"The Most Ridiculously Detailed" Moon Photo Ever Captured Is Finally Available

The world has been awed by a stunning new image of the moon that has gone viral, but it was not taken by NASA. Instead, it was the outcome of a two-year project in which two astronomers took "the most insanely precise" pictures of Earth's lunar neighbour. The 174-megapixel image, which you can download, was made public for the first time on Reddit on Saturday. It shows the moon's colours, craters, and glowing halo in astounding detail. Together with planetary scientist and fellow photographer Connor Matherne, who is renowned for his stunning astrophotography abilities, Andrew McCarthy created a series of stunning astrophotography images of galaxies and nebulae. In an Instagram post he wrote about it, McCarthy described their final product as "the most crazily detailed moon image we could come up with." They created a gigantic image of the moon by combining more than 200,000 photos taken of it using a technique called "photo stitching." It’s also a tribute to NASA’s Artemis I mission, which is an uncrewed flight test that, according to the space agency, “will provide a foundation for human deep exploration and demonstrate our commitment and capability to return humans to the moon and extend beyond.” The stunning photograph was given the name “The Hunt for Artemis.” On August 29, 2022, the launch of Artemis I is anticipated to take place between the hours of 8:30 and 10:30 a.m.