Historical Date: December 8, 1992
This false-color photograph is a composite of 15 images of the Moon taken through three color filters by Galileo's solid-state imaging system during the spacecraft's passage through the Earth-Moon system on December 8, 1992.
When this view was obtained, the spacecraft was 262,000 miles (425,000 kilometers) from the Moon and 69,000 kilometers 43,000 miles (69,000 kilometers) from Earth.
The false-color processing used to create this lunar image is helpful for interpreting the surface soil composition. Areas appearing red generally correspond to the lunar highlands, while blue to orange shades indicate the ancient volcanic lava flow of a mare, or lunar sea. Bluer mare areas contain more titanium than do the orange regions.
Mare Tranquillitatis, seen as a deep blue patch on the right, is richer in titanium than Mare Serenitatis, a slightly smaller circular area immediately adjacent to the upper left of Mare Tranquillitatis. Blue and orange areas covering much of the left side of the Moon in this view represent many separate lava flows in Oceanus Procellarum. The small purple areas found near the center are pyroclastic deposits formed by explosive volcanic eruptions. The fresh crater Tycho, with a diameter of 53 miles (85 kilometers), is prominent at the bottom of the photograph, where part of the Moon's disk is missing.
Highest-Resolution
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UV/Visible Composite Images of Tycho Crater on the Moon
Lunar orbiter from Langley Research Lunar Orbiter Program.
Lunar Orbiter 1
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Apollo 15 Mission Image - View of the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP)
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Mosaic of images taken by the robotic lunar lander Surveyor 7
Lunar Surface Mosaic from Surveyor 7
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Anaglyph: Humboldt Crater Floor
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Tycho Crater Oblique View
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View of the Apollo 15 Command/Service Module in Lunar Orbit
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Portrait - Astronaut James A. Lovell Jr.
Clementine colorized image showing the full Earth over the Moon's north pole.
The Earth Over the Moon's North Pole
These four images were the first taken by the Ranger 8 P-series cameras.
Four Images of Davy Crater Chain and Ptolemaeus Crater From 1300 Km
This image of the Moon was obtained as the Galileo spacecraft passed the Earth and was able to view the lunar surface from a vantage point not possible from the Earth.
Far Side of the Moon
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured a unique view of Earth from the spacecraft's vantage point in orbit around the Moon.