LROC composite image of the south pole, showing quasi-permanent sunlit areas (LROC Ariz. State Univ.) A new image released this week by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera Team shows the lighting conditions of the south pole of the Moon. This new data supports the conclusions of many previous studies that areas exist on the Moon that are illuminated by the sun for more than one-half the lunar day (the time it takes the Moon to rotate once on its axis, a bit more than 29 Earth days or about 708 hours). Why do such areas exist and why are they important? Most locations on the Moon experienc [...]
