Mining the moon.
With these composite visible-light and ultraviolet images of a 42-kilometer-wide crater crater, circular, bowl-shaped depression on the earth's surface. (For a discussion of lunar craters, see moon.) Simple craters are bowl-shaped with a raised outer rim. Complex craters have a raised central peak surrounded by a trough and a fractured rim. called Aristarchus at the moon's near side, the Hubble Space Telescope Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the first large optical orbiting observatory. Built from 1978 to 1990 at a cost of $1.5 billion, the HST (named for astronomer E. P. Hubble) was expected to provide the clearest view yet obtained of the universe. is mapping the mineral ilmenite ilmenite (ĭl`mĕnīt), black mineral, iron titanium oxide, FeTiO3, crystallizing in the hexagonal system. It is sometimes found as tabular hexagonal crystals but occurs more commonly as small grains in igneous and metamorphic . Also known as iron titanium titanium (tītā`nēəm, tĭ–) [from Titan], metallic chemical element; symbol Ti; at. no. 22; at. wt. 47.88; m.p. 1,675°C;; b.p. 3,260°C;; sp. gr. 4.54 at 20°C;; valence +2, +3, or +4. oxide, it could prove invaluable for generating oxygen for human exploration. The mineral's lunar abundance hasn't been well established. The black-and-white image shows the shape of the crater. In the bottom image, the scientists assigned colors to wavelengths of light or their ratios. They plan to compare Hubble images of the Apollo 15 and 17 landing sites, where ilmenite's abundance has been measured, with the Aristarchus images released this week. The team intends to identity the color that represents ilmenite and refine estimates of its lunar abundance.
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