                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                 2023 May 5

                          Shackleton from ShadowCam
     Image Credit: NASA, ShadowCam, Korea Aerospace Research Institute,
                          Arizona State University

   Explanation: Shackleton crater lies at the lunar south pole. Peaks
   along the 21 kilometer diameter are in sunlight, but Shackleton's floor
   is in dark permanent shadow. Still, this image of the shadowed rim wall
   and floor of Shackleton crater was captured from NASA's ShadowCam, an
   instrument on board the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) launched
   in August 2022. About 200 times more sensitive than, for example, the
   Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's Narrow Angle Camera, ShadowCam was
   designed image the permanently shadowed regions of the lunar surface.
   Avoiding direct sunlight, those regions are expected to be reservoirs
   of water-ice and other volatiles deposited by ancient cometary impacts
   and useful to future Moon missions. Of course, the permanently shadowed
   regions are still illuminated by reflections of sunlight from nearby
   lunar terrain. In this stunningly detailed ShadowCam image, an arrow
   marks the track made by a single boulder rolling down Shackleton
   crater's wall. The image scale is indicated at the bottom of the frame.

                  Tomorrow's picture: twilight in a flower
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

