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NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Views the Moon

A close-up image of the Moon's surface, which fades from smooth gray at the left, to craggy craters and black shadow at the right.
NASA’s Lucy spacecraft captured images of the Moon’s surface on Oct 16, 2022, after flying by the Earth for its first of three gravity assists.

Single Frame of the Lunar Central Highlands

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft captured this image of the Moon’s surface on Oct 16, 2022, about 6.5 hours after it flew by the Earth for its first of three gravity assists. The image was taken while Lucy was between the Earth and the Moon, approximately 160,000 miles (260,000 km) from the Moon, so it shows shows a perspective familiar to Earth-based observers. The image is of a 800 mile (1200 km) wide patch near the center of the last quarter moon. Many familiar craters are visible, including the relatively fresh crater Arzachel just left of center. The prominent fault scarp called the Straight Wall is visible cutting across the lava plains to the lower left of center.

The image, which is made by combining ten separate 2 millisecond exposures of the same scene to maximize image quality, has been sharpened. Each pixel represents approximately 0.8 miles (1.3 km).

This image was taken with L’LORRI (Lucy LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager), Lucy’s high resolution greyscale imager. L’LORRI was provided and operated by Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.

Credit: NASA/Goddard/SwRI/JHU-APL/Tod R. Lauer (NOIRLab)

A mosaic of three images showing a strip of the Moon's surface. The bottom is peppered with craters and it fades to smooth gray at the top.

Terminator Mosaic

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft captured this mosaic of the Moon’s surface on Oct 16, 2022, between 7.5 and 8 hours after it flew by the Earth for its first of three gravity assists. At its closest approach, the flyby took the spacecraft within 224 miles (360 km) of the Earth, passing below the altitude of the international space station. Lucy was an average of approximately 140,000 miles (230,000 km) from the Moon when these images were taken.

The mosaic was taken while Lucy was between the Earth and the Moon, so it shows a perspective familiar to Earth-based observers, centered near the terminator of the last quarter moon. The view includes the rugged, heavily cratered, Southern Highlands near the bottom of the mosaic, and the ancient, lava-filled impact basin Mare Imbrium near the top. The bright, fresh crater Copernicus is conspicuous near the left edge of the mosaic.

This mosaic, which is made from 5 separate 1 millisecond exposures, has been sharpened. Note that the image covering the uppermost portion of the edge of the moon was taken at an earlier time, resulting in a small mismatch in the images there. Each pixel represents approximately 0.7 miles (1.2 km).

This mosaic was taken with L’LORRI (Lucy LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager), Lucy’s high resolution greyscale imager. L’LORRI was provided and operated by Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.

Credit: NASA/Goddard/SwRI/JHU-APL/Tod R. Lauer (NOIRLab)

A close-up shot of the Moon's surface, with craters and craggy mountains curving across the right side of the image, which fades to black.

Single Frame of Mare Imbrium

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft captured this image of the Moon’s surface on Oct 16, 2022, about 8 hours after it flew by the Earth for its first of three gravity assists. The image was taken while Lucy was between the Earth and the Moon, so it shows a perspective familiar to Earth-based observers. The image shows a roughly 600 mile (1000 km) wide swath of lunar terrain, dominated by the ancient, lava-filled impact basin Mare Imbrium. The Apennine Mountains, part of the Imbrium basin rim, which were the landing site for the Apollo 15 mission in 1971, dominate the lower-right portion of the image. Lucy was approximately 140,000 miles (230,000 km) from the Moon when the image was taken.

The image, which is a single 1 millisecond exposure, has been sharpened. Each pixel represents approximately 0.7 miles (1.1 km).

This image was taken with L’LORRI (Lucy LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager), Lucy’s high resolution greyscale imager. L’LORRI was provided and operated by Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.

Credit: NASA/Goddard/SwRI/JHU-APL/Tod R. Lauer (NOIRLab)

Lucy will be the first ever mission to explore the Jupiter Trojan asteroids, a population of asteroids that lead and follow Jupiter in its orbit around the Sun. The Lucy team will use the cratering record on these asteroids to better understand the history of our Solar System. By comparing these lunar images with those taken by other spacecraft, such as the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), the team will learn more about Lucy’s ability to detect small craters, and thus be better prepared to interpret the data collected on the unknown surfaces of the Trojan asteroids.