May 3, 2008
Hopeful
image by Enrique Luque Cervigón, Madrid, Spain
I had thought that with two spacecraft in orbit around the Moon that there would always be images for LPOD. But Selene and Chang'e have apparently disappeared down the same information black hole as SMART-1. Fortunately, Enrique sent a magical image to help us wish for more data from China and Japan, and various backyards across Europe, Asia, Australia and the US. This image from the top of a large mountain called Morcuera (1800 meters) shows four rocky worlds: the crescent Moon, dazzling Venus cloaked by clouds, skittish Mercury in the middle, and life-rich Earth all around. This will do for tonight.
Chuck Wood
Technical Details
February 05, 2008 just before the sunrise; Pentax istDL with a 125mm lens at f/5.6, ISO-400 and 1.6sec exposure
Related Links
Enrique's website
Yesterday's LPOD: I'm Going To the Moon
Tomorrow's LPOD: Is This Yours?
COMMENTS
(1) Chang'e officials revealed that the orbiter has been flying on its side for the past three months. Since it cannot take images at this position, the camera has been turned off. But they say the orbiter should return to its working position this month. Hopefully, new images will be released soon.
--Cindy
(2) Cindy - Thanks for this information. Was it a problem or planned that it is on its side? I hope they get it back to nominal working mode - it was doing good work.
--Chuck
COMMENTS?
Register, Log in, and join in the comments.
