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Linear Gravity Anomalies

Dec. 5, 2012
These maps of the near and far side of the moon show the gravity gradients as measured by NASA's GRAIL mission, highlighting a population of linear gravity anomalies.

These maps of the near and far side of the moon show the gravity gradients as measured by NASA's GRAIL mission, highlighting a population of linear gravity anomalies. The linear gravity anomalies are long blue streaks in the gradient maps. At least 22 anomalies with a combined length of more than 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) have been identified, with individual features having lengths up to and exceeding 300 miles (500 kilometers).

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., manages the GRAIL mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, is home to the mission's principal investigator, Maria Zuber. GRAIL is part of the Discovery Program managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft. The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.

For more information about GRAIL, please visit http://grail.nasa.gov.

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