Something weird on the moon has the European Space Agency scratching its collective head. Today they released a mosaic from the 32,000 photos taken between 2004-2006 by the SMART-1 satellite mapping our largest, natural satellite.
At the center of this picture is our moon’s north pole. It appears, regardless of the sun’s angle during the moon’s day-night cycle, these areas are in perpetual shadow.
Astronomers can use images like these to identify peaks on the north pole that are almost always lit and areas deep inside its largest craters that may never see daylight. These areas of constant shadow are of particular interest because frozen within them could be water ice and clues to the history of the Solar System.
Or… they might be filled with dark matter.
