Over the years there have been numerous try to document the surface of the Moon. However, none have been as complete like the map released by Chinese Academy of Sciences on June 14, 2022.
Compiled by geologists Jianzhong Liu and Ziyuan Ouyang, it displays a scale of 1:2,500,000 million. This means that a centimeter on the map corresponds to 2.5 million centimeters of lunar surface. In comparison, the detailed lunar map released by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in 2020 had a scale of 1:5,000,000.
The recent high-resolution Image was created using 15 years of data collected from China’s ongoing lunar exploration program. Liu and Ouyang also used information from lunar exploration missions conducted by the United States, Japan and India.
The map identifies the accurate locations of every known rock, crater, basin, and lunar structure. This includes 17 rock types, 12,341 craters, 81 impact basins and 14 surface structures. The geological discoveries made at the sampling sites of the historical The 1969-1972 Apollo missions and the landing site of the 2020 Chang’e 5 mission – where the youngest moon rock known to date was found – are also marked.
Researchers believe that the complete the lunar image will be to contribute significantly to scientific research. The card will also be a reliable resource for finding safe landing spots for future lunar missions.
Meanwhile, the European Space Agency (ESA) has focused its efforts on creating “the most accurate comprehensive multidimensional map of the Milky Way”. Released on June 13, 2022, it was compiled from data from Gaia, a space observatory launched in 2013. With its dual optical telescopes, Gaia can map motion, brightnesstemperature and composition billions of stars. The information will give astronomers further knowledge in the evolution of our galaxy. It will also help them better understand the cycle of life of stars.
Resources: Space.com, Forbes.com, Zmesciene.com, Esa.int, Voanews.com
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