ASU kicked off a special series of featured lunar farside images scheduled to be released daily over the next week that were taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC), run by an Arizona State University-based team. [right, LROC mosaic of lunar farside. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University] "The series of images serves as a prelude to next week’s release of NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter team’s set of data from the mission's Exploration Phase along with the first measurements from the Science Phase."
"LROC acquires high-resolution images of the lunar surface from a 50-kilometer orbit of any spot on the surface with resolutions down to 50 centimeters/pixel (19.7 inches/pixel) while LRO orbits at a speed of 5,800 km/hr (3,600 miles/hour). The imaging system consists of two Narrow Angle Cameras (NACs) to provide high-resolution images, and a Wide Angle Camera (WAC) to provide 100-meter resolution images in seven color bands over a 57-km swath."
The global mosaic released on Friday is comprised of over 15,000 WAC images acquired between November 2009 and February 2011.
[taken in part from the ASU SESE announcement]