You have the eyes of an astronomer if you can spot where India’s Moon mission landed in new Nasa photos

THE NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has snapped a photo of India’s Chandrayaan-3 landing site on the Moon’s surface – can you spot it?

Even hawk-eyed space fans might need to whip out the magnifying glass for this image, which is a whopping 1,738 meters wide.

Nasa

The landing site is around 600kilometres from the lunar South Pole, a little-explored area of the Moon[/caption]

ISRO

The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft[/caption]

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully landed the Chandrayaan-3, which means “mooncraft” in Sanskrit, carrying the Vikram rover two weeks ago.

The country made history by becoming the first nation to land near the Moon’s South Pole with its Chandrayaan-3 craft. 

India also became the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon.

The mooncraft touched down around 600kilometres from the lunar South Pole, a little-explored area of the Moon.

The Vikram rover made some incredible discoveries in its hunt for water beneath the lunar surface.

But it has since returned to the landing site where it will sleep until the sun rises again above the Moon’s south pole in late September.

If you look closely at the image that has been beamed back to Earth, you’ll see a “bright halo” of regolith, also known as Moon soil, according to Nasa.

This circle of dust was created when the rocket plume lowered the vehicle to the lunar surface.

The landing site is surprisingly distinct from the illuminated craters the Moon’s surface is rife with.

But it can be hard to spot with untrained eyes.

Need a clue?

The Chandrayaan-3 lander is at the centre of the image, with its shadow visible against the halo of dust surrounding the vehicle.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, managed by Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Centre, has collected a “treasure trove” of lunar data since its launch in 2009, according to the US space agency.

Nasa

The Chandrayaan-3 lander is at the centre of the image, with its shadow visible against the halo of dust surrounding the vehicle[/caption]