Chinese researchers have created the most detailed geologic map of the entire lunar surface yet, achieving a 1 to 2,500,000 scale.
A study on the moon map titled "The 1:2,500,000-scale geologic map of the global moon" has been accepted for publication in the journal Science Bulletin.
Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other institutions have created the largest and most detailed map of the lunar surface yet. One of the many previous geologic maps of the lunar surface stitches together six individual 1:5,000,000 scale maps to cover the Moon's surface. However, knowledge of the lunar surface has expanded significantly since its creation.
The researchers created a geologic map with a 1:2,500,000 scale, doubling the resolution. They achieved this by subdividing the Moon into 30 quadrangles which could be individually mapped with a consistent approach. Previously, many of the geologic maps of the Moon compiled by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) were created by different groups at different times and with different standards, which led to inconsistencies and confusion.
The new map incorporates data from the nearly twenty spacecraft sent to the Moon by nations worldwide since the 1990s. The resolution of the datasets from these missions limited the scale the researchers could achieve with the new map, but the result is still very impressive.
Download the high Resolution image from here.