear the words "Dark Side of the Moon" I have intense flashbacks. Could we please just call it "Far side of the Moon"
@Robot--no cheese on either side but maybe the core is made of cheese..it just got covered in dust bein out there all these years.. If Newt makes it maybe we can build our moon base and find out...lol
- RELIGION AND SCIENCE GO HAND IN HAND, NEITHER CAN DISPROVE THE OTHER!-
I see that "they" airbrushed out the alien moon base.
yes there were/are alien structures on the dark side. possibly even a buried monolith that takes humanity to the next stage of evolution.
"religion is like a prison for the seekers of wisdom"
-Killah Priest
Did they find Nazi's!?
For those who don't get it( www.ironsky.net/site/ ).
Yeah, dark side <> farside. During a New Moon, the dark side is the near side. Full moon, the opposite. Other times, in-between.
;)
For a brain-bender, look hard at the moon, seeing it as a globe. Visualize the full lit half, and extend a line thru the core and out the middle of the lit hemisphere. Extend 93 million miles, and you pierce the Sun.
Then point your arm and finger exactly parallel; that's where the Sun is. You may get flashes of how immense the geometry must be.
I think a telescope of sorts, be in microwave, infrared or any old thing sensing device, it should be put on the dark side of the moon. With the additional darkness, it should be able to see much further out.
Brian H,
When I get those flashes you speak about, will they be naked?
JediMindset,
I like the movie 2001 too. Of course 2001 has come and gone. Do you think we humans are moving now to a higher stage of development, since 2001 has past? If not, well at least it's 2012 and we have the Mayan calendar.
I believe the end of earth will come from humans over exploiting the earth; it will be a slow death. Human death maybe 100% complete, if it comes from some toxic pollution as well as starvation.
We humans need to establish ourselves in some sort of artificial environment to ensure the continuation of our species. In other words we need to create an environment that does not pollute ourselves and is self sustaining. We need to move to outer space, the other planets, anywhere else and make a new home! We need to face our own problems and solve them, to ensure our continued existance!
..........................................
See life in all its beautiful colors, and
from different perspectives too!
@Space
yeah we are moving to the next stage of human evolution. its mental and physical. we will develop powers like those portrayed in Xmen and Heroes. but not everyone just those who believe in it and have changed the way they are and wish for the best/peace/love and respect. which is sadly a small perentage of humanity. most humans only care about materialist things and forget to look at life for what it is. yeah the earth will end but its not known when. it could end 1 million different ways. so far we have little control over it.
"religion is like a prison for the seekers of wisdom"
-Killah Priest
my roomate's aunt makes $83/hr on the laptop. She has been without work for 8 months but last month her pay was $8682 just working on the laptop for a few hours. Read more on this site...Nuttyrich . com
are you quizing us? the same side of the moon always faces the earth (tidaly locked), this is a video of the far side of the moon, which is not always dark, cheers