The first image was taken along the moon's terminator -- the dividing line between day and night by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's Camera

-->NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has transmitted its first images since reaching the moon on 23^rd June. The spacecraft's two cameras, collectively known as the "Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC), were activated 30^th June 2009. These cameras are working well and have returned images of a region in the lunar highlands south of Mare Nubium.

As the moon rotates beneath the LRO, LROC gradually will build up photographic maps of the lunar surface.

"The first image was taken along the moon's terminator -- the dividing line between day and night -- making us initially unconvinced of how they would turn out," said LROC Principal Investigator Mark Robinson of Arizona State University in Tempe. "Because of the deep shadowing, slight topography is exaggerated, signifying a rough and inhospitable surface but in original, the area is similar to the region where the Apollo 16 astronauts safely explored in 1972. While these are magnificent in their own right, the main message is that LROC is nearly equipped to begin its mission."

These images show cratered regions near the moon's Mare Nubium region, as photographed by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's Camera instrument where the impact craters feature prominently in both images. Older craters have softened edges, and the younger craters appear crisp. Each image shows a region 1,400 meters (0.87 miles) wide, and features as small as 3 meters (9.8 feet) wide can be discerned but the bottoms of both images face lunar north.