China Publishes the Most Detailed Map of the Moon Ever Made – Futurism

Who doesn't want to know every nook and cranny of the Moon?Singular Focus

There's now a map of the Moon's surface more detailed than any that came before it.

Published in the journal Science Bulletin, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the country's Institute of Geochemistry, and other organizations compiled known information about the Moon's surface in a recent study that includes this wildly-detailed map of the lunar terrain.

As the study notes, the scale of the map is an incredibly precise 1:2,500,000 scale that highlights all known rocks, craters, basins, and structures on the Moon's surface.

Though this is far from the first lunar map, it is the researchers behind it say it's the most detailed yet. To get there, they sifted through lunar geology data from the better part of the last century to achieve the map's stunning scale, featuring a total of 90 different types of structures highlighted on its color-coded key.

As the researchers note, there are partial maps of the lunar surface that are double the scale of this one (eg, ones that are 1:5,000,000), but this map is the first to date that logs the entire surface of the Moon at such a high scale.

Even as the US, China, and Russia are engaged in a three-way space race amid political tensions, this map which was built using lunar surface data from all three countries and some from others as well serves as a testament to the unifying power of science.

That, and to how freaking far we've come in lunar studies.

READ MORE:The 1:2,500,000-scale geologic map of the global moon [Science Bulletin]

More on the Moon:NASA Says It's a Priority to Investigate Strange Domes on the Moon

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China Publishes the Most Detailed Map of the Moon Ever Made - Futurism