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You take undoubtedly seen the moon, but have y'all ever seen it up close in glorious 4K resolution? Probably non, but you tin can run across it right now on YouTube. NASA has uploaded a new video, created mostly from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) observations. The video takes you on a tour of several different regions, some of which still present tantalizing mysteries for future exploration.

The LRO has been orbiting the moon since 2009, sending back the highest quality images we've ever had of the lunar surface. The spacecraft'south main imaging device consists of several different cameras, all of which have contributed to the new video. There are ii narrow-angle cameras that tin capture images a 0.v-meter calibration across a 3.1 mile (v kilometers) swath of the surface. The wide-angle photographic camera can capture 100-meter scale images in seven color bands across a 37.2 mile (threescore kilometers) area.

The new 4K video takes you on a virtual tour of some of the most interesting areas of the moon. Information technology might be a lifeless clamper of rock, but that doesn't mean it can't also be fascinating. For example, there'southward the Orientale Basin, a behemothic preserved impact crater the size of Texas. The video includes topographic information from LRO and gravity measurements from the GRAIL spacecraft. The Orientale Basin might be big, but information technology'southward not the biggest crater on the moon. That accolade goes to the Southward Pole-Aitken Bowl featured later in the video. Information technology's hiding over on the dark side of the moon, with a diameter of more than than 1,300 miles (ii,200 kilometers).

On the near side of the moon is a smaller crater called Tycho — it's ane of the virtually famous structures on the moon. You can see the crater structure in phenomenal detail thanks to the LRO data. Information technology's only 100 million years old, so the central summit is still quite visible. There'southward likewise a strange bedrock in the center, the origin of which is withal unknown.

The video also includes high-resolution images of the Apollo 17 landing site in the Taurus-Littrow valley. The resolution is so loftier, you can make out the tracks left past the rover. The lander's platform is still sitting there as well.

The information used to make this video is the same data NASA will rely upon as it plans future lunar surface exploration, perchance including manned missions. NASA has a Tumblr post with details on all the sites covered in the video. In other news, NASA has a Tumblr page. Who knew?