Map of the Moon's North Pole

Where the Sun Never Shines
Because the Moon's axis is tilted only slightly, the angle of the Sun's rays does not change much, so the Moon has no seasons. These maps of the north (previous slide) and south (this slide) poles, where the sunlight angle is lowest, were created from thousands of images taken throughout a lunar year. They show what percent of a year each area of the map is sunlit. Low areas in permanent shadow appear black, while some peaks on nearby crater rims are sunlit most of the time. These areas of permanent shadow are very cold and may be where water ice has collected.

Camera: NAC