NASA has captured an incredible image of a lunar sunrise! In June 2011, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) angled its orbit west, allowing the spacecraft’s high-resolution cameras to capture a stunning sunrise view of the moon’s Tycho crater. Tycho is a very prominent lunar impact crater located in the southern lunar highlands region. Tycho Crater is named after the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) who is noted for his considerable work in astronomical observation.
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter image of the central peak in Tycho Crater. Image Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University
A very popular target with amateur and backyard astronomers, Tycho Crater is located at 43.37°S, 348.68°E, and is about 82 km (51 miles) in diameter. The summit of the central peak of the crater is 2 km (1.24 miles) above the crater floor. The distance from Tycho’s floor to its rim is about 2.92 miles (4.7 km).
Close-up of a lunar sunrise on Tycho crater's central peak complex. The Central peak is about 15 km (9.3 miles) wide, left to right. The photo was collected by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). Image Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University
Tycho crater’s central peak complex, shown here, is about 9.3 miles (15 km) wide, left to right (southeast to northwest in this view).
