moon tour 4k

Tour of the Moon 4K

In the fall of 2011, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter ( LRO ) mission released its original Tour of the Moon, a five-minute animation that takes the viewer on a virtual tour of our nearest neighbor in space. Six years later, the tour has been recreated in eye-popping 4K resolution, using the same camera path and drawing from the vastly expanded data trove collected by LRO in the intervening years. The tour visits a number of interesting sites chosen to illustrate a variety of lunar terrain features. Some are on the near side and are familiar to both professional and amateur observers on Earth, while others can only be seen clearly from space. Some are large and old (Orientale, South Pole-Aitken), others are smaller and younger (Tycho, Aristarchus). Constantly shadowed areas near the poles are hard to photograph but easier to measure with altimetry, while several of the Apollo landing sites, all relatively near the equator, have been imaged at resolutions as high as 25 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel. The new tour highlights the mineral composition of the Aristarchus plateau, evidence for surface water ice in certain spots near the south pole, and the mapping of gravity in and around the Orientale basin.

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Virtual Moon Tour [4K Ultra HD]

• Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
• Post date April 16, 2018
• No Comments on Virtual Moon Tour [4K Ultra HD]

Using data provided by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft (see notes 1) since 2009, NASA has published an amazing virtual Moon tour in 4K Ultra HD (see notes 2). As the visualization moves around the near side, far side (see notes 3), north and south poles, interesting features, sites, and information gathered on the lunar terrain get highlighted.

Virtual Moon Tour

The virtual Moon tour visits a number of interesting sites chosen to illustrate a variety of lunar terrain features. Some are on the near side and are familiar to both professional and amateur observers on Earth, while others can only be seen clearly from space. Some are large and old (Orientale basin, see notes 4, South Pole-Aitken basin, see notes 5), while others are smaller and younger (Tycho, see notes 6, Aristarchus, see notes 7). Constantly shadowed areas near the poles are hard to photograph but easier to measure with altimetry, while several of the Apollo landing sites, all relatively near the equator, have been imaged at resolutions as high as 25 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbital Camera is even able to capture a view of the bottom half of the Apollo 17 Lunar Lander which still sits on the surface, as well as the rover vehicle (we can see them in this virtual Mour tour).

Music Provided By Killer Tracks: “Never Looking Back” – Frederick Wiedmann. “Flying over Turmoil” – Benjamin Krause & Scott Goodman.

The video above is public domain and along with other supporting visualizations can be downloaded from the NASA Scientific Visualization Studio .

Related: Astrophotographer created a spectacular image of the Moon combining 100,000 photos

• The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a NASA robotic spacecraft currently orbiting the Moon in an eccentric polar mapping orbit. Data collected by LRO has been described as essential for planning NASA’s future human and robotic missions to the Moon.
• 4K Ultra HD or +K UHD (2160p) has a resolution of 3840 pixels x 2160 lines (8.3 megapixels, aspect ratio 16:9) and is one of the two resolutions of ultra high definition television targeted towards consumer television.
• There is no “dark side of the Moon” . The Moon has no side that is constantly dark; the front and back are alternately lit by the Sun as the Moon rotates. “ Far side ” is a more accurate term. We see only one side of the Moon, the “near side”, so the other side which we don’t see is the “far side”, not the “dark side”.
• Orientale basin or Mare Orientale (“eastern sea” in Latin) is a lunar mare. It is located on the western border of the near side and the far side of the Moon. It is difficult to see from an Earthbound perspective . Images from spacecraft have revealed the Orientale basin to be one of the most striking large-scale lunar features: it is about 900 kilometers (560 mi) across and was formed by the impact of an asteroid-sized object, possibly 64 km (40 mi) in diameter and traveling at 15 km/s (9.3 mi/s).
• The South Pole-Aitken basin is a large lunar impact crater that lies on the far side of the Moon. At roughly 2,500 kilometers (1,600 mi) in diameter and 13 kilometers (8.1 mi) deep, it is one of the largest known impact craters in the Solar System and the largest, oldest, and deepest basin recognized on the Moon. It was named for two features on opposing sides: the crater Aitken (named for the American astronomer Robert Grant Aitken, December 31, 1864 – October 29, 1951) on the northern end and the lunar south pole at the other end. The outer rim of this basin can be seen from Earth as a huge chain of mountains located on the Moon’s southern limb, sometimes informally called “Leibnitz mountains”. Simulations of near vertical impacts show that this basin should have dug up vast amounts of mantle materials from depths as great as 200 km below the surface. However, observations thus far do not favor a mantle composition for this basin, and crustal thickness maps seem to indicate the presence of about 10 kilometers of crustal materials beneath this basin’s floor. This has suggested to some that the basin was not formed by a typical high-velocity impact, but may instead have been formed by a low-velocity projectile around 200 km in diameter that hit at a low angle (about 30 degrees or less), and hence did not dig very deeply into the Moon. Putative evidence for this comes from the high elevations north-east of the rim of the South Pole-Aitken basin that might represent ejecta from such an oblique impact. The impact theory would also account for magnetic anomalies on the moon.
• Tycho is a prominent lunar impact crater located in the southern lunar highlands, named after the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546-1601), known for his accurate and comprehensive astronomical and planetary observations. It is one of the Moon’s brightest craters, with a diameter of 85 kilometers (52.8 mi) and a depth of 4.8 kilometers (3 mi).
• Aristarchus is a prominent lunar impact crater that lies in the northwest part of the Moon’s near side. It is considered the brightest of the large formations on the lunar surface. It is named after the Greek astronomer Aristarchus of Samos (c. 310 – c. 230 BC) who presented the first known model that placed the Sun at the center of the known universe with the Earth revolving around it. It has a diameter of 40 kilometers (25 mi) and a depth of 3.7 kilometers (2.3 mi).
• Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission Overview on NASA.gov
• Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter on W ikipedia
• Mare Orientale on Wikipedia
• Aitken (crater) on Wikipedia
• South Pole-Aitken basin on Wikipedia
• Tycho (lunar crater) on Wikipedia
• Aristarchus (crater) on Wikipedia
• Aristarchus of Samos on Wikipedia
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By M. Özgür Nevres

I am a software developer and a science enthusiast. I was graduated from the Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Computer Engineering. In the past, I worked at the Istanbul Technical University Science Center as a science instructor. I write about the planet Earth and science on this website, ourplnt.com. I am also an animal lover! I take care of stray cats & dogs. This website's all income goes directly to our furry friends. Please consider supporting me on Patreon , so I can help more animals!

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Tour of the Moon 4K Redux

• Released Monday, April 9, 2018
• Visualizations by:
• Ernie Wright
• Produced by:
• Scientific consulting by:

The camera flies over the lunar terrain, coming in for close looks at a variety of interesting sites and some of the LRO data associated with them. Includes narration, music, feature titles, research sources, and the location and scale of the image center. Music Provided By Killer Tracks: "Never Looking Back" - Frederick Wiedmann. "Flying over Turmoil" - Benjamin Krause & Scott Goodman.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.This video is also available on the SVS YouTube channel.

The camera flies over the lunar terrain, coming in for close looks at a variety of interesting sites and some of the LRO data associated with them. Includes feature titles, research sources, and the location and scale of the image center.

The tour as rendered, without titles. The frames contain an alpha channel.

The background stars visible in the first 14 seconds of the tour.

The animated location and scale display.

• Planets & Moons
• Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment (DLRE)
• Elevation data
• Laser Altimeter
• Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
• Lunar Surface
• Lunar Topography
• Solar System

Please give credit for this item to: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

• Ernie Wright  (USRA)
• David Ladd  (USRA)

Video editor

• Noah Petro  (NASA/GSFC)

Release date

This page was originally published on Monday, April 9, 2018. This page was last updated on Monday, August 19, 2024 at 12:06 AM EDT.

• LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter)

Datasets used

[lro: diviner], nac (narrow angle camera) [lro: lroc], dem (digital elevation map) [lro: lola], grail free-air gravity (free-air gravity) [grail: lunar gravity ranging system], wac 643nm high sun global mosaic [lro: lroc], sldem2015 (digital elevation model) [lro/selene: lola/tc].

A digital elevation model of the Moon derived from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter and the SELENE Terrain Camera. See the description in Icarus . The data is here .

Note: While we identify the data sets used on this page, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.

A Double Feature!! Talk to NASA experts about next week's Supermoon AND Lunar Eclipse

Biggest and brightest moon of 2020 live shots, apollo 11: this is goddard, nasa explorers | season two: apollo, nasa kicks off a lunar summer: share your apollo stories live shots, temperature, reflectance point to frost near the moon's poles, orientale impact basin for the cover of science, older versions, tour of the moon, used as a source in, exploring asteroid bennu through technology, water released from moon during meteor showers, you may also like..., no results., an error occurred. please reload this page and try again..

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April 11, 2018

'Tour of the Moon' 4K redux

In the fall of 2011, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission released its original Tour of the Moon, a five-minute animation that takes the viewer on a virtual tour of our nearest neighbor in space. Six years later, the tour has been recreated in eye-popping 4K resolution, using the same camera path and drawing from the vastly expanded data trove collected by LRO in the intervening years.

The tour visits a number of interesting sites chosen to illustrate a variety of lunar terrain features. Some are on the near side and are familiar to both professional and amateur observers on Earth, while others can only be seen clearly from space. Some are large and old (Orientale, South Pole-Aitken), others are smaller and younger (Tycho, Aristarchus). Constantly shadowed areas near the poles are hard to photograph but easier to measure with altimetry, while several of the Apollo landing sites, all relatively near the equator, have been imaged at resolutions as high as 25 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel.

The new tour highlights the mineral composition of the Aristarchus plateau, evidence for surface water ice in certain spots near the south pole, and the mapping of gravity in and around the Orientale basin.

Provided by NASA

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This NASA Video Tour of the Moon in 4K Is Simply Breathtaking

Images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) are not only helping planners with future human missions to the moon, but they are also revealing new information about the moon's evolution and structure.

A new NASA video , posted on YouTube, features more than half a dozen locations of interest in stunning 4K resolution, much of it courtesy of LRO data. NASA also highlighted the individual sites in a Tumblr post that delves deeper into their geology, morphology and significance.

LRO has been circling the moon since 2009 and has made a range of discoveries at Earth's closest large celestial neighbor. [ More Amazing Moon Photos from NASA's LRO ]

The orbiter has found regions of possible ice in permanently shadowed regions of the moon, inside sheltered craters and caves. It provides elevation data and mineralogical mapping to help scientists better understand the age of craters, lava basins and other features on the moon. And it also acts as a scout for future human missions. That role came into focus late in 2017, when the Trump administration tasked NASA with heading back to the moon before journeying to Mars.

Future landing missions could take advantage of mountain peaks or crater rims at the moon's north pole , the video's narrator explains during the lunar tour. LRO scientists have modeled the sunlight in these regions across centuries of time. By zooming in on the spots with consistent sun exposure, mission planners can put solar panels there to support future human missions.

Another possible landing location for astronauts is Aristarchus Plateau , an ancient volcanic hotbed with a large crater so bright that it's visible with the naked eye. Infrared images from LRO reveal the existence of silicate-type minerals, pyroxene and plagioclase, which provide clues about what sorts of volcanic materials were present there long ago. "The region is covered in rocks from volcanic eruptions, and the large river-like structure is actually a channel made from a long-ago lava flow," NASA officials said on Tumblr.

LRO data not only supports future human missions, but also provides more information about past landings from the Apollo program, all of which took place between 1969 and 1972. The spacecraft has imaged multiple landing sites, as well as the crash sites from the third stage of the mighty Saturn V rocket that lifted humans to the moon. The video zooms in on the Apollo 17 landing site in the Taurus-Littrow valley, revealing astronaut tracks, the rover and even the bottom half of the astronauts' lunar module, Challenger.

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"The new data that LRO is gathering helps us reinterpret the geology of familiar places, giving scientists a better understanding of the sequence of events in early lunar history," the video's narrator says.

The video also touches on Orientale Basin , where a terrain map from LRO and a surface gravity map from another mission called GRAIL show structure in the lunar crust and interior; the south pole, which has some of the coldest recorded temperatures in the solar system; the huge South Pole-Aitken Basin on the moon's far side, which is more than 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) across; and the 100-million-year old Tycho Crater, whose origins are still a mystery, even after LRO took images in high resolution.

"LRO was designed as a one-year mission," NASA added on Tumblr. "Now in its ninth year, the spacecraft and the data emphasize the power of long-term data collection. Thanks to its many orbits around the moon, we have been able to expand on lunar science from the Apollo missions while paving the way for future lunar exploration. And as the mission continues to gather data, it will provide us with many more opportunities to take a tour of our moon."

Follow us @Spacedotcom , Facebook and Google+ . Original article on Space.com .

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, " Why Am I Taller ?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace

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A newer version of this visualization is available.

4619: Tour of the Moon 4K Redux

Tour of the Moon

• Released Thursday, October 27, 2011
• Visualizations by:
• Ernie Wright

The viewer flies over the lunar terrain, coming in for close looks at a variety of interesting sites. Color coded elevation highlights the terrain of some sites. Includes feature title and scale.

Presentations

As above, but without any data overlays (color coded elevation, latitude/longitude grid at the poles, titles).

A short segment in which the viewer flies toward the Moon from a distance. This can be added seamlessly to the start of the main tour.

Animation files that combine the short fly-in with the main tour.

A condensed version of the tour. All of the featured sites are included.

• Planets & Moons
• Elevation data
• Laser Altimeter
• Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
• Lunar Surface
• Lunar Topography
• Presentation
• Solar System

Please give credit for this item to: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

• Ernie Wright  (USRA)
• Chris Smith  (HTSI)
• James Garvin  (NASA/GSFC)

Release date

This page was originally published on Thursday, October 27, 2011. This page was last updated on Monday, August 19, 2024 at 12:01 AM EDT.

• LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter)
• LRO - Animations

Datasets used

[clementine], [lro: lroc], nac (narrow angle camera) [lro: lroc], dem (digital elevation map) [lro: lola], kaguya stereo dem (dtm) [kaguya: lism].

Formerly known as "SELENE".

Note: While we identify the data sets used on this page, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.

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Tour of the moon 4k redux, you may also like..., no results., an error occurred. please reload this page and try again..

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NASA’s virtual tour of the moon in 4K will blow your mind

The moon can look spectacular enough from here on Earth , but a just-posted NASA video showing the lunar surface in amazing close-up detail is also certain to take your breath away.

Billed as a “virtual tour of the moon” in glorious 4K , the incredible imagery has been collected by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft over the last nine years.

“The tour visits a number of interesting sites chosen to illustrate a variety of lunar terrain features,” Ernie Wright of NASA’s Space Visualization Studio explained in a blog post . “Some are on the near side and are familiar to both professional and amateur observers on Earth, while others can only be seen clearly from space.”

Wright notes how this latest video is an updated version of one released in 2011. While the camera path is the same, the data collected in the intervening years has enabled the space agency to create a far more visually stunning and detailed presentation.

The footage shows us a number of the moon’s physical features, occasionally mixing them with splashes of color that highlight other data that’s sure to fascinate any armchair astronomers tuning in. The fly-by of the South Pole-Aitken basin, for example, adds elevation data so we can clearly see its location. With a diameter of around 1,550 miles (2,500 km) and a depth of 8 miles (12 km), this is the largest and oldest recognized impact basin on the moon and covers almost a quarter of its surface.

Check out, too, the amazing detail captured in the imagery of Tycho Crater, said to be around 100 million years old. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, the camera zooms in even further, still in great detail, to focus on Tycho Crater’s intriguing central peak with a 100-meter-wide bolder at the summit, “the origins of which are still a mystery,” the video’s narrator says.

We’re also taken to the Apollo 17 landing site in Taurus-Littrow Valley, which we’re told is deeper than the Grand Canyon. Another overlay shows us the path the astronauts took during their three days on the lunar surface in 1972. You can even see the bottom half of the mission’s lunar lander and rover vehicle, where they’ve remained untouched for the last 46 years.

The U.S. and other countries appear to be once again taking a serious interest in the moon with various manned and unmanned missions under discussion, while private space company SpaceX is believed to be making plans to send two “tourists” on a weeklong trip around the moon.

The rest of us can continue to enjoy its splendor by gazing at it from here on Earth, though this wonderful new NASA video is definitely worth your time, too.

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Now that 5G network coverage is spreading across the U.S. at a rapid rate, it's time to start talking about potential 5G use cases that will make it worthwhile for the average consumer. So we're digging into 5G technology and asking one of the most important questions: Can you stream Netflix in 4K with 5G?

In theory, the answer to that question is yes. In practice, we probably aren't quite there yet. 5G is faster than 4G in some areas of the U.S., offering higher download speeds and a more consistent connection. However, it's unlikely that you'd be able to stream Netflix in 4K with 5G right now. But that doesn't mean it won't be possible in the future.  Limits on streaming quality The fact that 5G isn't powerful enough to handle 4K streaming just yet isn't the only hurdle here. Some major 5G carriers compress and limit streaming video quality on some plans, making it currently impossible to get anything beyond 1080p on your mobile device. So if 4K streaming is something you really want, just make sure you understand the limits of your phone plan before you hop on the 5G bandwagon.

Dazzling NASA 4K moon video crackles with craters

A glorious NASA video takes Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter imagery and turns it into a 4K tour of the moon that will make you want to go for a visit.

Even though President Donald Trump has directed NASA to return Americans to the moon , most of us will never have the chance to set foot on the lunar surface. 

If you still dream of visiting our neighbor in space, then you can do the next best thing and immerse yourself in a spectacular 4K NASA video tour of the moon.

NASA shared the guided tour on Monday. It comes off as a cross between a science study and a vacation promo that will make you want to book a seat with SpaceX's planned moon-viewing journey . 

The footage moves between regular views and colorful digitally enhanced footage that shows off some the moon's fascinating geologic features. 

NASA and the moon

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The video gives us an especially good look at the moon's dramatic craters. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has sent back some spectacular images that let us zoom in on boulders and get up close and personal with the moon's rugged surface.

A symphonic soundtrack pulses under the voice-over, but you can always just turn down the narrative, hit full-screen and lose yourself in the visuals of our pockmarked lunar companion. 

Memorable moon photos from NASA and beyond (pictures)

Take a Tour of the Moon in Beautiful 4K With This Great Video

NASA recently released this stunning tour of the moon based on photos and visualizations built from data sent back from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. It's a beautiful and informative look at our nearest neighbor.

Coming to you from David Ladd and the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , this 4K tour of the moon will show you the near and far sides of the moon, north and south poles, the Apollo landing sites, and more. The LRO was launched in June 2009, and since then, it's created a three-dimensional map of 98.2 percent of the lunar surface at 100-meter resolution (higher in some areas, such as the 0.5-meter resolution of the Apollo landing sites), the only areas it's missed being the poles, which are in very dark shadows. Altogether, the LRO Camera has sent back somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 TB of image data in its nine years thus far, giving scientists a veritable treasure trove of information to work with. The LROC actually consists of three cameras: two narrow angle cameras with effective focal lengths of 700mm and apertures of f/3.59 and a wide angle camera with an effective focal length of 6.0 mm (4.7mm UV) and f/5.05 (f/5.65 UV). You can view more stunning imagery from the mission here .

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

That footage is beyond impressive. There are craters upon craters upon craters, and just when you think there's no more detail, there are micro craters.

I've personally always found our moon rather dull. It looks the same in B&W as it does in color, and have little visual interest to offer.

I would take Europa or Titan any day of the week :-)

Damn, crazy stuff...thank you for sharing..:)

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NASA just released a ‘Moon tour’ video in stunning 4K

Visiting the Moon is an incredibly rare privilege. Just 12 people have ever been there, and your chances of joining those ranks are essentially zero. If the reality of that whole situation kind of bums you out, perhaps NASA’s brand new 4K ‘Moon Tour’ video will help fulfill your desire to visit Earth’s nearest neighbor.

The video is the result of over half a decade of high-resolution imagery gathered by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which launched back in 2009. It’s called a “tour” because it highlights a whole bunch of neat lunar landmarks, including bother natural geographic features and manmade points of interest, like the Apollo 17 landing site.

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It goes without saying, but you should try to view the video on as high-resolution of a display as possible, and it looks best at its full 4K resolution. At nearly five minutes, it’s also a pretty lengthy video, and the production quality is top notch.

The video is actually an updated version of a Moon tour video that NASA first published six years ago. This time around, NASA used the wealth of data collected by the orbiter but followed the same camera path and boosted the resolution to 4K. The result is probably the most gorgeous look at the Moon that we’ve seen, and it’s available to all.

“The tour visits a number of interesting sites chosen to illustrate a variety of lunar terrain features,” Ernie Wright of NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio explains in a blog post. “Some are on the near side and are familiar to both professional and amateur observers on Earth, while others can only be seen clearly from space. Some are large and old (Orientale, South Pole-Aitken), others are smaller and younger (Tycho, Aristarchus). Constantly shadowed areas near the poles are hard to photograph but easier to measure with altimetry, while several of the Apollo landing sites, all relatively near the equator, have been imaged at resolutions as high as 25 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel.”

If you’re having a rough Monday, spend five minutes taking a little lunar vacation. You’ll be glad you did.

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A high-resolution tour of the Moon from NASA

Using imagery and data that the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft has collected since 2009, NASA made this video tour of the Moon in 4K resolution. This looked incredible on my iMac screen.

As the visualization moves around the near side, far side, north and south poles, we highlight interesting features, sites, and information gathered on the lunar terrain.

See also The 100-megapixel Moon and A full rotation of the Moon .