Can you see Earth from Shackleton crater?
The rotational axis of the Moon passes through Shackleton, only a few kilometers from its center. The crater is 21 km (13 miles) in diameter and 4.2 km (2.6 miles) deep. From the Earth, it is viewed edge-on in a region of rough, cratered terrain.
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Is there a Shackleton crater on the moon?
The scientists investigated Shackleton Crater, which sits almost directly on the moon’s south pole. The crater, named after the Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, is more than 12 miles wide (19 kilometers) and 2 miles deep (3 km) — about as deep as Earth’s oceans.
What is interesting about the Shackleton crater?
The crater is about 20 km in diameter. Though unremarkable in appearance compared to the roughly 4,000 craters on the Moon in its size range, the 20 km diameter crater Shackleton has been the source of relentless scientific controversy for the past 20 years.
Where is Shackleton crater located?
the lunar south pole
In this multi-temporal illumination map of the lunar south pole, Shackleton crater (19 km diameter) is in the center, the south pole is located approximately at 9 o’clock on its rim. The map was created from images from the camera aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Is Shackleton crater on dark side of Moon?
Later this year, NASA plans to land a robotic drilling machine on the Moon called the Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1, or PRIME 1. The landing site: a crater named Shackleton, located almost exactly at the Moon’s south pole….Shackleton Crater Vitals.
| Official name | Shackleton Crater |
|---|---|
| Depth | 4 km (2.6 mi) |
How deep is the Shackleton crater?
two miles deep
The crater, named after the Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, is two miles deep and more than 12 miles wide. Like several craters at the moon’s south pole, the small tilt of the lunar spin axis means Shackleton crater’s interior is permanently dark and therefore extremely cold.
Is Shackleton crater on dark side of moon?
Why is south pole of Moon unexplored?
The lunar south pole is the southernmost point on the Moon, at 90°S. It is of special interest to scientists because of the occurrence of water ice in permanently shadowed areas around it. The lunar south pole region features craters that are unique in that the near-constant sunlight does not reach their interior.
How cold are the Moon’s poles?
-410 degrees Fahrenheit
Taking the Moon’s Temperature The Moon’s poles are even colder. Diviner even found a place in the floor of the Moon’s Hermite Crater that was detected to be -410 degrees Fahrenheit (-250° C, 25 K), making it the coldest temperature measured anywhere in the solar system!
Is the north pole permanently frozen?
The North Pole is presently covered by sea-ice all year. Each summer, the area of sea-ice coverage decreases and grows again in winter. However, as a result of global warming, the overall area of the Arctic Ocean covered by sea-ice has reduced rapidly over the past few decades.
Is the Shackleton Crater at the Moon’s South Pole volatile?
Constraints on the volatile distribution within Shackleton crater at the lunar south pole. Nature, 486, 378381. Shackleton crater is nearly coincident with the Moon’s south pole. Its interior receives almost no direct sunlight and is a perennial cold trap, making Shackleton a promising candidate location in which to seek sequestered volatiles.
Who is Shackleton crater named after?
Shackleton Crater is no exception. Both the crater’s name and location pay tribute to Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874–1922). Shackleton participated in four voyages to the Antarctic region, including one that reached the south magnetic pole.
Which orbiters have examined Shackleton Crater from orbit?
In addition to the new drilling mission, Shackleton Crater has been examined from orbit by NASA’s Lunar Orbiter 4, Clementine, Lunar Prospector, and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Japan’s SELENE and India’s Chandrayaan 1 orbiters also investigated the crater.
How much ice is there in Shackleton Crater?
NLSI recently reported that NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft had returned data that indicated ice may make up as much as 22 percent of the surface material in Shackleton crater. Here we report in more detail on the paper by NLSI’s Brown/MIT team, Zuber et al. (2012).
