China Lands on the Moon, Snaps Incredible Never-Before-Seen High-Definition Images 

If you have ever wanted to observe the surface of Earth's moon in incredible detail, here is your chance, thanks to the Chinese Space Agency, which has successfully managed to land on the moon's surface.

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China has successfully managed to land a space probe on the lunar surface. Thanks to the incredible high-definition images snapped during the mission, you can now explore the surface of Earth’s natural satellite in stunning detail. On the Moon’s surface, China’s Chang’e 3 lander –one of China’s most advanced landers– came across a previously unknown type of moon rock. Along the way, it snapped thousands of photographs. Here is what it saw.

The surface of the Moon was snapped by China’s Chang’e 3 lander. Image Credit: Chang’ e 3 /CNSA/The Planetary Society

The Chang’e 3 lander touched down on the Moon’s surface more than five years ago, but the images weren’t published until 2015. Western media didn’t pick up the stunning high-definition images after their release. In fact, the images would not have made it to the rest of the world if it wasn’t, thanks to the work of Emily Lakdawalla, the Senior Editor and Planetary Evangelist for The Planetary Society. Lakdawalla spent weeks searching through the massive image archive–which has over 45 gigabytes of data—and presenting it all in an easily downloadable manner for the entire world to see.

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Panorama view of the moon's surface. Image Credit: Chang’e 3 /CNSA/The Planetary Society
Panorama view of the Moon’s surface. Image Credit: Chang’ e 3 /CNSA/The Planetary Society

“When it comes to data sharing from China, the situation is pretty good,” says Lakdawalla, who notes that the images’ formats mirror those used by NASA and the European Space Agency. “It would probably be much easier if I could read the language.”

Here is Chang’ e 3 data from the Lander Terrain Camera (TCAM)

Here you can find Chang’ e 3 data: Rover Panoramic Camera (PCAM)

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The moon's surface was photographed in unprecedented detail. Image Credit: Chang’e 3 /CNSA/The Planetary Society
The Moon’s surface was photographed in unprecedented detail. Image Credit: Chang’ e 3 /CNSA/The Planetary Society
The Chinese Space Agency even discovered a new type of lunar rock.
The Chinese Space Agency even discovered a new type of lunar rock. Image Credit: Chang’ e 3 /CNSA/The Planetary Society
Image Credit: Chang’ e 3 /CNSA/The Planetary Society
Have you ever seen a moon ruck up close? Image Credit: Chang’e 3 /CNSA/The Planetary Society
Have you ever seen a moon rock up close? Image Credit: Chang’ e 3 /CNSA/The Planetary Society
What a beautiful view of the Moon’s surface. Image Credit: Chang’ e 3 /CNSA/The Planetary Society
Have you ever seen the lunar terrain up close? Image Credit: Chang’e 3 /CNSA/The Planetary Society
Have you ever seen the lunar terrain up close? Image Credit: Chang’ e 3 /CNSA/The Planetary Society

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Written by Ivan Petricevic

I've been writing passionately about ancient civilizations, history, alien life, and various other subjects for more than eight years. You may have seen me appear on Discovery Channel's What On Earth series, History Channel's Ancient Aliens, and Gaia's Ancient Civilizations among others.

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