PIA13223: Lichtenberg Crater
 Target Name:  Moon
 Is a satellite of:  Earth
 Mission:  Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)
 Spacecraft:  Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)
 Instrument:  Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (NAC)
 Product Size:  1000 x 1000 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  Arizona State University
 Other  
Information: 
More details and images at LROC
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA13223.tif (1.001 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA13223.jpg (133.4 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:

Lichtenberg crater is of Eratosthenian age, 20 kilometers (12 miles) across and 1.2 kilometers (1312 yards) deep, located in western Oceanus Procellarum (31.8°N and 67.7°W). It is named after George C. Lichtenberg, a German professor of experimental physics (16th century). Lichtenberg has an extensive ejecta blanket with highly reflective rays which extend to the North more than 100 kilometers from the crater rim. Within the detailed image shown above, distinct layering inside the crater wall can be seen. These layers are probably outcrops of the original surface lavas which were deposited before impact event. NAC frame M112040133L; scene is 530 meters (1738 feet) across.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center built and manages the mission for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera was designed to acquire data for landing site certification and to conduct polar illumination studies and global mapping. Operated by Arizona State University, LROC consists of a pair of narrow-angle cameras (NAC) and a single wide-angle camera (WAC). The mission is expected to return over 70 terabytes of image data.

Image Credit:
NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

Image Addition Date:
2010-06-15