The data consists in 377'367 geolocalised gamma ray counts, obtained by orbital gamma-ray spectroscopy (GRS) and recorded over a period of approximately six months by the Lunar Prospector probe on its lowest orbit. To reduce the size of the data, the latter was moreover binned on a Fibonacci Delaunay tessellation consisting of 14'986 triangular cells with average angular diameter of 1°.
The abundance map is obtained by solving with a primal-dual splitting method a functional penalised Tikhonov problem with l2-ball cost function.
Global distribution map of Thorium (Th) on the surface of the Moon. Abundance of Thorium (Th) reveals past magmatic activity and differentiation, allowing scientists to retrace the Moon’s geologic history.
Zoom in the map by scrolling or pinching. Navigate in the map by clicking and dragging. Compare the features of the maps in the right and left panels by moving the vertical delimiter horizontally.