China has launched an unmanned spacecraft that aims to retrieve rock and soil samples from the moon. It is the first such mission in several decades and comes as Beijing continues to step up its space program.
Image: Mark Schiefelbein/AP/dpa/picture alliance
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China on Tuesday sent a robotic spacecraft on its way to the moon to collect rock samples there and bring them back to Earth for the first time in more than four decades.
The Chang'e 5 spacecraft was carried into space by the Long March 5, China's largest carrier rocket, which blasted off from Wenchang Space Launch Center on the southern Chinese island of Hainan at 4:30 a.m. Beijing time (Monday 2030 UTC). Launch commander Zhang Xueyu later said the takeoff was successful. The Chang'e 5 mission, coordinated by the China National Space Administration, is named after the ancient Chinese goddess of the moon.
If the spacecraft completes its task, it would make China the third country in the world to have retrieved lunar samples after the United States and the former Soviet Union.
London's Royal Observatory annually selects the best photos of the universe, entered in an annual astronomy photographer competition. Ahead of the prize announcement, here's a short list.
Image: Ben Bush
A planet is born
Photographer Martin Pugh was thrilled by what he photographed with his CDK 17 telescope in Chile in May 2019. Over many clear nights, he collected data and took precise light measurements. For 23 hours, the Australian exposed swirling hydrogen and documented the birth of a new planet.
Image: Martin Pugh
Upward view in Australia
Here, the astronomer's sober gaze and the photographer's enter an artistic alliance, drawing the viewer into the Milky Way's galactic core. The Lithgow Blast Furnace building is an icon of the Australian iron and steel industry. In it, Australian Jay Evans tried out a high-resolution megapixel camera for the first time. The result was anything but disappointing.
Image: Jay Evans
Solar eclipse with Venus
These extraordinary light conditions were in the crystal-clear air on one day at the ESO Observatory in La Silla, Chile. Using a complex technique, photographer Sebastian Voltmer captured a solar eclipse in an picture that also shows a brightly-shining Venus. Ninety-six individual images were calibrated, superimposed and fused into one glorious image.
Image: Sebastian Voltmer
Northern Lights on the Lofoten Islands
This snapshot was taken by the German photographer Andreas Ettl on Norway's Lofoten Islands. The remote area below the Arctic Circle is one of the world's best places to experience a spectacular light show of the aurora borealis, as depicted in this photo, titled "Hamnoy Lights."
Image: Andreas Ettl
Capturing galactic symmetry
With impressive technical precision, Andy Casely preserved a supernatural moment with the help of a high-powered telescope. In this stunning shot taken on a summer day in 2019, the photographer captured ringed Saturn peeking out from behind the large pock-marked face of the moon.
Image: Andy Casely
The moon over London
After three failed attempts, British photographer Mathew Browne finally succeeded in taking this somewhat eerie photo of the full moon in the British capital. Like a scene from Batman's Gotham City, the moon shines brightly from behind the jagged facade of the Shard skyscraper. The photographer only had a few minutes to take this special shot.
Image: Mathew Browne
Arctic dance of color
Stunning natural phenomena make it easy for photographers in the Icelandic region on the edge of the Arctic Circle to capture a good shot. But professional nature photographer Ben Bush takes it to the next level in this breathtaking picture awash in green light. To take this picture, Bush kneeled at the shore of the Atlantic Ocean at a temperature of #6 degrees C (-17 Fahrenheit).
Image: Ben Bush
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Complex operations
The 8,200 kg (18,078 pound) spacecraft is carrying two vehicles, a lander and an ascender, to be sent to the moon's surface from its lunar orbit in about eight days from now.
If all goes according to plan, the lander will then collect up rocks and soil with a robotic arm and transfer them to the ascender vehicle. The ascender s meant to take off again and rendezvous with an orbiting module after two days. Finally, the samples are to be transferred to a return capsule that takes them back to Earth in around 23 days' time.
It is hoped the samples will help scientists learn more about the origin and formation of the moon.
