ISRO releases images of Earth taken by Chandrayaan 2

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has released five images of the Earth taken by Chandrayaan 2, the country's second unmanned lunar mission, two weeks after its launch.

This is the first set of images taken by a L14 camera fitted to the lander of the Chandrayaan 2. The images were taken yesterday from about 5,000 kilometres from the moon.

The images came a little more than a month before the lunar mission is expected to land on the unexplored south pole of the celestial body on September 7.

"Earth as viewed by #Chandrayaan2 LI4 Camera on August 3, 2019 17:34 UT," the ISRO tweeted along with the pictures.

Chandrayaan 2 aims to make India only the fourth country after Russia, the US and China to successfully make a soft landing on the moon.

The images show parts of the Pacific Ocean and the US.

The Rs 1,000-crore Chandrayaan 2 is India's most ambitious mission to the moon after Chandrayaan 1, which was launched in October 2008 but did not land on the moon.

Chandrayan 2 consists of orbiter, lander and a rover. The lander is expected to land on the southern side of the moon after which the robotic rover will conduct studies on the soil of the moon, looking for traces of water, helium, key sources of energy, and possible minerals.