The photo was posted by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) about a week ago, and it served as a testament of the capability of the camera system onboard its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), which had launched on September 6, to help SLIM land on the moon.
The image, which JAXA posted Sept. 21 via its SLIM account on X (formerly known as Twitter), was taken around 62,000 miles (100,000 kilometers) from Earth. The image is monochromatic, as the dual-camera, vision-based navigation system is designed to identify crater positions from data stored aboard the spacecraft.
(Image credit: JAXA/SLIM)