Revealed for the First Time Color Images of the Moon from Clementine Satellite

Press Release - Pegasus Research Consortium -December 15th 2006
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Since the beginning of 1994 until the present, people have been looking at and studying those Lunar Images provided for us by the NAVY from the Clementine Satellite Mission. Many a time it has been asked "Is this all there is? Shouldn't they have been able to take better photos with equipment readily available in the 90's?"

You would think so... all that money spent...

Well as it turns out, they DID! Not only better quality but in full living color!!! And with an available resolution of 0.1 kilometers per pixel. That translates into a mere 100 meters per pixel. You can only imagine the resolution they are keeping to themselves.

Now for the first time released to the web (well almost) members of ATS, through our hard work and research have a front seat view of the new images, and a head start looking for anomalies and wowing your friends with impossible images of the moon, a place once believed to be gray, colorless and lifeless...

Through our work with the John Lear Moon Pictures thread, John and I have had many private emails providing us with a variety of contacts and amazing information. One such source who wishes to remain Anonymous provided me with a link to these color images, and for the past few weeks we have been able to study them in detail. This thread will deal with those findings, the fact that these pictures DO exist, and why are they only being released now.

Here is a sample image from the Farside of the Moon. We named this one "Blue Glass" This image that I post here is 10% of its actual size. This clip simply shows that the color images do indeed exist, and if you think the Mars images are Alien in appearance, wait till you see these...

Yes this is for real... the image is not science fiction art... the images cover the entire moon, Nearside and Farside.

The links I will provide in the next few posts will be done in the full url format so they can be cut and pasted for those who always seem to miss embedded link... Please hold off on posting until you get all three posts... This will take a while to put into the thread.



Continued...

[edit on 15-12-2006 by zorgon]

We are all familiar with the old Clementine Lunar Image Browser and many of you have already seen the new Navy Clementine Images: B&W Mosaics of The Moon.. If so you will be familiar with the image below...



Now here is a small reduced sample of the new images available. You can see in the image below that it IS THE SAME IMAGE, only this is in full color. Since the Clementine Satellite disappeared in 1994 that means these have been hidden from the public all these years.



To get a copy of this image for yourself you can download it here:

ser.sese.asu.edu...

You should be aware that the above image is 25 megs and in .tiff format, so make sure your system can handle it. You will want to view these in a graphics editor program, not in your browser. The image is a full wrap around of the moon, front and back, with the Nearside represented in the center in the above image.

Below is a closer still image of just the Nearside. This one is 64 megs again in .tiff format and its the center of the previous image.



The full image is available here:

ser.sese.asu.edu...

Below is a closer still image of just the Farside. This one is 64 megs again in .tiff format and its the left and right of the previous full image.



The full image is available here:

ser.sese.asu.edu...

The Main page of these images is here;

ser.sese.asu.edu...

You will also find huge versions of these images in .cub format that are zipped to approximately 2.0 Gigabytes in size. If your system can handle it and you can view .cub files by all means download them.

However we have another surprise that we will post on Saturday, after these images have had a chance to be seen by all. Be patients there is A LOT here to see

We have shown clips from these images in a few threads but mostly in the John Lear Moon Pictures thread. That thread will continue to be worked on because of all the information we have to support our contention that there is an active and long standing mining operation in Copernicus Crater. Those that have not yet stopped by please do. The collected images of the Copernicus Crater, the Lick Observatory Photos and these new Clementine images are on display at our website for review. Please enter through the menu page as there is a lot of information needed to understand the images.

The Living Moon

Stay tuned for the next release tomorrow night.



[edit on 15-12-2006 by zorgon]

Excellent work Ron! Glad to see this finally out. Let the hunting continue..

Hmmm I could swear these colour images from Clementine have been around for a while. They're on NASA's World Wind program. The haven't been hidden and as far as I can tell, these colour images taken with the UV/Vis (Ultraviolet/Visible) camera have been around since the year 2000. The colour images were produced/combined from pictures taken with the UV/Vis camera in different wavelengths with it's various colour filters. There are also colour images that have been produced by combining the various images from Clementine's NIR (Near Infrared) camera and those were released in early 2004. Found here.

The images are also not in true colour, they are false colour. If you read the top of this link that you posted here: ser.sese.asu.edu... you'll notice it says...

Colors are formed by displaying the 950 nm mosaic in red, the 750 nm mosaic in green, and the 415 nm mosaic in blue.

950nm and 750nm are both in the near infra red range and 415nm is in the indigo/violet range. When combined these images do not form a true colour image. They've probably been adjusted to form an approximate natural colour, but only so much can be done. That's why some areas are blue. It's not the true colour. This is to help scientists to see the various elements and what not on the lunar surface. Just like in the Mars false colour images.

[edit on 15-12-2006 by jra]

Originally posted by jra They're on NASA's World Wind program. The haven't been hidden and as far as I can tell, these colour images taken with the UV/Vis (Ultraviolet/Visible) camera have been around since the year 2000.

Well, actually, this is where we started to take off from. But if you are a fan of Doyle's work, I seem to recall a Sherlock Holmes story where a certain letter was hidden in plain sight. If it wasn't for a concerted effort, I doubt that we would ever have found them.

The images are also not in true colour, they are false colour.

I had a nagging suspicion about this. I warned Z too, but in the hurry to get the goods out he may have forgotten.

It's not the true colour. This is to help scientists to see the various elements and what not on the lunar surface. Just like in the Mars false colour images.

"True blue", eh? I concurr with your findings. But in the meantime I'll just pretend I have eyes that can see in those bands.

[edit on 15-12-2006 by jra]

Oops No coffee yet

[edit on 15-12-2006 by zorgon]

Originally posted by jra
The images are also not in true colour, they are false colour. If you read the top of this link that you posted here: ser.sese.asu.edu... you'll notice it says...

Colors are formed by displaying the 950 nm mosaic in red, the 750 nm mosaic in green, and the 415 nm mosaic in blue.

Now as I recall, [and looking back at my post above confirm] I do not see the words "TRUE COLOR" anywhere in my post. If you read it I said FULL LIVING COLOR and looking at the closeup images they look pretty lively to me.

So your saying they mix red, green and blue light together and make an approximation of true color?

There are a variety of sets of primary colors; yet,the most common set of primary colors is red (R), green (G) and blue (B). When red, green and blue light are mixed or added together with the proper intensity, white (W) light is obtained. This is often represented by the equation below:

R + G + B = W

In fact, the mixing together (or addition) of two or three these three primary colors of light with varying degrees of intensity can produce a wide range of other colors. For this reason, television sets and computer monitors produce the range of colors on the monitor by the use of of red, green and blue light-emitting phosphors.

SOURCE - BASIC PHYSICS CLASS

Now since these images were sent to me I did search and found a few other references to these images now knowing the search parameters made it easy.

But at Matyas said "hidden in plain sight" This is the reason I am putting the links out now to share with everyone. All over the web peoples searching for answers and anomalies etc are still using the old blurry Clementine images, yet as you say these color images appear to have been available for some time...

Part two of our "program" will be posted tonight after midnight. But we wanted to let people here absorb these images first. Truthfully I find it odd that there hasn't been a lot of fuss made about these images considering the quality.

As to the color issue...

Here is a clip of Aristarchus from the Clementine Nearside.tiff



Pretty Blue Plasma Glow

Now here is a clipping taken from an image that was shot from Earth using a 10" telescope, also of Aristarchus Crater [the image below has been rotated 90 degrees so North is on the left to better show the details.]

Scope
Skywatcher 250px 10" reflector.
Imaging setup:
SC1 modded Toucam pro 2.
Filters/reducers:
Atik IR Block Filter (1.25")
Astronomik L-RGB type II (2")
Astronomik CLS Filter (1.25")



Same Pretty Blue Plasma Glow

Now comparing the two images, perhaps an expert can tell me why a 10 inch scope under poor conditions in the UK can give me detail as good as the satellite? [True I do know that there is even closer images from Clementine but the current tiffs is what we are comparing right ow]

The point is both images show the blue glow... and I have documents that discuss this glow from JPL in 1961 and again from the Apollo 11 mission logs as they fly above it. [coming soon]

One more question that has been really nagging at me... why do the big scopes on Earth not have good moon images? The ones from the Lick Observatory 36" Scope that John Lear posted in theJohn Lear Moon Pictures Thread are among the best out there and yet the 10" scope image is MUCH better quality.

I wrote a letter to the directory of the 200" Mt Palomar Observatory to ask why they do not have such images. Here is his answer.

Hi Ron,

I haven't seen any images of the Moon from Palomar either. It is possible that some were taken long ago, but astronomers would rather explore the Moon with spacecraft and use the big telescopes for observing much, much fainter objects.

Clear skies,

- Scott

W. Scott Kardel
Public Affairs Coordinator, Palomar Observatory
Telephone: (760) 742-2111
E-mail: [email protected]
WWW:www.palomar-observatory.org
Office hours: usually 7:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday

Ok so that means the only source we have is NASA

:shk:


[edit on 15-12-2006 by zorgon]

This wonderful little presentation was discovered by UNDO...

While we are exploring space during the Holidays, I thought this would be a wonderful time to present this...

Click on Earth ... Then "Cosmic Debris"
"CHRISTMAS BELLS"

Click on Jupiter ... Then On "Ganymede's Magnetosphere"
"ET PHONED HOME"


T'was the week before Christmas...
when all throughout space...
Not a creature was stirring
Not one little race...


THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES



Comments on Ganymede would be welcome

oops forgot you need to listen to ALL 4 minutes of Ganymede... the interesting part is near the end... and why I gave it the name I did


[edit on 15-12-2006 by zorgon]

thanks for those spacesounds, I've never heard anything quite like that before.

that end of that recording does sound a very freaky and little wierd in comparison to the sounds heard in the early part of the recording.

Interesting. One is listed as false color, the other is listed as albedo (natural color). so, does this mean the albedo (natural color) is really not natural color, even though it says it is ?

Hey does worldwind do what i think it does? for free? that's extra groovy cool. *downloads it with a big cheese eatin' grin on her face*

okay, now that's very cool. you get the moon, the sky and mars. about to see just what this does and how well it does it.

My report so far:

Oceanus Procellarum has been blacked out. gone are Reiner Crater, Reiner Gamma, the spider crater, the two glowing gold ships, the myriad spots of light, the oscar formation, etc. However, the glass dome and its accompanying smaller dome to the west, are still there. the "eye" on the glass dome looks more like a sunburst from a crater impact. copernicus is about the same.

If you click the 40xx on the top of the window, it zooms in Clementine 40xx. Then you can see reiner and the spider, but its overlaid in grey, so it's hard to make out what you're seeing. The glowing stream of light that intersects Reiner Gamma in its upper section, is visible but hard to differentiate from the lower portion of gamma in that milky color. none of the internal detail is visible

Tried it again to confirm this, and they've left out alot of the 40xx detail when the map is in color. clicking on reiner results in nothing but the word reiner in a sea of black.

So no, this worldwind is great, but it could definitely be better, as you miss a great deal of detail if it isn't in color. it's as if they've put a grey veil over it in the 40xx




[edit on 15-12-2006 by undo]

I may be wrong, I am not a geologist, but hubble took also a picture of aristarchus region, and it looks like an ordinary crater.

imgsrc.hubblesite.org...

False color pictures are really hard to judge. In this picture the suroundings are more of a red color:

photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov...

But anyway it s a interesting thread.

loofo,

ooo, thanks! i hadn't seen that one yet. it IS a crater, but it certainly is not ordinary. that's a detail you miss when the pic is gray scale. false color and albedo color are two different things. show me an albedo (natural color) of it, then we'll talk.

[edit on 15-12-2006 by undo]

Originally posted by zorgon
So your saying they mix red, green and blue light together and make an approximation of true color?

Not exactly. What I'm saying is that they took the three of the image and they put the 950nm infrared in the red channel, the 750nm infrared in the green channel and then the 415nm indigo/violet image in the blue channel. I'm not sure if any further adjusting is needed after that. I don't know where to find the raw images to test out myself.

Originally posted by undo
Interesting. One is listed as false color, the other is listed as albedo (natural color). so, does this mean the albedo (natural color) is really not natural color, even though it says it is ?

Yeah I found that confusing myself. From what I remember reading on another site on Clementine, they said the natural colour was "stretched" to bring out colours we wouldn't normally see or something like that.

Originally posted by looofo
I may be wrong, I am not a geologist, but hubble took also a picture of aristarchus region, and it looks like an ordinary crater.

WOWSERS That's a Hubble Image??? Thanks for that! I don't believe what I am seeing... I am going to check my glasses and report back....

This is amazing

False color images have there uses when comparing, but one thing you do need to understand is that the picture of Aristarchus from the 10" telescope posted above...

IS NATURAL COLOR taken with a webcam attached to a 10 inch telescope here on Earth in the UK and the color MATCHES the clip from the Clementine image, though a little less intense as it was taken through Earths atmosphere!!

Ergo an independent observation from an independent source

As to the "Albedo" VS "UVVIS" images that will be in the next Press Release at midnight tonight...I have a very interesting presentation so a little patience all will be revealed. [Takes a LOT of time to put all this data together]


And I am sure I can clear up your confusion JRA... in fact VERY sure!

Just one question...
Do you now or have you ever worked for NASA's imaging team?

[edit on 15-12-2006 by zorgon]

Great work. Now if I can spend more time on the site searching for stuff then working or out with the girls I would be alright....hold on a sec, the girls are too much fun to stay away from....

jra,

Hrm, that's interesting, too. i turned off stretch, kept it on albedo (natural color) and still ended up with a glowing bluish aristarchus. you have an option of stretch, auto stretch or no stretch.

the whole planet is blues and golds, with the occassional black, white, gray, yellow and bronze.



Eerrr actually, you can have stretch none, stretch auto, stretch guassian, stretch minmax and stretch equalizer. i had it on auto before, but put it to none, and the only thing that changed was the blues were not quite as saturated but they are still unmistakably blue and in many cases, brilliant blue.

[edit on 15-12-2006 by undo]

Originally posted by looofo...and it looks like an ordinary crater.

There doesn't seem to be anything ordinary about it....it's just too bright.

Hidden or not, I think that they are beautiful pictures Great work finding them. I never knew that the moon had blue hues in it. Facinating.

Originally posted by Matyas

There doesn't seem to be anything ordinary about it....it's just too bright.

Ummm does ordinary allow for changes in luminosity? I wonder what Armstrong meant when he described the surrounding area as "fluorescent" while he was looking down at it... with the sun behind the moon?

Hmmmm will have to look into that some more

Originally posted by whatukno
Hidden or not, I think that they are beautiful pictures

Great work finding them. I never knew that the moon had blue hues in it. Facinating.

LOL well pardner ya ain't seen nuttin yet!

Tune back in at midnight... thats when the fun begins...

Originally posted by NJ Mooch
Great work. Now if I can spend more time on the site searching for stuff then working or out with the girls I would be alright....hold on a sec, the girls are too much fun to stay away from....

Well maybe you can do it on company time? I don't think you can take the girls into the mountain