Peak of Eternal Light - On The Moon

On The Moon

From 2005 to 2006 the ESA SMART-1 spacecraft made a systematic search of the lunar poles to more concisely identify sites receiving eternal light. The orbiting craft monitored the lighting at the poles and looked for seasonal variations, in order to attempt to confirm that they remained illuminated during their lunar winter. Confirmed sites may serve as targets for future landing craft that will utilize the steady lighting and temperature conditions for long-duration missions.

Peaks of eternal light on the Moon would not be perfectly "eternal", since sunlight would still be cut off occasionally by Earth's shadow during a lunar eclipse (which can last up to 6 hours). The term "peak of eternal light" for the Moon is commonly used in the technical literature and newspaper articles as a popularization and is surprisingly applied even though the duration of illumination is not permanent, excluding the lunar eclipses. No lunar peaks with eternal light have been found and none seem likely based on the use of radar digital elevation model simulations.