The Advanced Moon Imaging Experiment (AMIE) on board ESA's SMART-1 spacecraft obtained the images comprising this mosaic of the lunar south pole.

SMART-1 took the images at a distance of about 310 miles (500 km) over the south pole, which allowed high resolution views in individual images (about 30 miles or 50 km across).

The pictures were taken between Dec 2005 and March 2006, during lunar southern summer.

The mosaic contains about 40 images obtained during more than 30 orbits, and it covers an area of about 310 x 93 miles (500 x 150 km). The lunar near-side facing Earth is at the top of the map; the far-side is at the bottom.

Amundsen is a large impact crater, the largest circular feature visible slightly to the right of center in the image.

Shackleton, the smallest, almost-complete circular crater left of center, contains the lunar south pole within its rim. It is a possible landing site for future manned missions to hunt for water ice.

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— ESA/SMART-1/Space-X (Space Exploration Institute) and SPACE.com Staff

Credit: ESA/SMART-1/Space-X (Space Exploration Institute)