PIA02442: Moon's North Pole
 Target Name:  Moon
 Is a satellite of:  Earth
 Mission:  Mariner Venus Mercury (Mariner 10) 
 Spacecraft:  Mariner 10
 Product Size:  900 x 900 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  Northwestern University 
 Addition Date:  1999-12-21
 Other  
Information: 
Mariner 10 Image Project
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA02442.tif (449.8 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA02442.jpg (101 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

Mariner 10 was launched on November 3, 1973, 12:45 am PST, from Cape Canaveral on an Atlas/Centaur rocket (a reconditioned Intercontinental Ballistic Missile - ICBM). Within 12 hours of launch the twin cameras were turned on and several hundred pictures of both the Earth and the Moon were acquired over the following days.

In this unusual view eastern Mare Frigor is near the center of the disc, while Mare Crisiumis the large circular feature near the lower right limb. The heavily cratered region shown in the top of the mosaic shows portions of the Moon not seen from the Earth.

This mosaic is composed of 22 frames acquired in orange (15), clear (4), UV (2), and UV-polarized (1) wavelengths by the Mariner 10 Spacecraft.

The Mariner 10 mission is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, explored Venus in February 1974 on the way to three encounters with Mercury-in March and September 1974 and in March 1975. The spacecraft took more than 7,000 photos of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and the Moon.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Northwestern University

Image Addition Date:
1999-12-21