The Blue Ghost lander, a spacecraft on a mission to explore the moon, has sent back stunning high-definition images of a lunar sunset. The final act of its two-week stay on the moon was to capture these breathtaking photos from Mons Latreille, a mountain in the “Sea of Crises” basin.
The images show the horizon glowing as the sun sets, with Earth and Venus visible in the sky. Due to the moon’s unique rotation period, which is 14.5 days long, the sun appears to set every day, but the duration of daylight is limited.
Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost mission was designed to operate for two weeks using solar panels, and it successfully achieved this goal before transitioning to battery power on March 16. The spacecraft finally “went dark” at 7:15 pm EDT, sending back its final images shortly after.
The mission marked a significant milestone in space exploration, with the Blue Ghost lander becoming the longest surface-duration commercial mission on the moon to date. The data collected during this mission will benefit humanity for decades to come.
This latest series of photos adds to the impressive collection of lunar images captured by the spacecraft, including an iconic “blood moon” total lunar eclipse as seen from Earth.
Source: https://www.livescience.com/space/the-moon/space-photo-of-the-week-the-last-sight-you-see-before-dying-on-the-moon