A gravity map of the Moon

Gravity isn't uniform. Denser planets and objects in space — that is, things with more mass to them — experience a stronger pull of gravity. But even if you zoom in to the level of a single planet (or, in this case, our Moon), gravity isn't uniform all the way around. That's because the mass of the Moon isn't uniform, either. It varies, along with the topography. In some places, the Moon's crust is thicker. Those places have more mass, and thus, more gravitational pull.

This map, showing changes in density and gravity across the surface of the Moon, was made from data collected by Ebb and Flow — a matched set of NASA probes that mapped the Moon's gravitational field before being intentionally crashed on its surface last December. By measuring the gravitational field, these probes told us a lot about how the density of the Moon varies which, in turn, tells us a lot about topography.

You can read more about the probes (and see some videos they took of the lunar surface) at the NASA Visualization Explorer.

Maggie Koerth-Baker is the science editor at BoingBoing.net. She writes a monthly column for The New York Times Magazine and is the author of Before the Lights Go Out, a book about electricity, infrastructure, and the future of energy. You can find Maggie on Twitter and Facebook.

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MORE: gravity • moon • NASA • robots • Science • Space

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jeaguilar

Were there any powerful magnetic anomalies detected?
- euansmith
  
  I think there is one near Tycho.
euansmith

Wow – its the day the Moon turned day-glo, you know?
http://www.facebook.com/postelwait Cameron Postelwait

the moon as a giant jaw breaker!
oasisob1

“NASA probes that mapped the Moon’s gravitational field before being intentionally crashed on its surface last December.”
Thereby rendering the newly created maps obsolete.
bill_mcgonigle

What’s the scale? The image on the NASA site has no legend either. The gradient could be anywhere from a millionth to a tenth for all we know.
- http://twitter.com/digitalArtform Joseph Francis
  
  Blue areas are 1/6 G. Yellow areas are -1/64 G (slight anti-gravity) and in the red areas you get free refills on coffee, but it’s not very good.
- Grahamers2002
  
  1 moon = 1 moon
Brent Kirkham

Gravity! “How does that work?”
That’s not gravity, it’s acne. Ask any teenager.
Grahamers2002

My father was a navigator on the earliest nuclear subs. They had to constantly calibrate their clocks and computers for where there were on the Earth because when you pass near certain mineral deposits in the ocean floor, you experience minor gravity fluctuations that can affect even the way time passes as measured by atomic clocks.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Bruce-Miller/100000952005408 Bruce Miller

No cancer cures up there? Pity.