This false-color mosaic was constructed from a series of 53 images taken through three spectral
filters by Galileo's imaging system as the spacecraft flew over the northern regions of the Moon
on December 7, 1992. The part of the Moon vlsible from Earth is on the left side in this view. The
color mosaic shows compositional variations in parts of the Moon's northern hemisphere. Bright
pinkish areas are highlands materials, such as those surrounding the oval lava-filled Crisium
impact basin toward the bottom of the picture. B1ue to orange shades indicate volcanic lava
flows. To the left of Crisium, the dark blue Mare Tranquillitatis is richer in titanium than the green
and orange maria above it. Thin mineral-rich soils associated with relatively recent impacts are
represented by light blue colors; the youngest craters have prominent blue rays extending from
them. The Galileo project, whose primary mission is the exploration of the Jupiter system in
1995-97, is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications by the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory.
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