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An eerie view of Earth over a deeply shadowed Moon.JAXA / NHK
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An amazing view of the South Pole's Drygalski crater. It is 4km deep.JAXA / NHK
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Earth rises in the distance.JAXA / NHK
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This view never gets old.JAXA / NHK
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A view of the Moretus and Clavius craters.JAXA / NHK
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A close-up view of the Orientale basin.JAXA / NHK
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The Moon's famous Copernicus crater is seen in the distance.JAXA / NHK
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Getting back to the Moon will require navigating politics on Earth.
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A view of the Marius Hills on the Moon, which average 200 to 500 meters in height.JAXA / NHK
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A view of Mons Rümker, a volcanic formation.JAXA / NHK
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Archimedes crater, a large impact crater, dominates the Moon's horizon.JAXA / NHK
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A crescent Earth.JAXA / NHK
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A view of the South Pole's Aitken basin.JAXA / NHK
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A view of Aitken crater.JAXA / NHK
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A deeply shadowed Humboldt crater.JAXA / NHK
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The Sinus Medii, a relatively small lunar mare.JAXA / NHK
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A view of the Apollo 17 lunar landing site, including the Taurus-Littrow valley.JAXA / NHK
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A sun dappled view of the South Pole.JAXA / NHK
Most people are familiar with the Apollo images of the Moon, showing astronauts at work and play on the lunar surface. But those photos often don't entirely do justice to the Moon's stark beauty, and some of the most amazing images of Earth's companion come not from the surface, but above. Perhaps no spacecraft has better captured this than one launched by Japan nearly a decade ago.
Beginning in October, 2007, Japan's Kaguya spacecraft spent the better part of two years in a polar orbit around the Moon, including passes from as close as 100km. As part of its payload, the spacecraft carried two 2.2 megapixel CCD HDTV color cameras, one a telephoto and one a wide-angle. These cameras returned the first high-definition video of the Moon back to Earth.
The Japanese space agency, JAXA, has previously released some of these photos into the public domain. But now the agency has released the entire dataset, including more than 450 images, the Planetary Society has reported. The newly available images include a number with lens flare, which adds a dynamic touch to the lunar surface.
So maybe you've never seen them before. Or perhaps you've seen some of the more iconic Earth rise images taken by Kaguya. Either way, the Moon can now be seen in its greater glory, as we've assembled some of the best photos in the gallery above, with some basic location information. The full catalog can be found here.
Listing image by JAXA / NHK
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