[Lunar Orbiter III] STARK LUNAR HORIZON NEAR THE TERMINATOR OVER CENTRAL BAY (Large Format) NASA...

[Lunar Orbiter III] STARK LUNAR HORIZON NEAR THE TERMINATOR OVER CENTRAL BAY (Large Format) NASA, February 1967 Printed 1967. Large-format vintage gelatin silver print on fibre-based paper [NASA image LRC III-85M]. Numbered and captioned in black in the lower margin (NASA Langley Research Centre, Hampton, Virginia). 46 x 58 cm. (18 x 23 in.) Historical context One of the rare and striking oblique views of the lunar horizon captured by the Lunar Orbiter spacecraft. This medium-resolution image (Lunar Orbiter frame III-123M) was taken with an 80mm lens from an altitude of 49 km over the forbidding terrain of Central Bay (centre of the Moon's nearside). Latitude: 4.94° N, Longitude: 0.34° W. The spacecraft's low altitude, combined with the high oblique angle and the low Sun elevation near the terminator, enhances the relief's details, showing a spectacular '3D-like' view of the moonscape. In such images, 'people could see the Moon not from overhead, as if through a telescope, but as a wide landscape with a horizon, as if they were flying above it. This was how a pilot would see the Moon.' (Reynolds, p. 57) For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing