Thought the Moon was bone-dry? You thought wrong! A study using the now-retired Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has assembled the first detailed, wide-area map of water distribution on the Moon.  This video shows a visualization of the Moon as it appeared on the date of the SOFIA observations (February 17, 2022), overlaid with the water concentration map. The map covers about one-quarter of the Earth-facing side of the lunar surface below 60 degrees latitude and extends to the Moon’s South Pole. The map reveals higher concentrations of water on the shady poleward sides of craters and peaks far from the South Pole. Where the Moon’s water may be coming from — whether it exists inherently in the Moon’s minerals or is delivered by asteroids, comets, or solar wind — is an important question left open by the SOFIA observations. In late 2024, NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) will land in this region to better understand this distinctio...