Northern PSR

PSR within not named 12 km diameter crater 84.8N, 187.7E
Peek into a northern hemisphere permanently shadowed region (PSR). Small deposits of dark granular material slid downslope (top) onto ledges on this steeply sloped crater wall; the relatively flat floor is seen at the bottom of the image. Four-meter pixel scale, image 4400 meters wide. Unnamed crater (12-kilometer diameter) on the floor of Rozhdestvenskiy crater (182-kilometer diameter). A portion of mosaic made from ShadowCam images M014683058S, M14697199S, M14690128S [NASA/KARI/Arizona State University].

The southern polar region receives much attention because it hosts larger PSRs and is the target of the upcoming Artemis 3 crewed mission. However, the northern PSRs should not be forgotten. Fortunately, ShadowCam will treat the two poles as equals, and we will see within all the PSRs, north and south.

Full resolution detail of opening image, 2-m pixel scale
Full resolution (2-m pixel scale) detail from the upper portion of the opening mosaic. The image is 2200 meters wide, and the topography slopes downward from the top of the image [NASA/KARI/Arizona State University].

This view into the shadows of a relatively fresh, unnamed 12-km-diameter crater inside Rozhdestvenskiy crater reveals granular debris flowing down the crater wall, similar to what has been seen in sunlit regions across the Moon by LROC, such as in dramatic fashion within Kepler crater or Moore F.  

Check out the full-resolution view below, where areas directly illuminated by sunlight appear white (the ShadowCam detector saturates over directly illuminated terrain). The image is annotated to indicate the directly illuminated crater wall, which reflects a small amount of light into the permanent shadows, which ShadowCam then detects.

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Posted by Mark Robinson on 9 February 2023