Temperatures of the Lacus Mortis Region of the Moon

Abstract

Over 11 years of data acquired by the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment instrument aboard Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter have been compiled into a comprehensive data set of surface temperatures in the Lacus Mortis region which includes the landing ellipse of the Astrobotic Mission One lander mission. These data provide diurnal brightness temperatures at 128 pixels per degree (ppd) spatial resolution and 0.1 hr of local time resolution. From this data set, we highlight several features that display variations in radiative and thermophysical properties in the Lacus Mortis region and characterize the temperatures of the Astrobotic Mission One landing ellipse. We identify distinctly contrasting properties of materials in the walls of Bürg crater, hummocks of materials on the southeast margin of the mare basalts, and materials exposed or excavated by impacts. Additionally, we describe an exceptionally rocky fault scarp that predates the formation of Bürg crater suggesting the observed boulders are replenished on a timescale <1 Ga. Within the Astrobotic landing ellipse, temperatures are observed to range from ∼88 to ∼359 K with sunrise and sunset local times constrained to 5.8–6.3 hr and 17.8 and 18.1 hr respectively.

Extended Silicic Volcanism in the Gruithuisen Region—Revisiting the Composition and Thermophysical Properties of Gruithuisen Domes on the Moon

“…Thus, the H-parameter of coarse-grained regolith and rocks is lower than that of finer-grained regolith (Hayne et al 2017). In addition to published Diviner rock abundance and H-parameter maps, we also generated Diviner temperature maps using the IR channels (3-9) at 0.25 hr local time intervals binned at 128 ppd (as described in Williams et al 2017) and used these gridded data to derive products (e.g., maximum and minimum temperature maps) following the methods of Williams et al (2022). We have then estimated the quartiles value of the temperature maps to understand the distribution of pixels displaying a range of temperatures.…”

“…This will also help unravel the compositions of the domes, narrow down the formation mechanisms of such domes, and improve our understanding of the thermal evolution of the Moon. In addition, temperature variation has also been used to distinguish different terrains on the lunar surface (Williams et al 2022). Herein, we have used the bolometric temperature maps prepared using the day and nighttime measurements to understand the lateral and subsurface variation of the Gruithuisen domes region (Williams et al 2022).…”

“…In addition, temperature variation has also been used to distinguish different terrains on the lunar surface (Williams et al 2022). Herein, we have used the bolometric temperature maps prepared using the day and nighttime measurements to understand the lateral and subsurface variation of the Gruithuisen domes region (Williams et al 2022).…”

Dynamic Secondary Illumination in Permanent Shadows within Artemis III Candidate Landing Regions

“…Analytical studies based on these data sets and associated modeling, e.g., direct solar (primary) illumination maps for the poles (Mazarico et al 2011;Speyerer & Robinson 2013;Gläser et al 2018) and polar seasonal temperature and volatile stability maps (Williams et al 2019;Schorghofer & Williams 2020;Schorghofer et al 2021;Landis et al 2022), have further added to higher-order data sets. Recent A3CLR exploration and morphologic case studies (e.g., Basilevsky et al 2019;Lemelin et al 2021;Bernhardt et al 2022;Boazman et al 2022;Brown et al 2022;Anzalone et al 2023;Kring et al 2023;Williams et al 2023) have used these data sets.…”

High‐Resolution Nighttime Temperature and Rock Abundance Mapping of the Moon Using the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment With a Model for Topographic Removal

“…Since that time, Diviner has collected over 500 billion radiometric measurements. The Diviner data set has been used to create global and regional maps of surface temperature, derived thermophysical properties, and composition (Bandfield et al, 2011;Greenhagen et al, 2010;Hayne et al, 2017;Lucey et al, 2021;Paige, Siegler, et al, 2010;Williams et al, 2017Williams et al, , 2019Williams et al, , 2022. However, the most recently published 128 pixel-per-degree (ppd) global maps (Bandfield et al, 2017;Greenhagen et al, 2011;Hayne et al, 2017) do not use data collected more recently than 2016.…”