June 1, 1996
Long before your first heartbeat, stars were busy forging the elements you would one day call your own.
The Iron Moon
Birthday · June 1, 1996
A little universe, just for you
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APOD published June 1, 1996. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
In March and April of 1994 the unmanned Clementine spacecraft demonstrated the technique of prospecting on the Moon from lunar orbit. To accomplish this, Clementine turned an array of cameras sensitive to ultraviolet-visible and near-infrared light toward the lunar surface, producing the first broad-spectrum global imaging of the moon. Using this data, scientists were able to create the above map showing the concentration of iron in the lunar soils. The striking difference between the near (left) and farside (right) hemisphere's offers clues about the Moon's early history.