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View of the north pole region of the Moon with north pole to the lower left (not visible in this picture) of this mosaic of images. The view in the upper left is toward the horizon across the volcanic lava plains of Mare Imbrium. The prominent crater with the central peak is Pythagoras, an impact crater some 130 kilometers (80 miles) in diameter. December 7 and 8, 1992. Range, 121,000 kilometers (75,000 miles). P-41432
This image was taken through the violet filter of Galileo's imaging system during Galileo's second, and final, flyby of the Earth-Moon system. According to team scientists, the viewing geometry that resulted as the spacecraft passed over the lunar north pole and the low sun-angle illumination provided a unique opportunity to assess the geologic relationships among the smooth plains, cratered terrain and impact ejecta deposits in this region of the Moon.
Galileo's images of the Moon are similar in resolution to the pictures the Voyager spacecraft took of Jupiter's moons. However, when Galileo reaches Jupiter, it will be ten, even several hundred times closer to Jupiter's moons than Voyager was. This means that Galileo's images of the Jovian moons will have a resolution hundreds of times better than that seen in these pictures of our Moon.
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