Full View of Moon's Orientale Basin: Far Side | NASA Artemis II Mission

Full View of Moon's Orientale Basin: Far Side | NASA Artemis II Mission

In this fully illuminated view of the Moon, the near side (the hemisphere we see from Earth), is visible on the right. It is identifiable by the dark splotches that cover its surface. These are ancient lava flows from a time early in the Moon’s history when it was volcanically active. The large crater west of the lava flows is Orientale basin, a nearly 600-mile-wide crater that straddles the Moon’s near and far sides. Orientale's left half is not visible from Earth, but in this image we have a full view of the crater. Everything to the left of the crater is the far side, the hemisphere we do not get to see from Earth because the Moon rotates on its axis at the same rate that it orbits round us.

The Orientale Basin, located on the far side of the Moon, is a massive, multi-ringed impact structure formed about 3.8 billion years ago during the Late Heavy Bombardment. It is the youngest and best-preserved of the Moon's large impact basins, measuring roughly 950 kilometers (about 590 miles) across. The basin's three concentric rings, formed by a massive asteroid impact, provide critical data on how massive impacts shaped the early solar system. The Orientale Basin is also significant for its gravity anomalies.

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Image Credit: NASA
Date: April 6, 2026

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