In Pictures: ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 Relays More Stunning Photographs Capturing Impact Craters On Moon

Indian space agence Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) released a second set of photographs captured by the Chandrayaan-2 currently orbiting the moon on Monday (28 August).

The images capture Moon’s northern areas showing impact craters like Jackson, Mach, Korolev and Mitra. The last one is named after the Indian scientist Sisir Kumar Mitra. The Padma Bhushan awardee is known for his work in radiophysics and on ionsphere.

In another photograph, impact craters such as Sommerfeld and Kirkwood are spotted.

In its release, ISRO stated that the lunar surface was imaged by Terrain Mapping Camera-2 (TMC-2) at an altitude of around 4375 km. The camera also captured Plaskett , Rozhdestvenskiy and Hermite impact craters. Hermite crater is one of the coldest spots in the solar system with temperature close to 25 deg Kelvin.

On 22 August, the ISRO had released first Moon image captured by Chandrayaan-2 taken at a height of about 2650 km from Lunar surface on 21 August, the day it successfully performed the second lunar bound orbit manoeuvre. In the picture, Mare Orientale basin and Apollo craters were seen.

The lander (Vikram) and the rover (Pragyan) are scheduled to soft-land on the near side of the Moon, in the south polar region at a latitude of about 70 degree south on 7 September. A successful soft-landing will make India the fourth country in the world to do so. Moreover, Chandrayaan-2 will be the southernmost lunar landing.