HiRISE Spies the Moon
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
HiRISE Spies the Moon

This crescent view of Earth’s Moon in infrared wavelengths comes from a camera test by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on its way to Mars.

The mission’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera took the image on 8 September 2005, while at a distance of about 10 million kilometers (6 million miles) from the Moon. The dark feature on the right is Mare Crisium.

The bottom part of the image shows the Moon within the entire view of the HiRISE camera.



About HiRISE
The HiRISE camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is the most powerful one of its kind ever sent to another planet. Its high resolution allows us to see Mars like never before, and helps other missions choose a safe spot to land for future exploration.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. and is operated by the University of Arizona.