High-Def Moon Movies

[3113]

Cool!

Stunning high-definition movies of the Moon's surface have been sent back by a Japanese space probe. Selene, or Kaguya, arrived at the Moon late last year and carries a large HDTV camera to shoot footage as it flies 100km above the lunar surface. The video gives an idea of the vistas seen decades ago by the Apollo astronauts as they approached the Moon.

The very latest footage was unveiled at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, Texas....It includes amazing pictures of "Earth rise" over the lunar horizon and of the "terminator", the boundary between the Moon's day side and night side. "It is quite a spectacular view," said Dr Rie Honda, from Japan's Kochi University, a collaborator on the Selene mission.

Selene consists of one main satellite along with two smaller sub-satellites, named Ouna and Okina. It is designed to carry out a global survey of the Moon, mapping its 3D topography, its gravity and its magnetic field. It is also designed to be a technology demonstrator for the Japanese Space Agency (Jaxa), testing orbital insertion and correction manoeuvres and communications.

Professor Manabu Kato, science manager for the mission, told BBC News the arrival of Selene at the Moon marked a significant step for Japanese space science. "We want to step up our technology and move on to Mars," the Jaxa scientist explained. "We have a near future plan that we will reach Mars by 2020-2025."

Selene carries 14 science instruments in addition to the HDTV camera. They include spectrometers and a multi-band imager to characterise the chemical and mineral composition of the lunar surface. The reasons for the heavy HDTV camera's inclusion on the mission was purely one of "outreach", or education, scientists said.
"The HDTV camera has been developed by Jaxa and Japanese broadcaster NHK. "We have been thinking that HDTV itself is not accurate enough for scientific purposes. But for giving a hint for other scientists of [wide areas], it will be," said Dr Honda.

More here at BBC news.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

For some reason, that isn't the kind of "moon" I was expecting.

 

[3113]

For some reason, that isn't the kind of "moon" I was expecting.

Advertising those would be spam Go make your own

 

[jomar]

Cool. Imagine it at the local IMAX.

 

[rgraham666]

Very cool.