The Face of the Moon

Enlarged image

There were many memorable Orbiter photographs; Orbiter I recorded a beautiful panorama that showed the crescent earth in the distance, and Orbiter II took a stunning oblique view of the crater Copernicus. Less familiar is this photograph of remarkable beauty taken by Orbiter V, looking westward across Mare Fecunditatis (Sea of Fertility). It captures the twin craters Messier and Messier A (the latter a pancake of one crater on another) which have intrigued lunar observers for centuries. The horizontal lines represent the "framelets" produced by the scanning system.

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