NASA’s Lucy spacecraft snaps amazing close-up photo of the moon

While in orbit between the Moon and Earth, the Lucy spacecraft took fresh high-resolution photographs of the lunar surface in the region known as the Central Highlands. In the picture, you can see a region of the moon that is 800 miles (1,200 km) broad and located towards the moon's centre. 

On October 16, 2022, between 7.5 and 8 hours after the first of three gravity aids from Earth, the Lucy spacecraft photographed this mosaic of the Moon's surface. The spacecraft came as near to Earth as 224 miles (360 km) during the flyby, which is lower than the orbit of the International Space Station. When these pictures were obtained, Lucy was around a median of 140,000 miles (230,000 km) from the Moon.

The mosaic was captured by Lucy as she travelled between the Earth and the Moon, providing an angle common to viewers on Earth, with its focal point located at the terminator of the final quarter moon. Viewers may see the ancient, lava-filled impact basin Mare Imbrium towards the top of the mosaic and the cratered, craggy Southern Highlands near the bottom. Near the mosaic's left border, the brilliant, recently formed crater Copernicus stands out.

Five individual 1-millisecond shots were combined to create this mosaic of the Southern Highlands of the Moon. Both the bright, new crater Copernicus and the older, lava-filled basin Mare Imbrium may be seen in this view.

The Mare Imbrium, as seen in a single picture captured by Lucy, spans around 600 miles over the Moon's surface. According to NASA, Apollo 15 landed in the Apennine Mountains, which are located on the edge of the Imbrium basin, in 1971.

Quite a journey. And we’re just getting started. 

The #LucyMission spacecraft, built by us in Colorado, captured this stunning photo of the Moon only eight hours after its Earth-gravity assist on Oct 16. Lucy will be back for its second of three EGAs in late 2024.

@NASA pic.twitter.com/uqHyWLG5pg

— Lockheed Martin Space (@LMSpace) October 26, 2022

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A single frame snapshot of the Lunar Central Highlands was also acquired, the space agency stated in a statement, and it consists of 10 discrete, 2-millisecond exposures covering a stretch of terrain 800 miles wide near the centre of the last quarter moon.

According to NASA, Lucy will be the first spacecraft ever sent to the Jupiter Trojan asteroids. Those asteroids both precede and trail Jupiter as it travels around the sun.