Scientifically Zany Maps o' the Moon

This is a mineral map of the moon, generated by the United States Geological Survey. A computer doesn’t just spit out something this psychedelic. I have a feeling that there’s a rather daffy astrogeologist-slash-programmer behind this moon map and I stand to find out exactly who it is!

Here’s a map of a select portion of Ganymede, member of the Galilean moons and the largest moon in our solar system.

My recommendation is to start on the moon page and drill down until you hit a download page. The first box of PDFs in the left-hand column is always a treat and these are vector images so you can zoom right in without needing to break out your eyepiece.

The site also alludes to a future project wherein the moons of Saturn will be given similar treatment, subject to maps gathered by the Cassini mission. (Spotted on Generator.x.)