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Japanese Probe Reveals the Moon in High Definition

by Terrence O'Brien on June 9, 2009 at 08:25 AM


It's been almost two years since we first told you about the Japanese probe KAGUYA, which is currently orbiting the moon. Fortunately for us, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was prescient enough to equip KAGUYA with a pair of HD cameras that have managed to collect some stunning footage.

Until now, JAXA has only posted low-res versions of its videos and high-def-quality still photos online. If you wanted to enjoy probe's jaw-dropping, full-motion, detail-packed videos, you had to hope that the Discovery Channel felt compelled to re-air its November 2007 special featuring the footage. Thankfully, we now have a pair of one-minute videos featuring close-up HD imagery of the Moon's surface that reveal far more detail than you could ever hope to glean from those grainy videos of the first Moon landing.

You can watch one of the videos above, but to see them in their full HD glory, follow these links to the YouTube page -- don't forget to click the all-important 'HD' button. Don't expect much more multimedia from KAGUYA; the mission will come to an end Thursday, June 10th, when the probe slams into the surface of the moon. [From: YouTube]

Tags: HD, jaxa, kaguya, moon, space, youtube

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