Japan’s national space agency, JAXA, has released hundreds of spectacular photographs and a breathtaking timelapse video from its 2007-2009 mission around the moon.
From October 2007 to June 2009, Japan’s SELENE (SELenological and ENgineering Explorer) mission orbited the moon using three spacecraft.
The largest craft, nicknamed Kaguya after a princess from a Japanese folktale, was kitted out with cameras that captured the first high-definition videos of the moon.
The results are amazing detailed images of the moon along with images of the Earth from the very rare perspective.
The photographs include the rare sight of the Earth rising and setting on the lunar horizon.
Other trippy images show a crescent, half and full Earth, very similar to the way in which we usually see the Moon.
Some of the images had been released before, but the space agency has now released more than 450 images and video footage to the world.