“This is actually a mosaic of about 1300 separate images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s Wide-Angle Camera — the total size is a whopping 24,000 x 24,000 pixels, producing a resolution of about 145 meters/pixel. The full-size version is a monster 550 Mb TIF file (seriously, don’t grab that one unless you need it!), and you can get a more palatable 1400 x 1400 pixel version with labels, too.”

Sounds like a suitable challenge for Zoom.it so I popped it in and was totally blown away with the result.

You can toggle the full screen version at the bottom right and I suggest you do. This is such a cool tool, seriously why aren’t all astronomical pictures displayed this way? From now on every time Phil Plait links to a suitably huge image I know straight where I’m going.

It like the day only its night. Awesome. No Aliens were used in the making of this video, only big bolders of ice and rock and space stuff.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJFejgd9bSE