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from the where-did-all-the-colors-come-from? dept.
USGS releases first-ever comprehensive geologic map of the Moon:
Have you ever wondered what kind of rocks make up those bright and dark splotches on the moon? Well, the USGS has just released a new authoritative map to help explain the 4.5-billion-year-old history of our nearest neighbor in space.
For the first time, the entire lunar surface has been completely mapped and uniformly classified by scientists from the USGS, in collaboration with NASA and the Lunar Planetary Institute.
[...] To create the new digital map, scientists used information from six Apollo-era regional maps along with updated information from recent satellite missions to the moon. The existing historical maps were redrawn to align them with the modern data sets, thus preserving previous observations and interpretations. Along with merging new and old data, USGS researchers also developed a unified description of the stratigraphy, or rock layers, of the moon. This resolved issues from previous maps where rock names, descriptions and ages were sometimes inconsistent.
(Score: 2) by Kitsune008 on Sunday April 26 2020, @06:43AM
There is no 'dark' side. That is Earth-centric, elitist propaganda.
The pedantic me would say 'far' side of the moon, from the Earth-centric point of view. ;-)
BTW, from TFS: "...the entire lunar surface has been completely mapped..."
I draw your attention to the words 'entire' and 'completely', and wonder at your confusion.