art002e012702 (April 6, 2026) – Poynting crater and Keeler crater are visible side by side in the lower right portion of this image of the Moon’s far side highlands. Poynting, positioned above, is a large impact crater with a well-defined rim and relatively smooth interior, indicative of material that has settled following the initial impact. Just below it, Keeler crater appears slightly smaller, with a sharply outlined rim and a more textured interior shaped by subsequent impacts and ejecta. Both features lie within the densely cratered far side highlands, preserving a record of ancient impacts that have shaped the lunar surface over billions of years.

The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows dunes of the floor of Keeler Crater in Terra Sirenum. Orbit Number: 9917 Latitude: -60.2955 Longitude: 208.203 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2004-03-09 21:56 http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19751

AS13-60-8635 (April 1970) --- An oblique view of the International Astronomical Union Crater No. 302 on the lunar farside as photographed from the Apollo 13 spacecraft during its pass around the moon. This large crater is located at 162 degrees east longitude and 10 degrees south latitude. The smaller crater, I.A.U. No. 301, is in the foreground. I.A.U. No. 302 has ridges in its center and a smaller crater near its inner edge. This view is looking southeast.

During its close flyby of Saturn's moon Mimas on Aug. 2, 2005, Cassini caught a glimpse of Mimas against the broad expanse of Saturn's rings. The Keeler Gap in the outer A ring, in which Cassini spied a never-before-seen small moon (see PIA06237), is at the upper right. The ancient, almost asteroid-like surface of Mimas is evident in its crater-upon-crater appearance. Even the material which has slumped down into the bottom of some of its craters bears the marks of later impacts. This image was taken through the clear filter of the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera at a distance of 68,000 kilometers (42,500 miles) from Mimas and very near closest approach. The smallest features seen on the moon are about 400 meters wide (440 yards); the Sun-Mimas-Cassini angle is 44 degrees. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06412

The wavemaker moon, Daphnis, is featured in this view, taken as NASA's Cassini spacecraft made one of its ring-grazing passes over the outer edges of Saturn's rings on Jan. 16, 2017. This is the closest view of the small moon obtained yet. Daphnis (5 miles or 8 kilometers across) orbits within the 42-kilometer (26-mile) wide Keeler Gap. Cassini's viewing angle causes the gap to appear narrower than it actually is, due to foreshortening. The little moon's gravity raises waves in the edges of the gap in both the horizontal and vertical directions. Cassini was able to observe the vertical structures in 2009, around the time of Saturn's equinox (see PIA11654). Like a couple of Saturn's other small ring moons, Atlas and Pan, Daphnis appears to have a narrow ridge around its equator and a fairly smooth mantle of material on its surface -- likely an accumulation of fine particles from the rings. A few craters are obvious at this resolution. An additional ridge can be seen further north that runs parallel to the equatorial band. Fine details in the rings are also on display in this image. In particular, a grainy texture is seen in several wide lanes which hints at structures where particles are clumping together. In comparison to the otherwise sharp edges of the Keeler Gap, the wave peak in the gap edge at left has a softened appearance. This is possibly due to the movement of fine ring particles being spread out into the gap following Daphnis' last close approach to that edge on a previous orbit. A faint, narrow tendril of ring material follows just behind Daphnis (to its left). This may have resulted from a moment when Daphnis drew a packet of material out of the ring, and now that packet is spreading itself out. The image was taken in visible (green) light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 17,000 miles (28,000 kilometers) from Daphnis and at a Sun-Daphnis-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 71 degrees. Image scale is 551 feet (168 meters) per pixel. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21056