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LCROSS impact animation infrared view from shepherd spacecraft

LCROSS impact animation infrared view from shepherd spacecraft
LCROSS impact animation infrared view from shepherd spacecraft Twelve screen caps taken from NASA TV over a period of 42 minutes chronicle the journey of LCROSS to meet the Moon, as seen through its infrared camera. The first nine frames are spaced on average about 4 minutes apart. The last few frames come from the final seconds before impact. The thermal infrared camera images are false color, with cooler areas in blue and warmer in red. The spectrum keeps adjusting to completely cover the range of temperatures visible in the image. In the first frame, there is a range of 460 different pixel values. In the final frame, the range covers only 32 pixel values, which is why it appears noisier. NASA / GSFC / animation by Emily Lakdawalla