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Emily Lakdawalla • Dec 13, 2007

New images from Chang'e 1

A website called clep.org.cn has been posting new images and data from Chang'e 1 every couple of days. Because it's pretty hard to get these things to show up on Google searches, I have now made a page that will (hopefully) maintain a (reasonably) up-to-date catalog of Chang'e releases:Images and Data from Chang'e 1

I am hoping that some of you who are reading from China will be able to point me to higher-resolution versions of these images, because the ones that are on clep.org.cn are much lower-resolution than Chang'e 1 is capable of, and also because the website unfortunately puts HUGE watermarks across all the images. Still, they're better than nothing. I've done my best to decipher caption information using the Google translator; please don't hesitate to send an email if I've made some translation errors.

Chang'e 1 image and DEM for Alphonsus area

CNSA / clep.org.cn

Chang'e 1 image and DEM for Alphonsus area
This Chang'e image shows the area around the crater Alphonsus near the center of the lunar nearside. It spans from 0.8 to 6.9°E and from 2.7 to 20.5°S, covering an area about 234 by 543 kilometers in size. Named craters visible include, from the top, Herschel (40 kilometers diameter); flat-floored Ptolemaeus (164 km); Alphonsus (108 km); slightly to the left, Alpetragius (39 km); and Arzachel (96 km). For comparison, view Lunar Orbiter images IV-108-H2 and IV-108-H3.

Here's another three-image set from the far side:

Chang'e 1 image and DEM from the farside

CNSA / clep.org.cn

Chang'e 1 image and DEM from the farside
This area of the lunar farside has many small, overlapping impact craters. Chang'e 1's ability to acquire 3-D images can reveal craters that are not directly visible in photographs; one such crater, 52 kilometers in diameter, is visible as a blue hole in this image from the lunar farside. The crater is centered at 9.8°S, 138.8 °W.

Finally, one nice reader did point me to a very high-resolution version of the 3D view of the first image released by Chang'e 1. Enjoy!

3D view of Chang'e 1's first image

CNSA / clep.org.cn

3D view of Chang'e 1's first image
Chang'e's camera simultaneously shoots three images along the spacecraft's track. The multiple look angles allow the calculation of digital elevation models of the lunar terrain. This is a perspective view of the first image released by the Chang'e 1 mission.

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