10 Coolest New Moon Discoveries

07-14-2010 • SPACE.com

Number 10: How Many Rocks Must a Man Count Up?

The LRO Camera (LROC) has a resolution about ten times better than any previous lunar orbiter mission. LROC gathers 100 pixels to other spacecrafts' single pixel. Researchers can now see detailed craters and individual boulders, some measuring only a few feet on the lunar surface. Further, the public can get involved by doing crater and boulder counts to aid in the research at the "Moon Zoo" (http://www.moonzoo.org).

Number 9: Please Don't Leave Me Waiting Too Long

Russian robotic rover Lunokhod 1 landed on the moon in 1970, and traveled about 6 miles (10 km) before vanishing from detection in September 1971. This past March however, the LROC team announced they had spotted it, miles from its supposed location. A laser pulse was sent to Lunokhod 1, and contact was made with the rover for the first time in nearly four decades. Lunokhod 1's retroreflector returned a signal actually about five times better than returned by Lunokhod 2.

Number 8: Moon River

Rilles look like river channels on the lunar surface. Researchers call the type shown here a "sinuous" rille, exhibiting strong meanders. The formation of lunar rilles remains a mystery. It is believed there may be many different formation mechanisms including ancient magma flows and the collapse of subterranean lava tubes.