Detailed images of the Moon and its South Pole captured

NASA's ShadowCam hypersensitive optical camera aboard South Korea's Danuri orbiter, which launched in August 2022, sent stunning images back to Earth of the Moon's bleak South Pole. The new photos allowed the scientists to discover more information with regard to what's on its surface. interior, and destination of the next manned missions. Danuri entered lunar orbit on December 27 after 145 days of travel from Earth. It began operation on February 4, and the ShadowCam is significantly more sensitive to light than comparable lunar cameras, acquiring high-resolution images of permanently shaded regions that never receive direct sunlight. ShadowCam has been routinely capturing images of the lunar North and South Pole regions. One of the first ShadowCam images from lunar orbit is the permanently shadowed wall and floor of Shackleton crater. Although Earthshine is about 10 times dimmer than available illumination in the average region permanently shadowed by reflected sunlight from lunar geologic features, ShadowCam was still able to image the surface using Earthshine, making it indicating the instrument's ability to see the faintest areas of the South Pole. ShadowCam's images will help in scientific and exploration planning for the Artemis missions, but it will not be able to photograph astronauts walking on the surface of the Moon if they are exposed to direct sunlight because the powerful light would saturate the images.