A long way home: Nasa probe captures stunning images of Earth as seen from the barren Moon's surface



One of two washing-machine-sized Nasa probes has sent back an astonishing gallery of images from an orbit just 35 miles above the lunar surface.

American middle school school pupils at the Emily Dickinson Elementary School in Bozeman, Montana, directed the 'MoonKam' to areas of the surface which caught their attention.

The school won a national competition to be first - but other schools around the world will take turns to 'direct' the tiny photographer as it hurtles over the moon.



The gallery of images has been chosen by children - the first of 2700 schools worldwide to 'direct' the cameras on board the pbore



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The MoonKam programme lets American schoolchildren choose their favourite photographs taken by the cameras on board Nasa's Grail probes

Ebb is one of a pair of Nasa probes - Ebb and Flow - mapping the moon's gravity using tiny variations in their flight path to measure what is 'inside' the moon.



The images were taken aboard the Ebb spacecraft from March 15-17 and downlinked to Earth on March 20.

'MoonKAM is based on the premise that if your average picture is worth a thousand words, then a picture from lunar orbit may be worth a classroom full of engineering and science degrees,' said Maria Zuber, GRAIL mission principal investigator from MIT.



'Through MoonKAM, we have an opportunity to reach out to the next generation of scientists and engineers. It is great to see things off to such a positive start.'



The MoonKAM program is led by Sally Ride, America's first woman in space, and her team at Sally Ride Science in collaboration with undergraduate students at the University of California in San Diego.



More than 2,700 schools spanning 52 countries are using the MoonKAM cameras.

'What might seem like just a cool activity for these kids may very well have a profound impact on their futures,' Ride said. 'The students really are excited about MoonKAM, and that translates into an excitement about science and engineering.'

The twin Grail spacecraft mapping the lunar gravity field. The spacecraft 'measure' gravity by its effects on the distance between them as they fly in formation over the moon's surface

The MoonKam program is overseen by Sally Ride, the first American woman in space

One of a series of stunnign images captured by the 'MoonKam' aboard Ebb, taken just 35 miles above the moons surface

The MoonKam program is aimed at middle school children, and Nasa hopes it will persuade them to pursue careers in science and engineering







Launched in September 2011, Ebb and Flow will answer longstanding questions about the moon and give scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed.

Despite astronaut landings and robotic missions aimed at the moon, scientists still don't know everything about Earth's celestial companion. A lingering mystery is why the side that always faces Earth appears flatter than the mountainous far side.

Mapping the moon's uneven gravity - about one-sixth Earth's pull - should provide a clue.



The spacecraft will spend the next three months orbiting 35 miles above the lunar surface. Scientists will monitor the slight variations in distance between the two to map the moon's gravitational field.

