A surprising new view of the moon comes from detailed gravity mapping by twin spacecraft, which slipped into orbit around the celestial body earlier this year.
This artist rendering released by NASA shows the twin spacecraft Ebb and Flow orbiting the moon. The duo found evidence that the moon’s interior is more battered than previously thought and the crust is thinner than expected.
A penumbral eclipse of the moon is seen in the night sky in Manila November 28, 2012.
This image released by NASA on Thursday, March 22, 2012 shows the far side of the moon with Earth in the background. It was among more than 60 images taken by one of NASA's spacecraft in orbit around the moon. The cameras are operated by middle school students as part of a project.
Boulders on an otherwise smooth floor are seen on the Mare Tranquillitatis pit crater on the surface of the Moon in this NASA image taken by the NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and released September 14, 2010. When the Sun is well overhead, the floor of the Mare Tranquillitatis pit is illuminated. Scientists estimate the depth to be a bit over 100 meters.
The Earth rises over the Moon's surface in this still from a HDTV video camera onboard Japan's KAGUYA lunar probe at 0552 GMT November 7, 2007 and released November 14, 2007. In the image the Earth's North Pole is oriented up.
This August 2011 image made available by NASA shows paths left by walking astronauts, single lines, and lunar buggy tracks, parallel lines, from the 1972 U.S. Apollo 17 moon mission. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter made this and other photographs of lunar landing sites from 13 to 15 miles above the moon's surface.
