Celestia Forums

You can actually see Mare Orientale on those dates:

January 29, 30, 31, February 1, 2
February 27, 28, March 1, 2

http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/moon/article_723_1.asp

They didn't need to go up there to see its structure. They knew about the rings from projecting pictures taken from Earth onto a sphere.

Not entirely off-topic, new Smart 1 pictures.

http://www.esa.int/export/SPECIALS/SMAR ... l#subhead3

Am I the only one that has problems seeing those craters as raised bumbs? And the central peak looks like its indented..... I suppose its trickery of light but it sure is hard for my brain to view them as craters instead of raised bumps. In other words everyone is inverted to me as what it really is. I have problems with some mars' images too.

Edit: I'm reffering to the smart 1 images.

Am I the only one that has problems seeing those craters as raised bumbs?

That's a common phenomenon that everybody experiences.
The reason is, that the eye is used to imagine light coming from (left/right/center) above the picture. If the light is coming from below the picture you'll see holes as bumps. It helps if you turn the pic by 180 degrees or make yourself aware that the light source is below the picture.

maxim