ISRO shares first official photos of Earth, clicked by Chandrayaan-2
Days after a series of morphed photos of the Earth, purportedly clicked by Chandrayaan-2, were circulated through WhatsApp forwards, the Indian Space Research Organization has released the official ones. ISRO on Sunday shared images of the Earth, as viewed from space, which were sent to them by the Chandrayaan-2, launched on July 22. Scroll down below to check out the photos.
ISRO tweeted five photos clicked by Chandrayaan-2's LI4 Camera
On Sunday, ISRO shared a set of five photos clicked by the LI4 Camera on the Chandrayaan-2 on Saturday, between 17:28 and 17:37, as per Universal Time (UT). ISRO wrote on Twitter, "First set of beautiful images of the Earth captured by #Chandrayaan2 #VikramLander." The images show the Earth in a different hue as compared to other photos and went viral within minutes.
Earth as viewed by Chandrayaan-2 (August 3, 17:28 UT)
Earth as viewed by Chandrayaan-2 (August 3, 17:29 UT)
Earth as viewed by Chandrayaan-2 (August 3, 17:32 UT)
Earth as viewed by Chandrayaan-2 (August 3, 17:34 UT)
Earth as viewed by Chandrayaan-2 (August 3, 17:37 UT)
Earlier, fake images of Earth 'clicked by Chandrayaan-2' went viral
Days after the launch of the Chandrayaan-2 mission, several old and digitally morphed images were circulated on WhatsApp and shared on social media. However, a quick reverse Google image search revealed that many of the photos were from NASA's old archives, taken by astronauts from the International Space Station. Others were morphed, or concept art attributed from artists on Pinterest, DeviantArt or Tumblr.
Chandrayaan-2 expected to reach the Moon by September 7
The Chandrayaan-2 mission was launched on July 22 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota, after its planned launch on July 14, was delayed due to a technical snag. If the mission goes as planned, Chandrayaan-2 will be reaching the Moon on September 7, 2019. Chandrayaan-2, which cost Rs. 978 crore, will attempt a soft-landing between two craters on the Moon's unexplored south pole.
We could learn a lot about Moon with Chandrayaan-2
The mission has 13 payloads - 8 on orbiter, 3 on lander, 2 on rover - for imaging and studying the lunar terrain and exosphere. The findings of the project will not only help scientists understand the topography of the lunar surface and delve into its origin, evolution but also provide more insight into the presence of water on the lunar South pole.
