Skip Navigation

Resources

Moonlight

Image Credit: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio/Ernie Wright
Published: July 20, 2018

Set to Claude Debussy's Clair de Lune, this visualization uses Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter data to show the stark beauty of evolving light and shadow near sunrise and sunset on the rugged lunar surface.

Music performed by Timothy Michael Hammond, distributed by Killer Tracks.

Get more video and download options from NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.

Read More

Related

This oblique photograph was taken looking south across Mare Imbrium by the Apollo 17 crew in 1972.  
More
The crater Copernicus, 93 kilometers in diameter, is seen in the distance.
Copernicus Crater
The rising Earth above the lunar horizon as seen from the Apollo 8 spacecraft.
More
blue Earth against a black sky above the barren lunar surface
The rising Earth as seen by Apollo 8
The near side of Earth's Moon, as seen based on data from cameras aboard NASA's robotic Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.
More
Near side of Earth's Moon
Lunar Near Side
This animation shows the last three orbits of the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, with views of the impact site. 
More
Animation of GRAIL's last three orbits.
GRAIL Impacts the Moon
Apollo 50th Anniversary: An Opportunity to Celebrate Past, Present, and Future Lunar Exploration 
More
Presentation - Apollo 50th Anniversary: An Opportunity to Celebrate Past, Present, and Future Lunar Exploration
The 50th Anniversary of the Apollo Program: An Opportunity to Celebrate Past, Present, and Future Lunar Exploration
Apollo 17 astronaut Jack Schmitt with the U.S. flag and the Earth in the sky. 
More
Apollo 17 astronaut Jack Schmitt with the U.S. flag and the Earth in the sky.
A Flag Points Home
This false-color photograph is a composite of 15 images of the Moon.
More
Rainbow colored Moon.
Colorful Moon
Lunar Orbiter 1 image of Taruntius crater on the Moon.
More
Photo of crater on the moon
Taruntius Crater on the Moon
Now you can have all the dates and times for all the Moon phases for the year at your fingertips.
More
Printable, buildable moon phase calculation wheel.
Updated for 2019: Make a Moon Phases Calendar and Calculator
Apollo 12 Experiments in Progress
More
an antenna deployed on the Moon's surface and an astronaut's shadow
Apollo 12 Experiments in Progress
Three days prior to its planned impact on a lunar mountain, mission controllers activated the camera aboard one of NASA's GRAIL twins to take some final photos from lunar orbit.
More
Video showing final photos from the GRAIL mission
Parting Moon Shots from NASA's GRAIL Mission
Neil Armstrong strums on a ukulele in a quarantine facility after Apollo 11 returned from the Moon.
More
Man sitting on table in small room playing a ukulele while others look out window.
Neil Armstrong Strums on a Ukulele
This image shows the variations in the lunar gravity field as measured by NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) during the primary mapping mission from March to May 2012.
More
Gravity map of the moon
GRAIL's Gravity Map of the Moon
A photographic record of the moment NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter was struck by a meteoroid.
More
Wild back-and-forth lines
A Jolt to the Camera
Converting stereo images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter into 3D maps of the Moon's surface.
More
video showing process of creating terrain maps on the moon
How To: Digital Terrain Models of the Moon
Mosaic of images taken by the robotic lunar lander Surveyor 7
More
hand-assembled grid of photo frames with annotations
Lunar Surface Mosaic from Surveyor 7
Lunar Orbiter 1 new of the Moon and crescent Earth. This is the first good image of the Earth taken from the vicinity of the Moon, 380,000 km away.
More
View of Earth from the moon
First View of Earth From the Moon and Oblique View of the Lunar Surface
Wall of unnamed crater located on the far side of the moon.
More
Wall of unnamed crater located on the far side of the moon.
Crater On the Far Side
Depicts the dramatic voyage of Apollo 13. The most serious accident to occur in space changed the mission from a routine lunar landing to a desperate fight for crew survival.
More
Documentary on Apollo 13
Apollo 13: Houston, We've Got a Problem
An amazing spacecraft gently settled to the lunar surface on 17 November 1970. It carried the first successful robotic lunar rover -- Lunokhod 1.
More
Black and white image of a rover.
Lunokhod 1
A NASA spacecraft captures images of the moon that verge on cosmic art.
More
A NASA spacecraft captures images of the moon that verge on cosmic art.
Moonscapes
A full moon rising over Launch Complex 34 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on September 16th 2016
More
moon rising over concrete structure
Launch Complex 34
At the end of the last Apollo 15 moon walk, Commander David Scott (pictured above) performed a live demonstration for the television cameras.
More
Video of astronaut on moon demonstrating hammer and feather falling at same rate
The Apollo 15 Hammer-Feather Drop
This is the first footage of one orbiting robotic spacecraft taken by another orbiting robotic spacecraft at Earth's moon. 
More
Video taken from a spacecraft orbiting the moon of another spacecraft orbiting the moon
Spacecraft Observes Another Spacecraft at the Moon
Astronauts: James A. McDivitt, David R. Scott, and Russell L. Schweickart Stresses the testing of the Lunar Module, the spacecraft that will land men on the Moon. Featured are sequences of launch, ...
More
Documentary about Apollo 9
Apollo 9 - Three To Make Ready (1969)

You Might Also Like

Click for more
More
International Observe the Moon Night Celebrates 10 Years of Lunar Engagement
International Observe the Moon Night Celebrates 10 Years of Lunar Engagement
Click for more
More
NASA Asks American Companies to Deliver Supplies for Artemis Moon Missions
NASA Asks American Companies to Deliver Supplies for Artemis Moon Missions
Click for more
More
NASA Marshall to Lead Artemis Program's Human Lunar Lander Development
NASA Marshall to Lead Artemis Program's Human Lunar Lander Development
Click for more
More
Moon Glows Brighter Than Sun in Images From NASA's Fermi
Moon Glows Brighter Than Sun in Images From NASA's Fermi
Click for more
More
NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative Opens Call for Payloads on Artemis 2 Mission
NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative Opens Call for Payloads on Artemis 2 Mission
Click for more
More
The Moon and Mercury May Have Thick Ice Deposits
The Moon and Mercury May Have Thick Ice Deposits