Japan’s Kaguya probe was launched in late 2007. It’s official name was Selenological and Engineering Explorer (SELENE) and it was produced by the the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) with the aim of studying the origins and geologic evolution of the moon as well as to obtain pictures and other information about the moon’s surface. The orbiter’s nickname, “Kaguya”, which was selected by the general public, derives from the name of a lunar princess in the ancient Japanese folktale The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.
Kaguya s HD camera took this picture of the Moon’s surface just before impact
I blogged about Kaguya’s launch as well ass the amazing high definition pictures of earth sent back by the probe. Kaguya slammed into the moon on June 10th ofter successfully completing it’s mission, it was a controlled crash observable from earth. Check out an illustration of Kaguya below.
Information sources and further reading
Japan moon probe’s final moments revealed
Kaguya’s final images before crash
Sayonara to lunar orbiter Kaguya
Japan’s Kaguya lunar probe slams into the moon
Earth’s Diamond Ring
[embarassed]
I would have liked to have seen that controlled crash. That would have been cool.
lets hope the video from the cam gets released some time in the future
I wonder if that could have been seen with the naked eye (if it was on the light side of the moon).
Interesting post , I am going to spend more time researching this subject