The pockmarked landscape captured in this image from ESA’s SMART-1 mission is the surface of our Moon. Some of the many craters scattered across the lunar surface are clearly visible, records of the many impacts that have plagued it.
At the very centre of this image is the lunar north pole, captured in detail during ESA’s mission. The image shows the characteristic craters of the Moon, present in all shapes and sizes. The largest in view is Rozhdestvenskiy, sandwiched between Hermite to the northeast and Plaskett to the southwest.
This view was captured during the imaging session which took place bewteen 15:19 and 17:34 CEST (17:19 - 19:34 UT).
SMART-1 was an ESA mission and the first European spacecraft to travel to and orbit around the Moon, launched on 27 September 2003. The mission ended on 3 September 2006 by a controlled lunar impact.
This image is part of a set of more than 100 that have just been re-released under a Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO licence as part of ESA’s Open Access initiative. Read more at
open.esa.int/the-moon-by-smart-1/
Credit: ESA/ Space Exploration Institute,
CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Acknowledgments: J. Manuel Fonseca, M. Costa & A. Mora (UNINOVA); B. Grieger & M. Almeida (ESA),
