Southernmost point of the Moon's rotational axis

Lunar south pole

Lunar south pole

The lunar south pole is the southernmost point on the Moon, at 90°S. It is of special interest to scientists because of the occurrence of <a href="/en/Lunar_water" title="Lunar water" class="wl">water ice</a> in <a href="/en/Crater_of_eternal_darkness" title="Crater of eternal darkness" class="mw-redirect wl">permanently shadowed areas</a> around it. The lunar south pole region features craters that are unique in that the near-constant sunlight does not reach their interior. Such craters are <a href="/en/Cold_trap_(astronomy)" title="Cold trap (astronomy)" class="wl">cold traps</a> that contain a fossil record of hydrogen, water ice, and other volatiles dating from the <a href="/en/Formation_and_evolution_of_the_Solar_System" title="Formation and evolution of the Solar System" class="wl">early Solar System</a>.<a href="#cite_note-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;">[1]</a><a href="#cite_note-look-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;">[2]</a> In contrast, the <a href="/en/Lunar_north_pole" title="Lunar north pole" class="wl">lunar north pole</a> region exhibits a much lower quantity of similarly sheltered craters.<a href="#cite_note-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;">[3]</a>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Southernmost point of the Moon's rotational axis</div>

<figure class="mw-default-size mw-halign-right wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:Moon_South_Pole.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Moon_South_Pole.jpg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/90/Moon_South_Pole.jpg/220px-Moon_South_Pole.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="7943" data-file-height="7943" data-file-type="bitmap" height="220" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/90/Moon_South_Pole.jpg/330px-Moon_South_Pole.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/90/Moon_South_Pole.jpg/440px-Moon_South_Pole.jpg 2x" alt="Moon_South_Pole.jpg"></a><figcaption>Lunar south polar region (&gt;70°S): mosaic of ~1500 images taken by the <a href="/en/Clementine_(spacecraft)" title="Clementine (spacecraft)" class="wl">Clementine</a> spacecraft.</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="mw-default-size wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm" class="app_media media-thumb" data-hash="File:4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm"><video poster="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm/220px--4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm.jpg" preload="none" height="124" width="220" resource="./File:4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm" type="video/webm; codecs=&quot;vp8, vorbis&quot;" data-file-width="1920" data-file-height="1080" data-title="Original WebM file, 1,920 × 1,080 (13.28 Mbps)" data-shorttitle="WebM source"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/bd/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm.120p.vp9.webm" type="video/webm; codecs=&quot;vp9, opus&quot;" data-width="214" data-height="120" data-title="Lowest bandwidth VP9 (120P)" data-shorttitle="VP9 120P"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/bd/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm.160p.webm" type="video/webm; codecs=&quot;vp8, vorbis&quot;" data-width="284" data-height="160" data-title="Low bandwidth WebM (160P)" data-shorttitle="WebM 160P"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/bd/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm.180p.vp9.webm" type="video/webm; codecs=&quot;vp9, opus&quot;" data-width="320" data-height="180" data-title="Low bandwidth VP9 (180P)" data-shorttitle="VP9 180P"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/bd/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm.240p.vp9.webm" type="video/webm; codecs=&quot;vp9, opus&quot;" data-width="426" data-height="240" data-title="Small VP9 (240P)" data-shorttitle="VP9 240P"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/bd/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm.240p.webm" type="video/webm; codecs=&quot;vp8, vorbis&quot;" data-width="426" data-height="240" data-title="Small WebM (240P)" data-shorttitle="WebM 240P"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/bd/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm.360p.vp9.webm" type="video/webm; codecs=&quot;vp9, opus&quot;" data-width="640" data-height="360" data-title="VP9 (360P)" data-shorttitle="VP9 360P"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/bd/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm.360p.webm" type="video/webm; codecs=&quot;vp8, vorbis&quot;" data-width="640" data-height="360" data-title="WebM (360P)" data-shorttitle="WebM 360P"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/bd/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm.480p.vp9.webm" type="video/webm; codecs=&quot;vp9, opus&quot;" data-width="854" data-height="480" data-title="SD VP9 (480P)" data-shorttitle="VP9 480P"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/bd/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm.480p.webm" type="video/webm; codecs=&quot;vp8, vorbis&quot;" data-width="854" data-height="480" data-title="SD WebM (480P)" data-shorttitle="WebM 480P"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/bd/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm.720p.vp9.webm" type="video/webm; codecs=&quot;vp9, opus&quot;" data-width="1280" data-height="720" data-title="HD VP9 (720P)" data-shorttitle="VP9 720P"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/bd/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm.720p.webm" type="video/webm; codecs=&quot;vp8, vorbis&quot;" data-width="1280" data-height="720" data-title="HD WebM (720P)" data-shorttitle="WebM 720P"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/bd/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm.1080p.vp9.webm" type="video/webm; codecs=&quot;vp9, opus&quot;" data-width="1920" data-height="1080" data-title="Full HD VP9 (1080P)" data-shorttitle="VP9 1080P"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/bd/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm/4574_LROMoonFrost_MASTER.webm.1080p.webm" type="video/webm; codecs=&quot;vp8, vorbis&quot;" data-width="1920" data-height="1080" data-title="Full HD WebM (1080P)" data-shorttitle="WebM 1080P"></video></a><figcaption>A view of the south pole of the Moon showing where reflectance and temperature data indicate the possible presence of surface water ice.</figcaption></figure>

The lunar south pole is the southernmost point on the Moon, at 90°S. It is of special interest to scientists because of the occurrence of water ice in permanently shadowed areas around it. The lunar south pole region features craters that are unique in that the near-constant sunlight does not reach their interior. Such craters are cold traps that contain a fossil record of hydrogen, water ice, and other volatiles dating from the early Solar System. 