I love this series of images from LADEE as it flies around our Moon:

Series of LADEE star tracker images features the lunar terrain. Image Credit: NASA Ames

LADEE, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, is on an extended mission to explore the tenuous, fleeting “atmosphere” around the Moon. It is analyzing samples of lunar dust and using spectrometers to monitor the changes and composition of the dust and material near the lunar surface. It is not an imaging mission, but missions managers decided to bring back some images anyway from the spacecraft’s star tracker. This camera is wide field and not very high-resolution, as it is used to orient the spacecraft with respect to the stars in the sky while it orbits the Moon. It’s still a lovely animation.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is still photographing away, and we still need your help to map the Moon’s surface in unprecedented detail with Moon Mappers. You’ve already shown us that citizen scientists map as well as the experts, so go ahead and use our newest tutorial videos to get started, or re-familiarize yourself with the project.