image via Lunar and Planetary Institute and G. Bacon (STScI)

A citizen science project around classifying high resolution images of craters and various parts of the lunar surface taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) via the Planetary Data System (PDS). From billion-year-old volcanic eruptions and curving lava channels to recent asteroid impacts, the images you classify will help advance lunar science – providing new insights into the geological history of the Moon. Your help is also needed in identifying which parts of the Moon are covered with boulders so as to create lunar landing hazard maps for future spacecraft and human exploration missions. Of course, in exploring the lunar surface, who knows what else you might find – the hope is that Moon Zoo will lead to the discovery of many unusual features.

Craters on the lunar surface stay almost until eternity due to the lack of weather-based erosion, thus the number of craters on a surface area tells how old it is.  This technique is used all over the Solar System, but the Moon is particularly important because of a ground truth — samples brought back by the Apollo missions — which allow for calibrating any estimates. You can see examples of these types of things on the tutorial page.

Project owners + coordinators:
Moon Zoo team, team@moonzoo.org