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Comparing two Lunar images using MoonDiff. A new impact crater is visible in the right-hand image.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA needs your help spotting changes on the surface of Earth's nearest neighbor – the Moon! Join MoonDiff, our newest volunteer science project, and help scientists learn about the Moon’s dynamic surface.
“You might be surprised how much goes on over there!” said project PI Aaron Curtis. “Rocks from space collide with the Moon several times a month, and spacecraft land and sometimes crash. There are landslides and maybe even geological processes we don't know about yet.”
Luckily, orbiting spacecraft have been photographing the surface since the 1960s, so we can compare images of the same region of the Moon taken in different years. MoonDiff allows you to compare images from NASA’s Lunar Orbiter (1967) with those from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (2009-present). You’ll “comb” the surface in search of new craters to explore what meteorite impacts on the Moon are like and measure how often they happen. You might also spot historical objects, like the missing ascent stage of the Apollo 11 lunar lander.
Sign up at https://trek.nasa.gov/moondiff and get combing!
NASA’s Citizen Science Program:
Learn about NASA citizen science projects