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Japan's Kaguya spacecraft has used high definition photography to capture one of the most spectacular space shots of all time - an 'Earth rise' from lunar orbit.
The Japan Space Agency (JAXA) has been orbiting at an altitude of 100m while testing its systems to map the moon with high-def imagery.
Kaguya has already launched two satellites to assist the mapping project, with one of the modules eventually destined to land on the moon.
The Apollo project was the first mission to take images of Earth rising over the Moon.
The Kaguya's pictures show impressively sharp images of the blue Earth floating in pitch dark space.
They are the first high-definition earth images taken from about 380,000 km away from the Earth.
Image capture, including video was performed by the spaceship's onboard high definition television (HDTV) for space use developed by NHK.
The satellite was confirmed to be in good health through telemetry data received at the Usuda station.
Jaxa explained in a press release: "we use the expression 'Earth-rise', but the Earth-rise is a phenomenon seen only from satellites that travel around the Moon, such as the Kaguya and the Apollo space ship.
"The Earth-rise cannot be observed by a person who is on the Moon as they can always see the Earth at the same position," it said.
- NZ HERALD STAFF
