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Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's wide angle camera, or WAC, is creating a photographic atlas of the entire moon.
By stitching together thousands of separate images
scientists can create a global catalog of the mountains, craters, and rilles,
like those seen here, near the landing site of Apollo 15.
Color and contrast in WAC images give us clues about the chemical makeup of the lunar soil.
The sharp border between the Seas of Serenity and Tranquility, for example, is probably
caused by differing amounts of titanium.
Crater shapes reveal their ages. These three craters are like a time-lapse photo,
from the youngest at the top, with sharp, well-defined features, to the oldest at the bottom, nearly erased by time.
With the wide angle images from LRO, we can improve our understanding of our nearest neighbor in the solar system.
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