Lot no. 132
132. [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)
Pictures credits: Contact organization
Photographs and film
About the sale04/28/2025
Catalog
FOR ALL MANKIND THE ARTISTIC LEGACY OF EARLY SPACE EXPLORATION: Victor Martin-Malburet Collection
75008 Paris - France