Images Dated 1990

Us-Earths Moon

This 09 December, 1990 color image of the Moon was taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft at a range of about 350, 000 miles. At the upper right is the large, dark Oceanus Procellarum; below it is the smaller Mare Humorum. These, like the small dark Mare Orientale in the center of the basin, formed over 3 billion years ago as basaltic lava flows. At the lower left, among the southern cratered highlands of the far side, is the South-Pole-Aitken basin, similar to Orientale but twice as great in diameter and much older and more degraded by cratering and weathering. The cratered highlands of the near and far sides and the Maria are covered with scattered bright, young ray craters. AFP PHOTO/ NASA / AFP PHOTO / NASA / NASA

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