Chinese lander images Pinwheel galaxy from the surface of the Moon

I was blown away yesterday when I discovered that China’s Chang’e 3 lunar mission has recently snapped this image of the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101) from the surface of the Moon.

Taken through the lander’s Lunar Ultraviolet Telescope (LUT) on December 2, it shows the mission is still active – details of the mission aren’t always forthcoming.

Whilst not the first time a galaxy has been imaged from Moon – Apollo 16 astronauts photographed the Large Magellanic Cloud in 1972 – it is the first time a fully fledged galaxy (as opposed to a dwarf galaxy) has been imaged in this way.