Moon surface photo taken with Lunar Orbiter II

On November 20, 1966, as it swung high in its elliptical orbit, NASA's Lunar Orbiter II turned its wide angle lens on the southern half of the Moon's hidden side, producing this photograph. During later readout of spacecraft photography, the picture, identified as Frame 70, was transmitted to a tracking station at NASA's Deep Space Net. Viewed with the lunar horizon at the bottom, North is at the top and the Moon's equator runs roughly along the top of the photograph. Surface area covered in the picture is about 580,000 square miles. The smallest features which can be detected in the upper portion of the picture are about two tenths of a mile across. Lunar Orbiter II was about 900 miles above the Moon when the photograph was made. The northeast corner of the picture is located at 173 degrees East longitude and 5 degrees North latitude; the northwest corner at 138 degree East and 1 degree North. Distance across the top of the photo is about 670 miles. Lunar Orbiter is managed by the Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. Prime spacecraft contractor is Boeing Company, Seattle, Washington.