I think any radio telescope kind of thing would be pointer straight up - unless it was to receive from a specific places (like our satellite dishes point towards the satellite transmitting the TV signals)
Astronomers quite often stack their images which may make them less reliable for the very fine detail we need to look at. In this case the image has lots of detail missing in the pure black areas.
It is sad we cannot see from another angle but maybe we can search for other views taken by spacecraft etc.
If ever there is a website which does not have a search feature, then we can always use the major search engines like this. site:{the_site_to _search} {search_phrase_or_directory} example: site:damianpeach.com sinusiridum or site:damianpeach.com lunar/ sinusiridum
The thing is, I am not quite sure if I know how to tell if the images are definitely blacked out in places or just processed for astrology buffs. Looking at a few of his, I suspect they are, but I think it would have to be a very serious and widespread 'conspiracy' for non-space agency images to be doctored and I have a feeling that it would be impractical too. So, on balance, maybe they are OK ?
-- Edited by qmantoo on Thursday 22nd of October 2015 08:28:27 AM
This is interesting. Now if it is what it appears to be, IMO, it would gigantic. The image is from Damian Peach, 2015 Lunar photography collection. I hope these are not NASA sanitized, I don't believe they are.